Caroline Polachek Performs on Tiny Desk, Shares Why Céline Dion’s Vocals ‘Made Me Weep’ on Acid
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Caroline Polachek is ending the Desire, I Want to Turn Into You era in style. On Tuesday, the signer joined NPR for a Tiny Desk rendition of some of the album’s standouts, shortly after sharing the poignant inspiration for the album’s final single, “I Believe.”
Backed by her band, the singer opened her performance with an acapella intro to “Pretty in Possible,” as she showcased her unique vocals as her backup singers joined her. The singer shined with her adlibs as she sang her album’s lyrics and moved her arms to the song’s rhythm.
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Polachek also performed tracks “Blood and Butter,” “Sunset,” and her track “I Believe,” which she said was the “one she changed the most” for her performance. She could be drinking from a chalice in between songs.
The new rendition comes as she announced “I Believe” as the final single from Desire Monday, featuring new gorgeous cover art, which sees the singer leaning back in a silver dress and gloves.
“This song felt right to end the series on, because it’s about endlessness,” she said. “I’ve heard it said that all particles will eventually rearrange themselves such that we will live everything again, but my gut says time is more like a spiral: yes we do return, yes the curve is familiar, but the form is never quite the same.”
“Love teaches us this too, that the beloved is everchanging, that hello is also goodbye,” she wrote, explaining that she was inspired to write the song after listening to Céline Dion’s “En Amour” while in “an Italian AirBnb while on acid.”
“Something about her voice cutting so simply and victoriously through the waves of synth chords made me weep, and then return to London determined to try my hand at a diva ballad so open-heartedly,” Polachek wrote, explaining that she made changes to the sounds on the record to “create the effect of sudden epiphany.”
“But amidst this wild web of touchpoints, the heart of this song is a dedication to Sophie, and her embodiment of contradictions which still shines a bright light and casts a long shadow,” Polachek wrote. “The lyrics say the rest: ‘I don’t know but I believe we’ll get another day together.’ “
Polachek released her album Desire back in February. She spoke to Pitchfork about the impact of the avant-pop producer Sophie on her career and sound in April.
“I started thinking about it in a more spiritual way, about what a diva really means, and there are two essential things. The diva is essentially a woman character and not a girl. There’s this sense of commanding strength of adulthood in it rather than, like, sexy ingenue. It’s very different,” she said. “The second thing is that the diva inherently holds this contradiction of being able to destroy and heal at the same time. That’s what makes a diva so precarious.”
“Like, you serve her the wrong kind of champagne, and she will cancel the gig,” she said. “Also, she has the power to make every single person in that room be at peace with themselves. You have the power to do both.”
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