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Interview: Kimbra Is Waiting And Ready

By Michael Cerio

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — When we caught up with Kimbra, the eclectic New Zealand singer was in the middle of some spring cleaning at her home in New York.

"This is new album, new year, I'm ready" she laughs.

Everything is fresh for Kimbra who has recently released a few jittery, confident dance anthems off her upcoming album Primal Heart. Her third effort was originally due out this month, but has since been pushed back to April 20th. That hasn't stopped her from starting her new era though, one that's brimming with new beginnings.

"That's why I wrote the album the way I did, of course it was mimicking my life at the time" she explains. "I moved to New York, I had been to Ethiopia twice in the making of the record, I had discovered a lot about myself and kind of come to some new evolutions I guess, so that inspired me to make an album that spoke to some of this new found groundedness or courage or boldness."

Kimbra has grown a lot as an artist since she first burst on the scene with two Grammy wins for the song "Somebody That I Used To Know" with Gotye in 2012. That inescapable tune collected a couple trophies, inspired viral sensations, and still today remains a present earworm - even for Kimbra.

"There was a moment recently in a cafe in New York where I was just working, and then it came on" she laughs. "I sort of smiled to myself and I had all these memories fly back, it's just, what a whirlwind it was. It was cool. It was like my little secret."

"You definitely can't escape it. I've been there."

Kimbra
Kimbra | Credit: Micaiah Carter

For her latest project, The Grammy winner seems to have the most sincere of reasons for any delays the work has incurred. To hear her tell it, it comes from a real dedication to the art.

"In terms of letting it go, when's the right time? There's so many variable that come into play with that" describes Kimbra. "I do think that there's a great quote that 'you don't exactly finish a piece of art, but you abandon it', and I do sort of believe in that quite strongly. I also believe that you need to give things time to marinate, and sort of get those ideas out even if it doesn't reach final completion. You need to let an album go through all of its stages. It's like birthing a baby. It is! You need to let it go through all the processes and at some point you have to abandon it, but you can't do it too prematurely cause then you don't get the chance to see through maybe what might have come with a few extra months or a few extra days."

While we await Primal Heart, you can hear the singer perform some of her new material when she stops in Philadelphia at Union Transfer on Wednesday January 31st.

You can hear our full interview with Kimbra above, or click here for more.

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