Laura Mvula has revealed that she found out she had lost her record contract in a forwarded email that was just seven lines long.
The singer-songwriter told fans in January that she was “so sad” to have been dropped by her label, Sony, after releasing just two albums.
.so sad Sony have dropped me today but thankful for where they've gotten me to. Excited for the future. so much music I want to write ?☺
— LAURA MVULA (@lauramvula) January 26, 2017
Now she has spoken in more detail about the way her relationship with Sony ended. “I didn’t see anyone, I didn’t hear anybody’s voice. I just read words. It felt so cold and cruel,” she told the BBC. “Not even the fact that I was dropped, the way that the whole thing happened. To be treated like that doesn’t feel quite just.”
Mvula’s 2013 debut album ‘Sing To The Moon’ was nominated for the Mercury Prize and went gold in the UK. Last year’s follow-up album ‘The Dreaming Room’ was also nominated for the Mercury Prize after receiving very positive reviews, but failed to achieve the same level of commercial success. Mvula also told fans in January that she was “genuinely hurt” not to have been nominated for a Brit Award this year.
“I was definitely naive in the beginning,” Mvula said in the new interview. “When I was signed, I thought when someone says, we love you and we’re with you until the end, that’s what they mean.”
She added: “It doesn’t work like that, it’s business. And that has certain implications if you are not popular or there aren’t enough elements in what you do that draws in the masses. The album culture is, ‘Momentum, please… when’s the next record coming?'”