# La Roux: Old Flames review – a breezy, hook-packed twist on a breakup album

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/la-roux-old-flames-review-a-breezy-hook-packed-twist-on-a-breakup-album/
- Published: 2026-11-06T08:30:47+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-06T10:03:47+00:00
- Original publisher: The Guardian (publisher lean: Left)
- Original article: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/nov/06/la-roux-old-flames-review
- Topics: Culture, Entertainment, Music

## Key points

- La Roux turns a 17-year relationship’s end into a hook-filled album.
- Dark themes meet warm production and buoyant 1990s-inspired pop.
- The record focuses on moving beyond heartbreak.

## Summary

La Roux’s fourth album, *Old Flames*, turns the end of Elly Jackson’s 17-year relationship into a breakup record that favours movement and warmth over sustained gloom. Its opening songs address poor mental health and addiction with tense, claustrophobic sounds, before the album shifts towards a more buoyant account of heartbreak and recovery.

Made over six years, the album follows Jackson’s confrontation with cannabis dependency, autism and ADHD diagnoses, and a change in her signature look. Its kinetic 2000s R&B and 1990s-influenced pop pair painful lyrics with catchy hooks and warm production; songs such as “To Make Our Love” and “Night Vision” keep a breezy feel despite their sadness. On “Babyline”, Jackson sings of moving on, presenting vulnerability as part of growing through heartbreak.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.