Roisin Murphy - Scarlet Ribbons

"What becomes of a father's love? When another has his daughter's love? I'll always be, always be your little girl"

Album: Overpowered [2nd studio album]
Recorded: London, England
Genre: Lounge, Downtempo
Album Release: October 15th 2007
Length: 5.34
Producer: Roisin Murphy & Dan Carey
Vocalist: Roisin Murphy [age 34]
Label: EMI, Parlophone Records

Official Audio

Charts, Streams & Sales

Belgium (albums): #4
UK (albums): Certified silver in July 2013 (60,000 + units sold)
UK (albums): #20
Spotify: 1,100,000 +
YouTube Music: 380,000 +
Choice Music Prize 2007 Nominee (losing to Super Extra Bonus Party)

Credits

Bass, drums, guitar, keyboards,

Details

• The song is about how a daughter, even as an adult, never stops loving her father "I'll always be, always be your little girl." Murphy dedicates the song to her father Mickey Murphy.
• Roisin Murphy lived on her own when she was 16, in a Mancunian council flat, hundreds of miles away from her family in Ireland. It was far from glamorous but as the years rolled on she found herself a young, blonde girl who loved fashion and clubbing and had started singing over her boyfriends music. Moloko was born. It was electronic dance music. Something for the clubs. It was energetic and glamorous but it had a tough edge lacking in some of their contemporaries.
  
  In 2007 EMI wanted Roisin Murphy to be the new Kylie Minogue but she was having none of it. They had seen her disco fuelled, dance floor bangers made as one half of Moloko and decided it was something they could sell. And why not? Here you have a blonde, fashionable singer with a recognisable name and a proven track record. She had already reached #2 in the UK with her group. What's to stop her reaching #1? Hollywood here she comes or as Murphy herself had put it "you have to be a cunt to be a pop star."
  
  EMI really pulled out the stops for the record, which would be called 'Overpowered'. They spent £125,000 on the album artwork alone. They recorded in Barcelona, Miami, Philadelphia and London with big gun producers who had #1 singles and Grammy awards. Overpowered charted at #20 in the UK and didn't chart at all in the US. A disappointment to say the least.
  
  Don't get me wrong, the record is Murphy's highest selling as a solo artist. It is certified silver in the UK. It just isn't Kylie Minogue or Katy Perry and it was never going to be. Beware of great expectations. The label thought they had a singer they could mould and promote in a way that suited them but what they really had was someone who ready to wear, prêt-à-porter, down to earth glam. Murphy knew what she wanted, and when somebody dresses the way she does in public, telling them what to do will never work. Calvin Harris, who she had worked with on 'Overpowered', described her as "a bit mental".
  
  "In most cases, apart from Overpowered, I work with a maverick producer who comes with his own thing. The two of us trust each other, it’s usually people in my orbit and it feels natural and unforced. It’s not made around a boardroom table. ('Now we’ve got to make a proto-house disco record with this pretty girl [for] 75,000 people.’) Even though Overpowered was built like that there was one boss, and that was me." (Roisin Murphy talking to thequietus.com in 2020)
  
  Much in Murphy's signature style the video for the single 'Overpowered' features her performing in a glamorous outfit and then riding home on the night bus. Later she gets off for some greasy chips. For me, this sums up the tension in her work. She is from a council house but she is fashionable and glamorous. She is a pop star but she eats fast food. Her music is feminine, with vocals breathless and raspy, but strong. She is herself in a way that is often called avant garde but I think is just untimid individuality.
  
  

  

  Down to earth glam
  

  
  'Overpowered' would be her only record for EMI and she wouldn't release another album for 8 years. When she did, 2015's Hairless Toys, the pop sensibilities were gone. The record was experimental deep house and it was critically acclaimed.
  
  
• The artwork for the album, which features Roisin dressed in flamboyant outfits while in everyday settings, such as a cafe, is designed to portray the singer as an everyday diva. The photoshoot cost £125,000. An event Roisin described as such:
  
  "I work extremely hard, but I love every minute of it. Although I couldn't work as hard if I felt there was a ceiling on anything. I spent £125,000 on four pictures for the sleeves for Overpowered and I loved spending it!"
  
  

  

  This photograph cost £31,250 to produce
  

  
  
• "The way I started in this business was all tied up in sex and sexuality, because of meeting
  Mark who became my boyfriend as well as my collaborator. That frisson was there in the work relationship all the time. And since we’ve broken up, I’ve taken a little bit of that with me. I’m not saying I flirt with producers, but for me there is always some kind of male-female chemistry in the way that I work." (speaking to MailOnline in 2009)
  
  
• When with Moloko, Murphy's style was more akin to the popular ladette sub-culture of the late 90s, early 2000s than that of a fashion icon. The cover for 2003's Statues album features Murphy wearing a loose fitting t-shirt, aggressively holding two pints. She looks like something you would expect from a typical Brit outside a pub on a Friday night and marks a distinct change from her later image. As Murphy moved further away from Moloko, and it was her herself who had creative control, she became more artistic, flamboyant and downright bizarre. People expected her to become more of a disco queen but she became more art pop, which certainly surprised the executives at EMI.
  
  

  

  Roisin Murphy style contrast between Moloko years and solo years