TO RELEASE SEQUEL TO DEBUT ALBUM
‘ANCIENT HEART’ MORE THAN 35 YEARS LATER

‘LIAR (LOVE ISN’T A RIGHT)’
RELEASED: 10 OCTOBER 2025

Debut track This Perfect Friend available today

London, 7 May 2025: Tanita Tikaram today announced that 37 years after the release of her multi-million selling debut album ‘Ancient Heart’ she will release the sequel entitled ‘LIAR (Love Isn’t A Right)’. The long-awaited new album reveals the emotional and societal differences between the woman Tanita was at just 18 when she made ‘Ancient Heart’ to the woman she is today, taking in four decades of life experience. ‘LIAR (Love Isn’t A Right)’ is released on 10 October 2025 via Cooking Vinyl.

Her first album in almost a decade, ‘LIAR (Love Isn’t A Right)’ is an album of haunting beauty and exquisite musicianship underplaying her unique voice that tells a masterful story of emotional, political and personal truths.

When it was released in 1988, the multi-million selling ‘Ancient Heart’ was the story of an uncertain 18-year-old brown gay woman living in middle England feeling like a stranger in her own home. Almost 40 years later that same woman, now feeling like a stranger in her own country as politics and society become more divisive. ‘LIAR (Love Is A Right)’ is a full circle moment: a comment on community and its importance for all our futures and the perfect accompaniment to her classic breakthrough.

Produced by Andy Monaghan (Frightened Rabbit) and recorded at Gorbals studio in Glasgow, the album features a 21^st century chamber band that includes Helen O’Hara (Violin – The Charlatans/Dexys midnight Runners), Marc Pell (Drums – Mount Kimbie), Zosia Jagodzinska (Cello), Lewis McLaughlin (Guitar), Chris Roberts (Guitar – Filkin’s Drift) and Bartek Glowacki (Accordion).

Written by Tanita Tikaram, her tenth album gives voice to ten meticulously crafted songs that finally reveal who Tanita Tikaram is. From opening track Turn The Lights Down Low that celebrates late night lovers still defiantly searching for the party as the world crumbles around them to I See A Morning which is an expression of faith in our shared humanity even in the most turbulent times, Tanita weaves a powerful story. The track Lover Don’t Come Around was written during lockdown with a nostalgia for the simpler 1960s British pop Tanita Tikaram grew up listening to from her parent’s record collection whilst closing track Sailboats is about the bittersweet moment of saying goodbye to your younger self and realising that it is final, you will never be that young woman again.

The first track to be taken from the album, and available today, is This Perfect Friend which explores themes of urban loneliness and the fragmentation of society and self. “How can you tell if someone can be trusted? When the parameters and idea of what’s right or wrong are constantly being moved? Can you really trust yourself or the world around you?,” explains Tanita.

Celebrated as a maverick music icon Tanita Tikaram was recently featured in the Venice Biennale exhibition by Sonia Boyce OBE RA and previously in the National Portrait Gallery captured by David Bennett. She returned to play at Glastonbury Festival in 2024 and as well as her acclaimed musical output over the years, Tanita has also developed a popular voice on social media, capturing the mood and zeitgeist of our times.

Tanita Tikaram continued, “You never set out to make a sequel album but this just felt right. I see myself both now and then, frustrated, alienated and in part fearful of the future, they just manifested in different ways.”

Tanita Tikaram shot to fame at just 18 years old with a unique string of hit songs that showcased her remarkable voice and reflected the independence of the late 1980’s/early 90’s, defying previous female music stereotypes and defining her in the eyes of music history. Twist In My Sobriety has racked up over 73 million streams.

Full tracklisting: