Love Don't Let Me Down

Julian Lennon didn’t plan to make another album after his 2011 LP, Everything Changes, but as
time went on, something shifted. The artist found himself revisiting songs he’d written and
recorded 30 years ago, and decided to update the production, to make the tracks more relevant in
today’s world. The creative process sparked new music as well. These songs, drawn from the
past three decades, have evolved into Julian’s seventh studio album, JUDE.
“Funnily enough, a lot of the older work and the new work tended to fit well together,” Julian
reflects. “This was very much a journey of 30 years of songwriting and producing of work that
never quite made it onto other albums or projects before. But I still felt the songs were valid and
valuable enough to be finished and put together as a collection. Mainly because, we are all still
dealing with the some of the same time old questions, from 30 plus years ago, to present day.
Making JUDE was truly a journey through my life and through all the questions I’ve had—not
only for the world, but for myself. It’s very much like looking in a mirror all these years later.”
Although Julian began pulling the album together prior to the pandemic, the genesis of JUDE
began more than five years ago—and being stuck at home, during the pandemic, was oddly
resonant with what he’d been writing about. With the world on pause, Julian found himself
isolated, recording in his home studio.
“The pandemic certainly allowed me to focus on getting on with getting on, especially in regards
to the album,” he recalls. “In the wildest of ways, the pandemic focused me. I could direct
everything creative within me, purely to the songs, the lyrics and the music. The weirdest thing is
that with most of the songs on this album, you would have thought that I’d written them about
the present climate. But I was halfway through the idea of this project before the pandemic hit.”
The album’s title is a reference to the Beatles’ iconic song ‘Hey Jude,’ written by Paul
McCartney, to cheer up a five-year-old Julian following his parents’ separation. The album
cover, a photograph of the musician’s younger self accompanied by McCartney’s handwritten
title, to the arrangement of the song, illustrates how Julian has come to terms with his past as he
looks forward to the future.
“I always had a love/hate relationship with the song, because as much as it’s a song of support,
it’s also a dark reminder of what actually happened to My life and Mum’s life, during the
breakup & divorce of My parents,” Julian says. “There were a lot of questions and a lot of
answers that came out of that over the years. After so long, I just felt like I had become Jude,
eventually. Many of the songs on the album are me trying to get to a place of peace and
forgiveness on so many different levels. Not only with myself, but with other people.  JUDE
felt like the right title at the right time. It’s really me confronting my past, where I am now, and
everything else in between.”
Although JUDE is a deeply personal album, it also reflects on some much larger themes. Songs
like “Every Little Moment” and “Freedom” deal with the collective anxiety felt, during times of
love & war, internally, as well as externally. In this moment when everything feels so uncertain
on a global scale, the songs on the album offer a sense of wonder, encouraging the listener to ask
those questions, that need answers, for us to be able to move forward. ‘Stay’ an ambient ballad,
is about being there for someone who is struggling with their mental health, while the pianodriven song “Breathe” sees Julian finding peace and balance in a time of emotional upheaval. For
the evocative closing track, “Gaia,” Julian collaborated with Paul Buchanan and Elissa Lauper
for a reworking of a favorite instrumental of his, Bill Laurance’s “Cables.” The song, a poetic
conversation between Mother Earth and humanity, embodies the overall feeling JUDE conveys.
“It’s become one of the most beautiful songs on the album, if not the most beautiful,” Julian
says. “It’s thematic, as are quite a few songs on this album, and it’s very much soundtrackoriented. That wasn’t necessarily the purpose in the beginning, but if you close your eyes, many
of the songs do feel like a soundtrack to a film. During the past few years we’ve all had a chance
to take a deeper look inside, and outside. There are layers and layers of emotions and ideas in
this album—more than on any of my previous albums. It’s going to take a good few listens to
really dive deep into this one.”
Born in Liverpool, England, Julian began his artistic trajectory at a young age with an inherent
gift for playing musical instruments, which broadened into the cinematic and visual arts. His
melding of uplifting introspection and thoughtful social commentary with refined hooks, has
made for a compelling seven-album body of work. Outside of the seven albums, Julian has
continuously contributed to musical projects that resonate with his artistic vision and core values.
He’s since found a career of self-expression through photography, documentary filmmaking,
philanthropy. He’s the author of several books, including the New York Times best-selling Touch
the Earth trilogy, completed in 2019; and children’s graphic novel The Morning Tribe in 2021.
Julian’s work extends beyond his art, as well. In 2015, through his nonprofit, The White Feather
Foundation (TWFF), in honour of his late mother, Julian launched The Cynthia Lennon
Scholarship for Girls, a scholarship program for girls in Kenya. Since then, the Foundation has
awarded over 40 scholarships to girls throughout Africa, and in 2021 expanded the scholarship to
art students in the U.S. In September 2020, Lennon was honoured with the CC Forum
Philanthropy Award in Monaco, and was named a UNESCO Center for Peace 2020 CrossCultural and Peace Crafter Award Laureate. The following year, he was honoured with the
World Literacy Award for his humanitarian work through TWFF.
Everything Julian does, comes back to the same thing: Connection. Whether it’s writing and
recording songs, taking photographs, or working on philanthropic projects with his Foundation,
he hopes to create a sense of relatability and collective union. With JUDE, Julian offers both
solace and hope, learning from the past, and focusing on a future that is bright, for all. He may
not have all the answers, but the songs suggest that we can find them somewhere, together.…
“I hope that all the work I do, has some element of connection with people,” Julian says.  “For
me, that’s part of what writing/creating is all about, connecting and coming together with your
audience. I think this album is as deep and self-reflective as one can get. It’s about taking a look
inside—a look in the mirror, but also acknowledging that everything around you, can affect you
greatly too, along with how you react… Action reaction…Writing this album, helped me see
things that were hiding in the shadows before, that have now come to light”

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