East Midland’s singer-songwriter Charlotte Carpenter releases her debut albumA Modern Rage on 6th October 2023, today we are debuting an accompanying mini documentary where she talks about her new single ‘Not Good Enough’. A heartbreaking song about an experience she had with a toxic older producer that damaged her self worth. Watch it below.
Carpenter says: “I’m the sort of music fan, that loves knowing the stories behind the songs of my favourite musicians. I will spend so much time finding the reasons why they wrote something, and immerse myself into their world, so when I set out to make my debut album, I wanted to make longer content, and not fall into the idea that everything has to be short and concise these days. For most of us, life is neither of those things, and this song certainly isn’t either. ‘Not Good Enough’ is really poignant to me, a heavy song with a big story and it isn’t easy to wrap up into a single moment. There is a story for everything, that’s just the sort of songwriter I am, and I hope the people that will stop to watch this, feel the same way as me and take something away from it.”
‘Not Good Enough’ is a heart-wrenching song about the effects of toxic people on our own self-worth. It explores a real-life working relationship Charlotte had whilst in her early 20’s with an older, more experienced producer. “It was my first experience of the industry, and I was made to feel it was an opportunity of a lifetime” explains Charlotte.
“I was also made to feel I was being protected from the industry too, but as the years went on, I realised this wasn’t the case at all. I was playing to somebody’s else’s rules and expectations of what I should be; I didn’t know who I was. There is so much sadness in this song, and a yearning to find myself again.”
This experience was a catalyst for Charlotte’s deeply personal, at times raw, and cathartic debut album A Modern Rage, which touches upon power structures in the music industry, and society in general, which are detrimental to women, and also explores how life’s profound experiences are navigated – in Charlotte’s case, loss, love, addiction, mental health, and more recently the pandemic – within the often claustrophobic and pressurised confines of womanhood.
A MODERN RAGE TRACKLIST: The Call Spinning Plates You’re My Reason Why
Not Good Enough
Like A Hurricane
Dolores
Molly’s Ballad
Fine Line
Secret Second
Draw The Line
Bigger Than You
Charlotte Carpenter plays a run of dates in July with Kelli Blanchett and SOFT LAD (both fresh from playing with Self Esteem), with her own full band headline tour following in November-December.
WITH SOFT LAD AND KILLI BLANCHETT:14th July – The Finsbury, London
27th July – The Victoria, Birmingham
28th July – Black Prince, Northampton
30th July – The Castle, Manchester
HEADLINE TOUR:
22nd November – Folklore Rooms, Brighton
23rd November – Blue Moon, Cambridge
24th November – Firebug, Leicester
28th November – Oporto Leeds
29th November – Gullivers, Manchester
30th November – The Railway, Winchester
4th December – The Lexington, London
‘Not Good Enough’ is out now and Charlotte Carpenter’s debut album ‘A Modern Rage’ follows on 6 Oct.
Album pre-order via Bandcamp – https://charlottecarpentermusic.bandcamp.com/album/a-modern-rage