Paloma Faith – How You Leave a Man Review

Live under a rock or a town where the two main options for coffee are Greggs and a Smokin’ Bean and you tend to miss out on pop culture. Paloma Faith will never shadow the out-of-sync towns which dominate the north. Escape and find solace in good music then, one of the few to receive back-to-back-to-back double platinum albums. Gearing up for another go with How You Leave a Man, Faith heads up The Glorification of Sadness. A high bar indeed but it should be no surprise to those who have listened in with keen ears that How You Leave a Man, her first single ahead of this new record, is exceptional. It has all the right movements to an electrified song making moves on popular topics. 

This is, in the end, an exercise in relatability. Faith, like many of the pop-oriented artists working away at present, is looking for the right batch of words and rhythms to pierce the modern day and plant her at the top of the podium. Not quite pedestal-worthy considering Caroline Polachek has been around to comment on the fundamentals and Yard Act play the post-punk card – but Faith has some exciting moments to this one. Most of it instrumental, but her voice is still a powerful tool on this repetitive if well-mixed number. There are all the usual pop-disco features here though not all of it comes together with the brisk and powerful pace needed to steer this message. 

An example given, keys changed and power given, it comes a little too close to the obvious. But sharp percussion and a boost given to the earnest lyrics Faith deploys here is well intended. Regardless of intent though How You Leave a Man has little value to it on later plays. Repetitive in tone and reliant on the title track as a hook between examples of bad behaviour. Faith finds herself playing catch-up but is up to speed in no time at all – it is all a matter of preference. Clunkier moments come and go but when do they not? Lightning in a bottle is what tracks of a pertinent nature need and there was no chance of it happening when the tides are always shifting. How You Leave a Man is an obvious bit of detail, the title gives the game away and there is no room for subtext. Subtext is for cowards.  

Faith sets out to bring forth another chart-topper. That must be the aim for this one, surely? She has done it before. Before that too. She will now attempt it again. How You Leave a Man will prove popular, consistent enough for a few listens but other singles being right around the corner could indicate the slip of confidence in this one. It is by no means a poor song, just weak on its legs and lacking the intricacies which personalise these tracks. There is still faith in Faith though how far it can be thrown after a middle-of-the-road piece with the right message but the lack of personal flourish is yet to be seen.