Here is a gorgeous way to start your weekend. ‘Out of the Blue’ begins with delicate guitar before Shira’s beautiful vocal melody drifts in, full of weary resignation: “I’d almost given up // I was ready to cash in my ever after.” But then the lyrical and sonic mood changes as Shira sings of love entering her life unexpectedly. The song is disarming in its direct affirmation of love and the joy to be found when the right person comes along. This is the sort of love to jump into, the sort of love that immediately takes your life in a new direction. There’s an appealing, unselfconscious beauty in Shira’s hopefulness and willingness to surrender to it. So many songs are downbeat and many artists shy away from such positivity and happiness. Shira manages to write of a love that feels pure and authentic.
This song is like a prequel to recent single ‘Wait for Me’, which we premiered here on AUK before it made the news America. See the feature on ABC here. For the new single, Shira explains how she was influenced by a real love story she encountered: “Two really good friends of mine were about to get married. They found each other a bit later in life at a point where they thought it wasn’t going to happen for them. They met, fell deeply in love and were engaged within four months. They asked me to sing at their wedding and of course I was thrilled to do it! I asked, ‘What would you like me to sing?’ and they gave me the worst possible answer, ‘You choose, we trust you.’ So after three sleepless nights of brainstorming and nothing feeling quite right I wrote them this song. Fast forward to a year later I met my person and was engaged within three months. Somehow this song was about me as well and I didn’t even know it. them. I realised that even if it’s someone you’ve known for a while that moment when it hits and you realise it’s your person, that feels out of the blue.”
The song became increasingly popular at live shows and really resonated with fans who felt it was telling their stories. So it was that five couples were invited to participate in the video, lip-synching to the words that meant the most to them. The resulting visual is effective in its simplicity, all the more so because the love you see is real.
Shira is determined to deliver music that brings hope, love, joy and healing, thanks to her experiences performing in war zones. She describes the unforgettable show that inspired her: “There was one performance that made me realise why this is what I have to do. We arrived at an underground bomb shelter where about four families were staying with very small children. We sang for them and with them, we told stories and performed skits. We were about to leave and a six-year-old girl wearing a summer dress covered in butterflies ran up to me and held on to my leg asking me not to leave because I made her feel safe again. I knew this was my calling and I had to do it, to bring healing to the world through music.” It’s hard to argue with that.
‘Out of the Blue’ is the follow-up to last year’s EP ‘Birds of a Feather’ and Shira continues in her distinctive, self-styled ‘fairy-folk’ sound. Watch this and feel a little love and joy.
