ON THE RISE
ATLANTA, GA. — Don’t expect Llace Sarabete to play second fiddle to anyone and she lets everyone know that in her debut single, “No Wife.”
An R&B ballad about a woman who has dedicated her life to a man only to find out that he’s chosen another, but wants to keep seeing her at the same time, Sarabete’s soulful voice and heartfelt lyrics weave a tale that many can understand.
“I was first, you decided to choose otherwise and right now you can’t keep coming to me like I'm going to just continue what we had,” Sarabete said. “I’m not going to be a mistress, I'm not going to be second when I was first. You know how we artists are, we get emotional and we write the best, so I wrote it based on a true story. Now it’s so much more to me than just my story. There are a lot of stories related to it and I hope it draws the masses of people who can relate to it, particularly women.”
“No Wife” is the first single among many that will come out on Sarabete’s new album which is due for release later this year.
Sarabete said she finished the video for the song just a few days ago and can’t wait to see it as a final product.
“I want to make sure I’ve done everything I can with ‘No Wife,’ so we’ll release the video in a few weeks,” Sarabete said. “I definitely want masses of people to listen to it because I really think it has something to say. It reminds me of R&B from back in the day back when Lauren Hill would sing her R&B and she’d talk about her love quests. It’s so relatable that people can really get something from it and it would remind them of genuine R&B.
Sarabete said she began singing as a child of 7 when her music teacher told her she had a great singing voice.
At 14, Sarabete became the lead singer of a band called "The Dance Machine" and began performing in nightclubs.
She would often put on makeup and sneak into nightclubs to open for various artists, sometimes even headlining herself.
Her talent and hard work earned her the opportunity to perform at Atlanta's top venues such as the Atlanta Civic Center, Lakewood Amphitheatre for the Birthday Bash, and Phillips Arena for the Funk Rap Fest.
“I’ve been singing and wanting to be singing ever since I was a kid,” she said. “I grew up around a bunch of professional musicians who made names for themselves eventually over time. I just really enjoy singing and creating, producing, everything.”
“No Wife” has gained the attention of listeners world wide, demonstrating Sarabete’s ability to sing in different styles, including R&B, pop, jazz, soft rock and others.
“I think people will enjoy it,” she said. “People can relate to it. I’ve got a lot of songs I think will help people. I do inspirational writing and songs as well to encourage people. I've got plenty of that, but this song is definitely relatable.
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ON THE RISE
Blossoms caught up with NME to discuss competing with The Beatles and Johnny Marr for this week’s Number One album. With ‘Songs From The Wedding Cake’ in the running, the band also explained why making things themselves remains such an important part of their work as AI becomes more common.
The Stockport group put out their sixth album last Friday, October 2. By the midweek update, it was sitting at Number Two, between The Beatles’ expanded edition of ‘Rubber Soul’ and Johnny Marr’s latest solo album, ‘The Age Of Everything’.
“It’s mad, to be honest,” singer Tom Ogden said to NME about the chart race. “Liverpool on one side, Manchester on the other and Stockport in the middle. If you’d told us this 10 years ago, when we were releasing our debut, I wouldn’t have believed you. But I mean, we’re in good company aren’t we?”
Discussing the stories behind the album, Ogden described ‘Songs From The Wedding Cake’ as “about being married and all the everyday stuff that comes with it”. He married Katie Donovan, the sister of Blossoms drummer Joe, in 2021. Married life has since given him a new appreciation for what he describes as “the extraordinary ordinary”.
“Saying the wrong thing in an argument, losing your wife’s no claims bonus, crying at the Kardashians, it’s all in there,” he explained. “The album is named after Stockport Town Hall, which everyone round where we live calls the Wedding Cake, and it’s where I got married, so it couldn’t be much closer to home.
“The last album [‘Gary’, 2024] had a song about a stolen fibreglass gorilla, which everyone loved, and that gave us the confidence to bring the same playfulness to this one, just with more personal subject matter this time.”
Alongside tracks that came out of writing sessions with Declan McKenna in a hot tub, the album reflects the band’s desire to stay involved in every part of the creative process.
“It started with the recording,” Ogden explained. “We made the album with Shawn Lee, playing live straight to tape, and once you’ve done it that way you can’t really go and fake everything else. We sat down as a band and picked the colour palette, and everything visual followed from that. We had body scans taken of ourselves and cake toppers of the five of us 3D printed, put them on a real cake and photographed it. I’ve directed and edited the videos, and the sets are all built by hand, no green screen. For the pop-up shop on launch weekend, a local artist hand-painted the album cover for the sign outside.
“It’s more work, but you end up with a world that’s yours, and I think people can tell when a band’s had its hands on everything.”
With AI tools and digital effects becoming increasingly widespread, that approach feels particularly relevant. For Blossoms, though, the motivation is simple: “the fun is in the making”.
“Tape doesn’t let you cheat and neither does a real cake,” Ogden said. “If a set’s a bit wonky, it’s because one of us or our mates built it. I think the more stuff gets generated, the more people want to know a human being actually did it. We’ve been in this band together for over 10 years, five lads from Stockport, and that isn’t something you can ‘prompt’.”
Maya Jama also appeared in the video for the album’s first single, ‘Meet Me In Love’. Her appearance came shortly before the UK launch of Celebrity Traitors, where she took on the role of a traitor alongside a cast that included Richard E Grant and James Acaster.
“She was brilliant,” Ogden recalled of working with Jama. “We’d met her at the MTV EMAs in Manchester a couple of years ago, so we took a chance and sent her a DM …and she said yes. Next thing she’s in a theatre in Cheadle miming my vocals while a load of people dressed as me serenade her. She got the idea straight away and was a proper laugh about it.”
The conversation then turned to whether he thought Jama could take home the win on Celebrity Traitors.
Ogden joked: “As for Traitors, she spent a whole day pretending to sing my song and I almost believed her, so I’d say she’s got every chance.”
Fans can listen to ‘Songs From The Wedding Cake’ now. In November, Blossoms head out on a UK arena tour with The Royston Club. Tickets and further details are available here.
Before the tour begins, the group is also scheduled to appear on SNL UK on Saturday, October 24.
