Margaret Glaspy's 'Devotion' Is The Earnest Groove Getting Vulnerability In Vogue

Margaret Glaspy has evolved. In the nearly four years since her debut album, Emotions and Math, dropped, the California-raised singer-songwriter has enrolled at Harvard University by way of the distance learning, pushed her guitar-based sound into more rhythmic and electronic dimensions, and taken a particular interest in writing songs about life’s gray areas. Her forthcoming second album, Devotion, is the best showcase for this next chapter; its title track sways with the confidence of knowing that whatever decision you make is the correct one, no matter what. In this case, it demands one of the big concepts she may ever make a decision about: love.


“It’s a sign of my devotion Whenever I show you my emotions,” she sings over a purring bass line and also a slinking rhythm that feels as intimate as an overheard conversation. That’s thanks to drummer Tim Kuhl “playing his lap, basically,” Glaspy told MTV News. “That was an exhilarating little find in studio have the ability to calculate how to do that in a way where it's rhythmic, although it's not just all drum kit. It's something from another sort of world.”


The world of “Devotion” — which Glaspy released today (March 16), and which you could hear for the initial time above — is humid and probing, however as susceptible as it likewise asks its subject to be. Glaspy mentioned her songwriting reflected “a slightly more settled place” this time around.


She’s back in school, working toward a potential humanities concentration. (“They're not really giving you very several breaks, as I've experienced in attempting to do it while I'm being a full-time musician. They're like, ‘I don't really care in the event if you have got to be in Berlin on Tuesday. You still have to turn your homework in.’”) She’s more comfortable as a musician, chasing impulses to make electronic-tinged tunes that give attention to efficiency over machinery. And yes, she’s totally devoted to her partner. “It's a very earnest concept to be devoted, really devoted, and I think it's maybe not even really super in vogue now. It's sort of why I like it.”


As piano chords ring out against the song’s minimal groove, “Devotion” finds Glaspy defining her place in the partnership, even as she reassures that “I’m on your side.” A savvy guitarist, she unplugs for this one, letting her musical group stage name the instrumentation so she can concentrate on singing alone. While Emotions and Math’s lyrics and sharp-edged guitar lines captured a snapshot of Glaspy “a mad, a little clever at times, and sort of young,” the full Devotion album dives right into earnestness and vulnerability.


“In relationships with people you love especially, you want things to evolve, although some days it may be scary,” she mentioned. “So is it worth it to sort of stir the weed and mention how you feel? That's what that song focuses on.”


Glaspy spent much of the time between albums on tour, playing the same songs every night and feeling like she’d entered a loop. She wanted to keep difficult herself, so she started writing new material without the guitar. That exploration is splattered all over the album, which kicks off with a sea of mechanized voices and finds color in synthesized sounds. “Finding new ways to do it, that was a little bit scary, nevertheless it was a good scary,” she mentioned. “I think you have to be a little bit scared some days, otherwise maybe you're not doing it right.”


“Devotion” itself lived a previous life as a “slamming pop song” before it noticed its furrow. That would be due to Glaspy’s own love of some gargantuan pop bangers she sang on the phone for MTV News categorize in attempt to wring out the joy in their melodies. These included Demi Lovato’s barn-burning “Sorry Not Sorry,” Kehlani’s infectiously soulful “Keep On,” and her most listened-to song of 2019, Cardi B’s “Be Careful.” “The verses in particular, I think she just sort of kills it.”


Glaspy also drew inspiration from iconic style designer Alexander McQueen’s bold runway innovations — robots, aliens, underwater creatures — and strived to make sonic accompaniments to those looks. “It sort of kept me in check,” she mentioned, echoing a mantra that kept her motivated in the studio if an idea wasn't working: “I feel like Lee McQueen would feel like this was sort of ridiculous. Next song.”


The Devotion album cover finds Glaspy in a black dress with large, wonderfully ruffled pink sleeves. It’s not a direct McQueen reference, however “he's just sort of in my ethos at this point.” As an alternative, it’s a chance to connect with the connotations of the word “devotion” and capture what’s both “regal” and “archaic” about it. “Things feel a little bit more fleeting these days, far less devotional,” she mentioned. “It's sort of like a sampler plate all of the time.” Maybe we're all still evolving.


You can stream both the studio version of “Devotion” plus a live version above. Pre-order the Devotion album here.