How Christina Perri Talks Love, Loss, And How Writing Her Latest Album Helped Her Heal

Photo Credit: Christina Perri

Christina Perri first broke onto the music scene with her platinum-certified, 2011 debut, Lovestrong, which featured the 5x-platinum certified smash, “Jar of Hearts” and gold-certified “Arms.”Following Lovestrong, she debuted her diamond certified hit single, “A Thousand Years.”And now, as of June 24th, Perri is back with her first original studio album in a very long time. The new album follows her recently released lullaby album, songs for rosie, which honors the death of her daughter on what would have been her first birthday. The album has been 8-years in the making with Christina’s last album Head or Heart being released in 2014. The new deeply personal album follows Christina’s healing journey after losing her daughter. Perri, who also kicks off her trio of shows in Los Angeles tonight to celebrate the release of the album, sat down with Haute Living to talk about love, loss, and how she finally found healing.

Photo Credit: Christina Perri

How is this album significant to you in ways that your previous albums may have not been?

This album feels like it needed to be written in more ways than my other two. In the beginning of my career everything moved so fast and I didn’t feel like I had much of a choice, putting out albums back to back was just what I had to do. This album I stopped, lived my life, experienced so much joy and loss and STILL choice to make it. This one feels intentional.

Where did the title come from?

The title A Lighter Shade of Blue comes from the song “Blue” that I wrote with my friend Luke Sital Singh. It’s a lyric from the chorus and I’ll never forget the moment we wrote this song i imagined the whole piece of art, the whole story, the whole narrative and journey of the album and what I wanted to say. It means, I’ve been through so much, I am still who I’ve always been, just brighter, lighter, and better.

What inspired the album?

Love, motherhood, loss, grief, relationships, and pain.

Do you have a favorite song or lyric off the album? Why?

Oh I don’t know how to pick. I love them all. Maybe this one from “Time of Our Lives.” “I was fearless: I was able I was brave and put all of my cards on the table didn’t waste them, all my demons I turned into dreams and I chased them and I faced them and replaced them with something to believe in” it sums up literally the last 10 years of my life.

What do you hope people take away from listening to the album?

I hope people find hope where there isn’t any! We’ve all had a tough couple years and I want this album to be a road map out of the darkness for people just like it was for me.

Why such a delay in between albums?

Well, I didn’t mean to take that long, but I got married, had a baby, had two pregnancy losses, made two lullaby albums for my daughters and then survived the pandemic — so life got messy.

Photo Credit: Christina Perri

How and where did you find your inspiration here?

Luckily inspiration has never been a problem for me. Life keeps happening and pain keeps happening and love keeps happening in my life. There is never an empty well, I am always emotional and having big feelings so the songs just always come.

Your recent album honored the loss of your daughter Rosie. I can imagine it would be hard to move on from that. How did you find the strength? Was writing cathartic?

Yes. I could never actually move on, I have though, moved forward with her in my heart, and music. I found the strength in the many people that held me up and helped me heal. And writing about her was absolutely a huge piece of the healing puzzle. But so was therapy, couples therapy, and trauma therapy, physical therapy — literally all the therapies. I took the time to feel ready to get back to work and I’m really glad I did.

What song on the new album sums up where you are in your life right now and why?

“Surrender!” I’m so glad it starts the album. It’s right where I begin and end, always. Learning to let the f*** go! Over and over again.

What to you is the greatest luxury in life and why?

Spending time with my family. There is nothing better.