Three years after they staged one of the most successful comebacks of the decade, enduring British pop legends Steps – aka H, Claire, Faye, Lee and Lisa – return once again with their sixth album, What the Future Holds, out today, and a huge arena tour across the UK and Ireland in November / December 2021, with 4 extra dates on sale now. The brand-new album can be streamed or downloaded on all digital platforms, and is also available to purchase in CD, Vinyl and Cassette formats. Listen here.
Within hours of the release, the five-piece have already scored their first #1 with the album hitting the top spot on the iTunes Album Chart. Steps new single To The Beat Of My Heart also features on Spotify’s New Music Friday playlist and Apple’s New Music Daily. To The Beat Of My Heart premiered on Zoe Ball’s Radio 2 show this week and has been confirmed as their third single from the album, following in the footsteps of title track What The Future Holds and Something In Your Eyes.
Steps have a flurry of exciting promotional appearances confirmed for this week. They will be performing on the prestigious Royal Variety as well as BBC Breakfast (today), Sunday Brunch (this Sunday), Loose Women (Dec 1st) and Lorraine (Dec 8th). They also wanted to bring the party to their incredible fans with multiple virtual events taking place over the coming days, including a Facebook Listening Party and Q&A, a virtual club night with G-A-Y hosted by Drag Race superstar Morgan McMichaels, an Instagram Live with special guest Michelle Visage and a Twitter Listening Party. More information regarding the virtual events can be found here.
If you thought 2017’s hi-energy Tears on the Dancefloor album, which was led by the giant glitter ball-sized banger Scared of the Dark and concluded with an arena tour that shifted over 200,000 tickets, was a step into the big leagues then brace yourselves for What The Future Holds. The album’s thundering, gloriously dramatic title track, was written by pop queen Sia. Built around a typically Steps-esque bittersweet refrain of “one foot in the past and one foot in the future”, it felt like the perfect statement for a band who have taken a wave of nostalgia and alchemised it into an album full of future anthems. Alongside Sia, the versatile album also sees them reunite with the likes of Fiona Bevan (Ed Sheeran), Ina Wroldsen (Shakira) and Karl Twigg, who worked on their first three albums, plus experiment with the likes of Hannah Robinson (Kylie). “We will never forget the past with Steps, it’s what made us,” says Steps, “but we’ve got to look to the future too.”
The What The Future Holds album is available on all digital platforms plus CD, Vinyl (including a limited edition transparent pink edition) and Cassette (including a special collector’s box with five separate transparent pink solo cassettes with an intro from each band member). The album can be purchased now from the Steps Superstore here.
Steps have also announced their sure-to-be epic What The Future Holds 2021 Tour headlining 18 arena shows across the UK including two dates at London’s The O2. This week the band announced 4 extra dates to the tour, and these are on sale from 10am today. Steps will be joined on the tour by the brilliant Sophie Ellis-Bextor as special guest. All tickets are selling fast and are on sale now from aegpresents.co.uk/steps.
