"Shout is a triumph. It starts with the inner rumblings of the mind of an anxious person, someone who struggles with crowds and big groups of people, someone who craves solitude but does not really want to be left alone too long. It becomes the burst of energy and the surge of feeling that comes from the heart’s willingness to fight to be understood, to be less alone. It is the understanding that depression and anxiety will come and go. When you are in it, it’s hard to imagine you could feel better. If you are lucky, you have started to learn that those are the moments you have to make friends with those feelings, you pay attention to them, and address them, so you can let them go. You do your very best to arm yourself with the things that make you feel stronger. It is a deeply personal work.

This is my seventh album. Each album feels closer to being what I want it to be. Keep the Fire was the first time I got really personal. It was my third record working with Daniel Ledwell, who is wonderful and brilliant, and it was the first record I really laboured over: Every lyric and every melody and every instrument and the notes coming out of those instruments and every vocal part was scrutinized. I wanted to make a record with no regrets, because every time I make one, it could be the last.

Shout was not planned. I’ve been focusing more on co-writing over the last few years, trying to write for other artists, with different voices, in different genres. Seven of those songs felt like they belonged to me. They comprise the best music I have ever made. I actually thought Keep the Fire was that record—I thought that was the leap, but I was wrong. That was a step, the leap is now. Every song is a co-write. I did not play a single guitar. I played some piano, I sang nearly all of the things. I am the executive producer. I am at the helm. I am the thread both binding everything together and also crafting the whole. It is an art-pop record through and through. It is propelled by equal parts synth, big piano, and anger, exploding in thoughtful, danceable art-pop anthems of uprising, hope and a delirious celebration of self. I made Shout to share with the ones who are itching to bust out of their shells, of the boxes other people have built for them. For the awkward dancers, and the crowd-averse. For everyone who ever does anything brave even when it is hard. Whether it’s coming out, or reaching out to people you love who have shut you out. Whether it’s saying “Hey! I matter!” Whether it’s setting boundaries. It’s for the people who try new things even though it is terrifying, because they know it might end up being worth it.

I hope that you will like it. I do. But you know what? If you don’t, that’s okay, because I love it, and most days that will be enough. This is me at my very best yet and I am mightily proud of the journey chronicled here."

-Gabrielle Papillon