Tracy Bonham Reclaims Her Voice on LIFT, A New Spin on Her Self-Titled Debut 30 Years Later

Photo credit: David Young

Three decades after Tracy Bonham came to popular consciousness with the release of The Burdens of Being Upright, the two-time GRAMMY nominated alternative artist is re-examining the record with a new perspective. Her new album, LIFT, out on American Laundromat Records on November 13, uses her 1996 debut as a springboard for looking back at the intervening years of her life.

The album also provided the blueprint for Bonham's future in alternative rock. With songwriting that's clever, intensely emotional and rooted in her classical training on violin and piano, the record delivered three hits, including the angriest MTV video ever made, "Mother," which topped the Modern Rock chart. Thirty years down the line, the songs are still the same, but the deeper meaning has changed.

With the anniversary of the record, she says, she doesn't want to re-litigate that time. So Bonham sees LIFT as a chance to examine some of the feelings behind her early music - experiences that previously felt like the kind of rage and frustration more typical of a young artist - but that now seem informed by time in the industry, motherhood, grief and resilience.

"I've been lifting things that are heavy and the weight of other people's beliefs, things I've been holding onto for a long time," Bonham shares. "Lifting past that." The album, which shares a name with his debut record, is "the same songs, the same fire and same energy," but I Am lifts things up in a different way.

That change is especially obvious in the new take on "The One," a track Bonham wrote about a woman with whom she was having an abusive relationship. Now, the song serves as an anthem for all women who've been in any way abused or had trouble speaking up. The lyrics stay the same, but her delivery is no longer intimate, but more externally focused.

Bonham recalls a very emotional recording of the new version that altered her perspective. Standing before the vocal booth, she thought of the women who were abused, demeaned and deprived of a voice and told her co-producer, Ken Rich, "I think I should sing it for all those women who have not been given a voice." The session moved them both profoundly.

It reimagines one of her most famous songs without striping away the anger that made it work in the first place - only that rage now serves as her power, lending the song a new heft after having been sung for three decades.

Also on the new LIFT tracklist are three bonus songs: "Sunshine," "I'm Not A Waif," and a cover of PJ Harvey's "50 Ft Queenie" in which Bonham's violin replaces the cutting guitar of the original to highlight how her alt-rock influences have kept pace with the classical training that has been so vital to her musical calling. Bonham has previously cited Harvey's creative use of the instrument as an inspiration for her own decision to add violin to her own songwriting and live acts.

The birthday also comes at a time when Bonham is starting to reconsider the tag attached to her early work. "I hated the term 'Angry Young Woman' because that sort of set the tone for what my music was supposed to be about," she said. Bonham isn't interested in negating that iteration of herself or canceling her work from that period of time, she's simply trying to recognize what those songs once meant to her while embracing who she is now.

She has worked out her story that way, and that's now part of her upcoming live shows, which mark the anniversary of The Burdens of Being Upright and give fans the chance to learn the concepts guiding its remake. Bonham will bring "Tracy Bonham on Alchemizing Anger" to Hewlett-Woodmere Public Library in Hewlett, New York, on October 25.

Other upcoming dates are: 11/13 – Sonia, Boston, MA and 11/14 Drom, New York City The earlier anniversary shows also featured a unique Pittsburgh set with Maia Sharp and Liz Berlin for Jillith Fair and Women Who Rock to pay tribute to singer-songwriter Jill Sobule.

Bonham's music has been heard across generations since its original release, with her songs featured in other projects like Bridget Jones's Diary, the Showtime series Yellowjackets, and the Canadian series FEM. But LIFT sets the spotlight back on the songs that made her reputation in the first place, looking at her oeuvre in a way that only time can provide.

This release isn't just a step back in a breakthrough album. Instead, it's an exploration of what it's behind, with Bonham losing the zest of her early songwriting but transforming how that zest is perceived. The anger is still there on LIFT, but it's more than half. Instead, it's an element of an expression of how to survive, figure out who you are, and claim your voice.

LIFT releases November 13, 2026, via American Laundromat Records.