Lydia Loveless today announced her highly anticipated new album Nothing’s Gonna Stand in My Way Again will be released on September 22nd, 2023, via the resurgent Bloodshot Records. A follow-up to her critically acclaimed 2020 LP Daughter, Nothing’s Gonna Stand in My Way Againcontinues the evolution of Loveless (she/her/they/them): a fiercely brave writer who bluntly assesses their life in song. Their trademark candidness and razor-sharp wit remain as they lay bare their raw pain—struggles with alcohol and depression, a breakup with their longtime boyfriend, and uncertainty about the future—but here Loveless’ voice is wiser and more controlled. And while she holds onto a vintage country heart and a heartland rock soul, this album also presents something new and matured: a sound akin to Rumors and Tusk-era Fleetwood Mac. Cathartic lead single “Toothache,” out today alongside a Katie Harriman-directed video, is bolstered by driving, kinetic riffs as Loveless sings about the mundanity of daily life feeling catastrophic enough to precipitate a breakdown.
Nothing’s Gonna Stand in My Way Again—named one of Pitchfork’s most anticipated albums of the year—is not only a break-up record drifting back to some of the best of its kind, like Richard & Linda Thompson’s Shoot Out the Lights, Superchunk’s Foolish and, of course, Rumors. It’s also a reminder to keep improving oneself, taking ownership and moving forward—alone, if needed. Captivating and complex, it’s a triumphant moment from an artist who’s continuing their stride. Pre-save is available here.
Loveless says “Toothache” was “inspired by a literal toothache and knowing there were way too many other things on my plate at the time to be concerned with my fucking tooth. The millions of little things that pile up when you’re broke and overwhelmed until you snap over the dumbest thing, like running out of dish soap…I struggled with whether or not I could write an anthem with the chorus just being ‘Now I’ve got a toothache!’ But I couldn’t get it out of my head. Sometimes you just have to go with your gut.” Of the video, she adds: “I really wanted to do something Bob Fosse inspired. Am I Bob Fosse? Absolutely not. But I think the bleak frustration came across regardless. We shot from 10pm to around 3am at Secret Studios. We all just felt like lunatics by the end of everything which is what the song needed.”
Around 2020’s release of Daughter on their own label, Loveless was living in North Carolina with their boyfriend at the time, stuck, away from the stages that they grew up on, isolated from their family, and going stir-crazy. As the world came undone and then back together again, Loveless returned to Columbus, OH, where her career first began. Starting anew, she found part-time work at a recording studio (Secret Studios) and began processing the last two years of her life. The title of her new album, Nothing’s Gonna Stand In My Way Again, came easy—like a mantra from the heavens.
Loveless has always been a brutally honest songwriter, one whose articulation of love, heartbreak and bad habits is wrapped not only in catchy melodies but also her finesse with words. Nothing’s Gonna Stand In My Way Again is a bold declaration from a person who has survived a lot. Here they lay out not only their pain and vulnerability, but also the strength and resiliency they’ve earned along the way, that only Loveless could hold.
