Carla Geneve’s new album Don’t Be Afraid is her most honest yet – and we are so here for it
Carla Geneve has always been real with her music — the kind of artist who tells it like it is, with raw vocals and lyrics that cut straight to the bone.
But her upcoming third album, Don’t Be Afraid (dropping 17 October), takes that honesty to a whole new level.
This time around, Carla’s gone deep into themes like fear, love, and accepting the messiness of life – inspired in part by the last words of poet Seamus Heaney. It’s a piano-led, vulnerable record born from a quiet chapter in her life, when she finally put down roots, bought a piano, and started unpacking everything she’d been carrying.
The first single, Better Believe It, is one of the most intense things she’s ever written. It’s inspired by Virginia Woolf’s suicide note, but Carla flips it from something tragic into a statement of strength and love. It’s a tricky subject to tackle, but she pulls it off with so much care it feels like a warm, honest hug.
Since her AMP-nominated debut and last year’s powerful Hertz, Carla’s been on a journey – including a bipolar diagnosis that shaped how she sees the world and herself. This new album reflects that growth with a softer, yet no less fierce, energy.
Producer Dan Carroll helped Carla shed perfectionism and let the music breathe, creating a sound that’s as much about space and subtlety as it is about passion.
If you want music that’s unfiltered, deeply human, and somehow comforting even in its rawness, Don’t Be Afraid is the one to mark in your calendar.
Listen to Better Believe It here and pre-save the album here.
