Gabriella Cilmi has shared new single ‘Pieces’, the latest preview of her forthcoming album Pure Love. Written around the shock of seeing someone you once loved with somebody else, the song pulls feelings that appeared safely buried back into the present.
‘Pieces’ follows ‘Pure Love’ and ‘YRU Hanging Around’ ahead of the album’s release on 9th October 2026. Pure Love will be Gabriella’s first album in 13 years, continuing a return that has increasingly centred on creative freedom, live musicianship and leaving perfectionism behind.
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That direction has been building throughout Gabriella Cilmi‘s recent work. TuneFountain previously covered her return with ‘Pure Love’, before she confirmed the new album and November UK headline tour.
‘Pieces’ turns an old relationship into a fresh wound
‘Pieces’ was co-written with Julia Church and produced by Peter Miles, with Gabriella pointing to Roberta Flack’s First Take as an influence on its mood. Warm live instrumentation draws from 60s soul and R&B, while the song’s harmonies keep the arrangement connected to the broader classic-pop character of Pure Love.
“‘Pieces’ is about seeing the person you once loved with somebody else and the flood of emotions and questions that comes with that,” Gabriella says. “For this record I really wanted to have the female gaze at the forefront so I purposefully seeked out female collaborators.”
That led her to Julia Church, whom Gabriella describes as one of the best artists and songwriters she has worked with. The collaboration fits the wider approach to Pure Love, which was recorded with a full band live to tape at Middle Farm Studios in Devon and draws from soul, blues and classic pop.
The album has been shaped around stripping away some of the expectations Gabriella had carried earlier in her career. “‘Pure Love’ was about unlearning everything I’d known, throwing away perfectionism and trying to please people,” she says. “This record is me, unfiltered and raw.”
‘Pieces’ Review
‘Pieces’ makes sense as the next step in Gabriella’s return because its retro influences are tied to a specific feeling rather than treated as decoration. The live instrumentation and 60s soul character give the song warmth, while its premise is less forgiving: the uncomfortable realisation that moving on can look convincing until one encounter proves otherwise.
The Roberta Flack reference helps explain its restraint, but Gabriella’s focus remains on the questions that arrive when the past suddenly stops feeling finished. Alongside ‘Pure Love’ and ‘YRU Hanging Around’, ‘Pieces’ strengthens the picture of an album built around instinct, direct songwriting and performances allowed to retain some human roughness rather than being polished into anonymity.
Gabriella will take Pure Love on her first full UK headline run since 2014 in November, beginning at Hyde Park Book Club in Leeds on 19th November before dates in Edinburgh, Newcastle, Manchester, London and Birmingham. The London show takes place at Bush Hall on 24th November, with the tour closing at Dead Wax in Birmingham on 26th November.
Listen to ‘Pieces’ here, pre-order Pure Love here, or visit Gabriella Cilmi on Instagram.
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