Last month, Chicago’s Whitney announced their new album Spark, their follow-up to their 2020 LP Candid. After the release of the upbeat “Real Love,” they’ve brought the song to what became their Jimmy Kimmel Live! debut.
The performance is trance-like and dreamy. Upon releasing the track, the band originally said they wrote it “in June 2021 right after a cross-country move back to Chicago. I was experiencing heightened levels of anxiety and panic, while the entire city was re-emerging from isolation. Iʼve been running away from and self medicating my anxiety for as long as I can remember, but for whatever reason, it felt like it was time to dive straight into it. During late night sessions over a two week period, we captured the embrace of anxiety and fear in a way that resonated with us immediately. We spent the next few summer nights driving on Ashland with the windows down and the song turned up. It felt like an emotional and musical burst of light and weʼre so grateful to finally be sharing that with people.”
The anxiety doesn’t feel present in this performance, though. The song flows with a sense of tranquility and acceptance.
Watch Whitney play “Real Love” above.
Spark is out 9/16 via Secretly Canadian. Pre-order it here.
Source: https://uproxx.com/indie/whitney-real-love-jimmy-kimmel-live-performance/