Watch Lianne La Havas Perform ‘Bittersweet’ in a Living Room on ‘Colbert’
British singer-songwriter Lianne La Havas returned to The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on Wednesday night to perform a gorgeous rendition of her song “Bittersweet.”
Filmed at London’s Roundhouse theater, the performance features La Havas playing guitar and singing on a stage kitted out like a living room — an appropriate theme for quarantine. She was joined by vocalist Frida Touray for the stripped-down track. “Bittersweet summer rain,” La Havas belts to the empty room. “I’m born again/All my broken pieces.”
“Bittersweet” comes from La Havas’ latest self-titled album, released July 17th on Nonesuch Records. The album also includes “Can’t Fight,” “Paper Thin,” and a cover of Radiohead’s “Weird Fishes/Apeggi.”
According to La Havas, the sound she developed for the cover guided the rest of the LP: “It’s got to be my band, and I’ve got to do it in London, whenever people have time. Thom Yorke’s lyrics suggest finding a way out, and he’s used the imagery of the bottom of the sea and the unusual creatures that you might find there. For me, the deep means the unknown, when you get out of something so familiar. It can be scary, but he also says, ‘I hit the bottom and escape.’”
Lianne La Havas follows 2015’s Blood and her 2012 debut, Is Your Love Big Enough?