Her 2006 debut solo album entitled Beloved One was shortlisted for the Mercury Music Prize and was released through Lou's own label Infinite Bloom. Rhodes' second album, Bloom (A&G Records/Infinite Bloom), was released in October 2007. Her third album, One Good Thing (Motion Audio/Infinite Bloom), was released in early 2010.
She released her third solo album One Good Thing in 2010 and became an author in 2012 with her children's picture book, The Phlunk (Strata Books). Follow-up, The Phlunk's Worldwide Symphony was published in 2014.
In 2012 Rhodes also contributed an essay to The First Time I Heard The Smiths, part of an ongoing series where musicians/writers tell their stories of first hearing the music of an iconic artist or band.
Rhodes released the singles "All The Birds" in April, and "All I Need" in June 2016. A month later, the album theyesandeye was released through Nude records. The album includes a cover of the song "Angels" originally performed by The xx. Other musicians on the album include Ian Kellet (guitars), Nikolaj Bjerre (drums), Danny Keane (strings) and [atist]Tom Moth (harp).
To Survive
Lou Rhodes Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Falling out of love can be so unreal
It starts out as everything
And ends up the worst kind of nothing
After all is said and done we just had to stop trying
I couldn't take any more but still it killed me it dying
Did I let you down or just let you go
Caught between love and hate
Destruction our only fate
Through it all there'll always be a place in my heart
For the love you gave me and where you tore it apart
Baby I had to leave
Tho' still it makes my soul bleed
Baby I had to go
Tho' the pain inside
You'll never, never, never know
To survive, to survive, to survive
Lou Rhodes's "To Survive" is a heart-wrenching song that addresses the pain and struggles of falling out of love. The song talks about the desperation of wanting to run away from the agony of ending a relationship. It starts as everything, and ends up as nothing, and the lyrics convey the pain of letting go of a relationship that once meant everything. The singer is caught between love and hate, and the only fate that seems to be left is destruction.
The song's protagonists are left with the question of whether they let each other down or just let each other go. They are struggling to move on from their past, and the singer swears that she'll never know the answer. The lyrics suggest that, no matter what happened and where they are now, their love was real, and it will always have a place in their heart. In the end, the singer had to leave, and it still makes her soul bleed. But, she had to go to survive.
Overall, "To Survive" is a song that captures the pain, conflict, and heartbreak of letting go of love. The lyrics are poignant and raw, a testament to the honesty and authenticity that Lou Rhodes brought to her music.
Line by Line Meaning
Wish I could run away from this pain I feel
The singer longs to escape the pain she is experiencing due to falling out of love
Falling out of love can be so unreal
The experience of falling out of love can seem surreal and difficult to comprehend
It starts out as everything
Love initially feels all-consuming and all-encompassing
And ends up the worst kind of nothing
But when love fades away, it can leave behind emptiness and a sense of nothingness
After all is said and done we just had to stop trying
The relationship eventually got to a point where both parties had to give up on trying to make it work
I couldn't take any more but still it killed me it dying
Although the relationship had become unbearable for the singer, the thought of it ending still hurt her deeply
Did I let you down or just let you go
The singer wonders if she disappointed her partner or if she simply had to let go of the relationship for her own well-being
For as long as I live I swear I'll never know
The singer accepts that she may never fully understand the reasons behind the end of their relationship
Caught between love and hate
The intense emotions that come with a break-up can leave a person feeling torn between love and hate for their former partner
Destruction our only fate
Despite their best efforts, the relationship was doomed to fail and lead to emotional destruction for both parties
Through it all there'll always be a place in my heart
Despite the heartache, the love that was once there will always hold a special place in the singer's heart
For the love you gave me and where you tore it apart
The love that the singer once shared with her former partner will always be intertwined with the pain of their break-up
Baby I had to leave
The singer had to make the difficult decision to end the relationship
Tho' still it makes my soul bleed
Although the decision was necessary, it still causes the singer a great deal of pain
Tho' the pain inside
The emotional pain caused by the break-up is still felt by the singer
You'll never, never, never know
The singer recognizes that her former partner will never fully understand the depth of her pain and regret
To survive
In order to move forward and begin to heal, the singer must find a way to survive the aftermath of the break-up
to survive
This repetition of the phrase emphasizes the importance of the singer's survival and recovery
Contributed by Bentley V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.