New striking strokes

5 April 2023

Artist: RUTH BLAKE
Who: DIY songstress from London

New single: NOT YOUR ANGEL

Blake: “I wrote this song after a sudden and unexpected break up, which I was trying to
make sense of. My ex made a comment about how shocked he’d been to see my angry side,
as if it made me lesser in his eyes somehow, and I felt completely betrayed, not to mention dumbstruck that he couldn’t understand that my rage was indicative of how much pain I was in. I felt as though my rage was something to be ashamed of and that just made me more angry.

“Learning how to express and channel my anger is an ongoing journey for me, and this song has been an important step in really owning it as a part of my wholeness that is not only valid but vitally important. So with this song I’m rejecting over-sanitised notions of femininity and reclaiming my rage as a healthy, vital force.”

TUTV: Not Your Angel crushes the eternal macho idea that women only have to be
beautiful, period. Ruth Blake knows what she’s talking/singing about as she experienced
a toxic relationship within that denigrating context. She actually does sound like an angel in this intro/retrospective musing embedded in an airy and crystalline synth sonority spiced with a booming bass beat, but the song’s lyrics are loud and clear.

I’m not your angel
I’ve got battle scars, I don’t bow to Mars
Turning the tables, I am rageful over you
You think I’m pretty
I think you’re shitty, cowardly
Dreaming of how I could tear you limb from limb
Burn away your sin, coz
I’m not your angel

The accompanying DIY video is an eye-catching realisation.

Written by Ruth Blake
Recorded by Ruth Blake and James Yuill
Produced, mixed & mastered by James Yuill / Online Recording Studio
Cover photo by Ruth Blake
Artist photos by Kay Dilley

RUTH BLAKE: Bandcamp – Facebook – Instagram