Paloma Faith insists her new record 'isn't a revenge album' but her ex-husband still won't listen to it and admits talking about a breakup 'feels like kicking the scab off every time' in emotional interview

Paloma Faith has opened up about her split from husband Leyman Lahcine and how it inspired her new album, The Glorification of Sadness.

The singer, 42, married the French artist, 36, in 2017 and welcomed two daughters together before splitting in 2022 after nine years together.

Appearing on BBC Breakfast on Thursday, Paloma said she was 'devastated' by the split and that her record was about capturing her grief.

She said: 'It's my sixth album. It's all about illustrating the stages of grief I went through when I broke up with the father of my children.

The voices of 'My Children' are included on the album. I feel devastated by the situation, but it describes those stages of grief, so to speak. It's been a little over two years now and it's been a labor of love.'

Paloma admitted that writing the album was helpful for post-breakup recovery, but talking about it again in interviews opened old wounds.

She said: 'As I was writing it I felt it was very therapeutic to do it. But coming back and doing interviews feels like kicking off the scab every time. As if you are experiencing all those feelings again.

'Fortunately, 50 percent of marriages end in divorce, so there are a lot of people in the country who will understand. People relate to it and it's like you're putting into words things that aren't necessarily said often in the context of popular music.”

Speaking about her decision to bare her soul in history, Paloma said she wanted to open up to the “invisible labor” of women, especially mothers, due to societal expectations.

She said: 'I think it's a taboo subject and that's not great. Many parents have come to me because of the songs about guilt and the invisible labor women undergo.

“There's a song called Bad Woman that's all about the expectations of women in society. It's quite a feminist record and by feminist I don't just mean for women, I mean to open people's minds because feminism affects all genders. Bad Women is about rejecting social pressure on women.

Paloma, whose two girls are aged seven and three, said: 'I actually think it's quite important to raise two daughters of my own.

“My three-year-old asks me to sing [Bad Woman] to her every night before she goes to sleep and she tells everyone she is a bad woman. And I'm very much in favor of her wanting to become one, because I think society relies too much on women.

'We're working, we're mothering, we always have to be nice no matter the amount of stress, and when we're not, people say, 'She's a bit reserved.'

“And I don't necessarily feel like there's pressure on men at the same level and in the same way. So I actually feel a bit cheated by the patriarchy.

'It is an invisible mental burden that mothers in particular have. There's so much pressure, you know we have to be young, we have to be nice, we have to be mothers, we have to work – it's like, oh my god, this is a lot.'

Host Naga Munchetty asked the Only Love Can Hurt Like This hitmaker if she had thought about what Leyman thought about Paloma being so open on album, and what her children would think when they grew up.

Paloma responded, “Well, I feel like if you listen to the album, it's very focused on my internal experience. It's not a finger-pointing album, it's not a revenge album.

'It' is all about my inner experience and in a way I think it's quite positive because they've listened to it and have a bit more empathy.'

She insisted: 'I'm not an angry person. I realized in a very hyper-aware way that it takes two people to start a relationship, just as it takes two people to end it.

“And it's more about me accepting responsibility on my part than me saying you did this or that. It's not a public blame game.”

However, she revealed that Leyman had not listened to the record and did not want to hear it in full, with Paloma only playing him one song.

She said: 'My partner and I actually have a very good relationship. Obviously he's creative, so he's pretty empathetic to everything, but he hasn't really listened to the record. He doesn't really want to, he says, “Play me whatever parts you want me to hear.”

'I played Divorce for him because for me it's the only one that's really about him. All the others are about my own experience and I was like, you have to hear this one.”

Paloma became emotional, adding, “And it's the one with our children's voices on it that gets me every time I hear it, I just feel so choked up. I'm about to get better.'

It comes after Paloma previously admitted she had a 'nervous breakdown' after the break-up, saying it was 'the worst thing that's happened to me'.

She appeared on The Jonathan Ross Show on Saturday and currently discussed her relationship with Leyman.

She revealed: 'We're really good. We are doing very well and I think it is as good as it can be. I don't pretend to be like Gwyneth Paltrow, I don't consciously disconnect.

“Sometimes it's horrible, but we're navigating it and I think we're doing a lot better than some married couples.”

“My observation is that the reason our relationship is so good now is because I don't expect anything from him and vice versa.”

As for Leyman's feelings about speaking so openly about their split, Paloma said, “He knows what he signed up for.”

She added: “He was a little disappointed when he saw the end of my How You Leave A Man video. He said, “Why am I in the trunk?” It's a metaphor baby!

'He was a bit offended. But he knows now that we are together forever – it means that the fact that our love came together and made these children is absolutely eternal, it is infinite.

'We are in a different situation. I dedicated the album to him and my children to say this is infinite love.”