Anna Straker SHARES THE NEW EP ‘GROWING PAINS’

Throughout 2020, Anna Straker has gone from strength-to-strength and poised herself as one to watch for 2021. It’s seen her excel by discovering her true identity as an artist. She has embraced the confidence to say exactly how she feels about a variety of life experiences, channelling those stories into songs that simmer with attitude. She releases her eagerly anticipated emotional and bold EP ‘Growing Pains’ 

The ‘Growing Pains’ EP opens with the most recent track ‘Break Up Song’, an exhilarating fusion of hefty house rhythms and electro-pop power, which landed on 12 Spotify New Music Fridays last month including the UK and US. ‘London Knows’ is the immensely vulnerable take on recovering from sexual assault and the uncertainty of healing from trauma. ‘Boys Will Be Boys’ is an uncompromising statement about the patriarchal world we live in. The previously unreleased ‘More Like You’ explores depression and the longing to escape it. And finally, the EP closes with ‘Good Days, Bad Days’  featuring Gabrielle Aplin, which reveals Anna trying to embrace both the negative and positive moments in life.  Collectively it creates a snapshot journal of her recent life and a vital statement of her strengths as an artist.
 
Anna explains, “This collection of songs means so much to me, and it is being released on essentially the one year anniversary of my sexual assault. I couldn’t feel more powerful. The bad things that happen in life can lead to something beautiful”.

 
Anna has earned a flourish of fresh critical acclaim this year from the likes of Wonderland, The Line of Best Fit, Clash, Metro, Clout as well as airplay at Radio 1 and BBC Introducing plus a host of impactful playlist additions.
 
Anna Straker was born in London and raised in Lincolnshire, yet she was always destined to return to the capital. She was first discovered in her early teens, when producer Mike Spencer (Emeli Sandé, Years & Years) chanced upon a cover she had posted on YouTube. He recruited her as a backing vocalist on various projects he was working on, most notably with Rudimental.
 
By the time she was 17, Anna was back in London, working on music, hitting the clubs and using her job as a cleaner at a doctor’s surgery as an impromptu party spot. Her debut EP ‘Serious’ resulted in early attention from Radio 1’s Annie Mac, Pigeons and Planes, Nylon, Metro, Wonderland and Hunger, plus sets at Glastonbury and The Great Escape.