We Speak Music
Gitika Partington releases thirteen albums in one day!
Songwriter and choral director/arranger Gitika Partington has released thirteen albums simultaneously, and without originally setting out to, she has broken the current world record for the most albums released in one day, which as of 2025 stood at twelve.
Comprising 130 original songs written and recorded over a five-year period, the project began with the idea of nine albums. Then ten. Twelve became the structure. Thirteen turned up anyway.
During the pandemic part of the process, Tom Robinson of the Tom Robinson band and BBC Radio 6 and Amazing Radio DJ described Gitika as ‘a force of nature’ for producing nine virtual choir videos with help from community filmmaker and choir member Bob Karper. Check out “video killed the radio star”!
Gitika created the thirteen albums as part of a sustained songwriting practice rather than a commercial release cycle. Composed incrementally over the course of five years, including periods marked by significant challenges. Moments of unbelievable light were interspersed, and the weekly songwriting which felt like an anchor. The first twelve albums form a chronological musical record of time passing with a thirteenth album of songs that nearly got away- a body of work intended for wandering, reflection, and long-form listening rather than singles, algorithms, or drip-fed promotion. Lots of the songs are messages to Gitika from Gitika – stories and comments on the day she wrote them. Lots are about returning home, uncomfortable moments, little blasts of therapy, quirky moments. Pleasing no-one but herself.
This release is an artistic gesture as much as a musical one. This project emphasizes that creativity doesn’t require permission or external validation. It encourages anyone making stuff to ignore self-doubt and focus on just making art for its own sake, valuing the creative process over the result.
Now it’s time for the songs to be free now so Gitika can make some more room behind the sofa for something new. All thirteen albums are being released simultaneously. This approach allows listeners the freedom to begin their journey with any album that catches their attention, encouraging exploration and discovery at their own pace. The structure deliberately avoids prescribing a starting point or a preferred order, the songs just come in the order they were written, inviting the audience to wander through the music in whatever way feels most natural to them.
All songs were created in the iheartsongwritingclub.com community. Each week a word came through as the weekly prompt. The club based in Brisbane, Australia, has mostly Australian Songwriters who Gitika has been ‘virtually’ hanging out with for the last 5 years. Hopefully one day she will get to go and hang out with them in real life.
The focus lies in being present and making room for the creative process, for ongoing continuity, and for the genuine expression of artistry. This project is about valuing the journey and the ongoing act of creation, giving space for artistic practice to flourish without the pressure of external benchmarks or accolades.
Thirteen albums, crafted over five years and released simultaneously, represent more than just a prolific outpouring of music. This act is not intended as a grand statement or a play for acclaim, but rather as an invite, open permission for everyone to embrace their creativity without having a critic in the room or in their head. It also feels like a proper ‘release’ akin to setting a huge flock of birds free all in one go in one sky, rather than drip feeding the algorithms. The simultaneous release encourages us all to let go of the need for approval or traditional measures of success, reminding us that art can exist purely for its own sake in whatever form we like. And that it is bloody good fun. One little piece of fun can turn into a volume of work if you just keep doing it regularly and steadily.
And as an extra creative endeavour to top all of this off, Gitika is reaching out for 130 people via her social media channels to handwrite one lyric from the project on an A4 page with their own extra creative input i.e. doodles, origami, paintings, handprints or wherever inspiration takes them. These notes will then be made into a printed book to further celebrate this amazing project and bring the lyrics into a physical form.
All thirteen ’Twelvefold’ albums are out now!
There’s something wonderfully provocative about writing a song about God and then dressing it in the musical equivalent of black leather, shadowy nightclubs and the occasional reference to 666.
On ‘Take It or Leave It’, London-based artist Alysha challenges the assumption that spirituality and alternative music belong in separate worlds, delivering a brooding collision of gothic electronics, new-wave tension and unapologetic self-expression.
It’s an intriguing contradiction, but one that makes considerably more sense when you consider the artist behind it. Raised on everything from church gospel and Lauryn Hill to Siouxsie & The Banshees, Alysha has never had much reason to believe that musical identity should be confined to one particular sound. Here, those seemingly opposing influences finally find a shared language.
Co-produced alongside Matt Rist, ‘Take It or Leave It’ replaces the familiar warmth of gospel with shadowy synths, electronic textures and a distinctly nocturnal atmosphere. There’s a hypnotic quality to the production, allowing gothic tension to sit comfortably alongside Alysha’s melodic instincts without sacrificing the track’s accessibility.
The most interesting element, however, isn’t simply the contrast between its sound and subject matter. It’s the way Alysha uses that contrast to question the expectations surrounding both.
Faith is often associated with a particular musical vocabulary, while gothic and alternative culture are frequently positioned as its natural opposition. Alysha appears considerably less interested in maintaining that distinction. Her decision to reference 666, a symbol traditionally associated with everything her song ostensibly celebrates the opposite of, feels deliberately mischievous.
Yet beneath the provocation, the message remains remarkably straightforward. As Alysha herself explains, it’s an alternative song about God. No elaborate justification, no attempt to soften the darker aesthetics, and certainly no suggestion that spirituality must sound a particular way to be sincere.
That confidence extends to the track’s exploration of personal boundaries. Even its title, ‘Take It or Leave It’, suggests an artist increasingly comfortable presenting herself without negotiation. Listeners are welcome to embrace the contradictions, but she isn’t particularly concerned with resolving them on anybody else’s behalf.
It’s a fitting direction for an artist whose career has already moved through R&B, alternative pop and electronic experimentation. Rather than abandoning her earlier influences, Alysha seems to be finding increasingly unexpected ways for them to coexist.
That evolution also arrives at an important moment. With October bringing her biggest live appearances yet, supporting LANY across three stadium dates in Japan and another in South Korea, Alysha is preparing to introduce her music to considerably larger audiences. Interestingly, that expanding platform hasn’t encouraged her to become more conventional. If anything, ‘Take It or Leave It’ suggests the opposite.
Ultimately, the single’s most compelling rebellion isn’t its gothic production or provocative symbolism. It’s Alysha’s refusal to accept that faith, femininity and alternative identity must exist within somebody else’s expectations.
There are plenty of artists making dark electronic music, and plenty writing about spirituality. Alysha’s achievement is making the combination feel less like a contradiction than an entirely natural expression of who she is.
After all, if faith is supposed to be personal, perhaps the music expressing it should be too.
-
We Speak Business1 week agoFunl Raises $2.5 Million at a $10 Million Post-Money Valuation to Transform How Creators Bring Events to Life
-
We Speak Entertainment1 week agoANGELICA FIGUEROA TAKES CENTER STAGE ON THE ANDREW EBORN SHOW ON OCTOPUS TV
-
We Speak Events1 week agoAI FILMFEST Calls for Entries
-
We Speak Music4 days agoNational Gospel Recording Artist Ellen Hayes Announces the Release of Her Farewell Album, Behind My Eyes