Vanessa Carlton returns with first new music in 5 years

Back with new music following film scoring and a Broadway stint as Carole King, singer-songwriter Vanessa Carlton has unveiled ‘Animal’. It is the first track from the forthcoming album ‘Veils’, which is slated for release early in 2026. The track has a majestic quality to it. The piano focuses on galloping chords that eventually arpeggiate in the outro, but rumble softly like a quiet kingdom. Vanessa’s voice has been coated with an ethereal glaze, making her float around the music. The extended outro is particularly beautiful. It features layered vocals and a brassy horn arrangement that provides grandeur and scale. It’s a quiet classic for Carlton’s catalogue.

Speaking about the track, Vanessa says:

The song is about stoicism. The idea of knowing we cannot control external forces; she is being hunted, and she accepts the reality of what is happening. The acceptance allows her to truly see the animal. Does she even identify with this creature? Every human has an animal within them. Are you hunting? Are you being hunted? Who is the animal?

I’m excited to see where Vanessa Carlton’s new album takes her. The prog rock elements from her most recent album, ‘Love Is An Art’, worked supremely well. ‘Animal’ seems to take production nods from that album, whilst bringing in the songwriting structures from ‘Liberman’. If you haven’t kept updated with Vanessa Carlton’s music since her smash hit debut back in 2002, she’s consistently created superb music that is well worth any piano pop and piano rock music fans’ time.

For more information about ‘Veils’, and tour shows (Vanessa is playing Latitude Fest for a rare UK show in 2026), visit Vanessa Carlton’s website.

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