NEW YORK – More than two decades ago, Kate Hudson took on the role of one of the most celebrated music fans to ever hit the silver screen: Penny Lane in “Almost Famous.” It is required viewing for record obsessives — and for Hudson, an extension of a lifelong adoration of music.
“I would die without music,” she told The Associated Press from Los Angeles. “I know what it feels like to sit in your room, put on an album, and dream. It can completely change the trajectory of your life.”
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On May 17, Hudson will get the opportunity to do that for other listeners when she releases her debut album, “Glorious.” It is an ambitious record, written by Hudson with her close collaborators Linda Perry, Johan Carlsson, and her fiance Danny Fujikawa, spanning folk, rock and synth, soulful ballads and big pop songs. “My influences move,” she says. “I didn't want to be pigeonholed into a genre.”
Hudson has been writing songs since she was a teenager, but the coronavirus pandemic brought up big questions and eventually, the desire to pursue an album professionally. “'What is the next half of my life going to look like in terms of my connection to the arts?' One thing that kept circulating for me was that if I didn't make an album, it would be a great regret,” she says.
And so, she gave into the process.
“I wanted to be an open channel,” she says. “I didn't want to overthink anything.”
She wrote 26 songs, 12 of which made the final track list. All the songs are new — self-reflections on her life, like “Live Forever,” which considers motherhood and watching your adult children leave home, or “Never Made a Moment,” about the end of a relationship and learning to survive without that person.
“Glorious” is the title track, which she says “embodies the album. It's about a life well loved — even in its challenges, it is glorious.”
She aims to uplift listeners with the record, in whatever way they find it resonates. “If there’s just like one person out there that takes the album, and then turns it on, closes their eyes and like, feels something shift in them, then I feel like I’ve achieved success,” she says.
“Or they get in their car, put their windows down and turn up a song really loud and just, like, feel great for a moment. That to me is why I want to make music. If we can get a guitar solo that, like, makes somebody feel explosive in their body, then I feel like I’ve achieved success,” she says, smiling. “It's really that simple for me.”