La Roux has revealed a “nervous breakdown” was behind her decade away from the spotlight.
In a new TikTok, the 38-year-old singer spilled all on a difficult period in her life and career that led her to flee from public life.
She wrote across a clip of her sipping a drink soundtracked to a remix of her iconic noughties hit Bulletproof: “You think you can hurt me?
“I literally wrote and sung this song, lost my voice, had a nervous breakdown and disappeared for 10 years.”
In a recent conversation with AnOther, La Roux – whose real name is Elly Jackson – opened up about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on her 2020 album Supervision.
She reflected as she prepares to launch her new LP: “Supervision [my third album] being totally marred by the [Covid-19] pandemic wasn’t ideal, so I’m very excited.”
La Roux is set to release the follow-up, Old Flames, in November, and she admitted the six-year gap was because she wasn’t sure there was “any point” releasing new music after her time away.
She added: “I’d only just finished my last album when the pandemic hit, so I wasn’t ready to start making a new record instantly. You need a gap before you make new work.
“I started f****** around with new sounds and new ideas. It took a couple of years to know if I even wanted to make another record or if there was any point.”
Elsewhere, La Roux admitted she hated being compared to David Bowie and Tilda Swinton.
Discussing her style inspirations, which also include Grace Jones, she said: “Bowie came to me much later. People used to tell me I looked like Tilda Swinton and David Bowie, so then I started looking at them.”
Asked if she started emulating their style because of the comparisons, she replied: “No, quite the opposite. It really annoyed me. I didn’t want to be like someone else, I wanted to be my own thing. I had been trying to look as weird as possible so I didn’t look like anyone else, and then I got compared to these two people. It was really f****** annoying.”