"Private Eyes," the latest single from KT Tunstall's upcoming album, NUT, is out today
Today, the Grammy®-nominated artist KT Tunstall releases her newest single, “Private Eyes.” The pop-driven tune that highlights the vagaries of fame is culled from Tunstall’s upcoming seventh studio album, NUT, which will be available on September 9, 2022 via her new partnership with our label.Pre-order bundles for NUT are available now.
“Private Eyes” was co-written with long time friend and collaborator TommyD, and recounts a surreal celebrity encounter at a party early in KT’s career. As described by KT “Early on after my big success, I would dip my toe into accepting invites to random parties. At one party in a little club in Soho, London, a beautiful actress - who I didn’t know personally - in a big puffball gown, grabbed my hand and pulled me down the stairs into the basement kitchen in a panic. She was terrified of the paparazzi stalking her outside - she couldn’t face them. Mascara was running down her face as she had a meltdown on the floor. I had to break it to her, there was no door down here; the only way out was back up. But I remember through my own boozy haze how tragic it seemed that this person had so craved a life that had now felt like a prison. Beautiful eyes that didn’t want everyone looking into them.”
KT Tunstall burst onto the music scene with her 2004 multi-platinum debut, Eye to the Telescope, which spawned the global hits "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" and "Suddenly I See." These songs established Tunstall as a captivating, must-see performer, as well as a songwriter with a singular knack for balancing introspective folk and propulsive rock. "I feel there are two immediate, recognizable pillars of my style," she says. "I have this troubadour, acoustic guitar-driven emotional side. Then there's definitely a rocker side of me with sharper teeth."
In the last few years, the Grammy-nominated Scottish Musician has expanded on these musical selves by focusing on a trilogy of records, where each album zeroes in on a single concept: soul, body and mind. The first, 2016's KIN, was the soul record; 2018's WAX was the body record, and the new NUT is the mind record.
"NUT is the culmination of a seven-year project," Tunstall says. "It's the final part of a trilogy of records that has spanned probably the most extreme and profound period of change in my life. The personal arc of these three records has been pretty extraordinary for me.”
In light of this personal evolution, it's no wonder that NUT is such a step forward. However, it's clear Tunstall relished leaving her comfort zone and trying something new. "I made NUT completely differently from any other record I have ever made," Tunstall says. "But I wanted to do things differently. The reason I pursued music was because I had to avoid a repetitive job. I need to feel a constant sense of exploration in life. And I've realized you can absolutely fall into repetition even in this job. And so for NUT, I was like, 'Come on, let's do what we said we were going to do. Let's push into something new.' What’s most important is that I made an exciting, meaningful record that I love, and had fun while I was doing it."