ane-brun-i-wanna-know-what-love-is-premiere
Photo: Ane Brun

Ane Brun – “I Wanna Know What Love Is” (video) (premiere)

Ane Brun recreates Foreigner's famous "I Wanna Know What Love Is" as a gorgeous and affecting folk-pop song.

Norway’s Ane Brun has a compelling new album, Leave Me Breathless, releasing 6 October in which the singer re-interprets 14 classic songs from various pop and rock greats such as Radiohead, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Nick Cave, Sade, and more. The record includes her version of Dylan’s “Make You Feel My Love” that she sang to celebrate his 2016 Nobel Prize for literature. Brun impressively makes this entire set of songs her own with entirely original and fresh takes on this familiar material.

For her take on Foreigner’s hit power ballad “I Wanna Know What Love Is”, Brun strips things down to their essentials, removing the bloat of the original and discovering a lovely and moving song underneath. Who knew a Norwegian folk-pop singer could resuscitate an overladen, schmaltzy classic rock tune in such sublime fashion? Ane Brun elevates the song by focusing on the emotions and supplying a clean and lean arrangement.

As for the video, Brun says she “filmed these clips late this summer when I was at my family´s place by the North Atlantic Coast. It was the only night I was completely on my own on that trip, and the evening sun made this amazing light! I decided to try to film a little with my phone and a macro-lens and experimented with the light and the contrast between the crystal clear close-up macro-shots and the blurry shots at a little distance. I tried to express the loneliness and the storytelling of the song in this way. I edited the video with French filmmaker Valerie Toumayan.”

TRACK LIST

“I Wanna Know What Love Is” — original recording by Foreigner

“Always on My Mind” — original recording by Elvis Presley

“Unchained Melody” — original recording by The Righteous Brothers

“Hero” — original recording by Mariah Carey

“Show Me Heaven” — original recording by Mariah McKee

“Into My Arms” — original recording by Nick Cave

“Stay” — original recording by Shakespears Sister

“How To Disappear Completely” — original recording by Radiohead

“By Your Side” — original recording by Sade

“Girl from the North Country” — original recording by Bob Dylan

“No Reason To Cry”‑original recording by Tom Petty

“Right in Time” — original recording by Lucinda Williams

“Make You Feel My Love” — original recording by Bob Dylan

“Big Yellow Taxi” — original recording by Joni Mitchell

FROM THE POPMATTERS ARCHIVES