Tina Arena has shared a haunting cover of the New Order song True Faith. It is the first track released from her forthcoming EP, Way of the World.
The New Order tune first appeared on the band’s 1987 greatest hits collection Substance and remains one of the English group’s most recognisable songs. George Michael previously recorded a version of the track in 2011, featuring vocals electronically processed through a vocoder. Arena’s interpretation strips the song back to its rawest elements, bringing the lyrics to the forefront.
“Making the deliberate choice to focus on the lyric of True Faith was musically revelatory for me. It presented a blank musical canvas with endless vulnerability and space for me to explore,” Arena said of her new version of the song.
“It was always one of those songs that stood out to me when I was a kid. Faith, something that has become very controversial today, only because of the propaganda aspect of the way in which faith is perceived, is pathetic really,” Arena said in a short clip showing her recording the song in the studio.
Arena said she loves the song because she feels that without faith in something, life can become plain.
“That song really spoke to me. The idea of somebody’s faith, somebody’s individual choice in something, a belief, is wonderful.”
Produced by François Tétaz and Luke Howard, and recorded primarily at Melbourne’s Synth Temple, the upcoming EP reimagines six tracks from a range of artists, including Frank Ocean, Duran Duran and Depeche Mode.
For the title track, Arena takes on Way of the World, originally recorded by Australian outfit Max Q in 1989. The band was a short-lived side project featuring INXS frontman Michael Hutchence, multi-instrumentalist Ollie Olsen and prominent members of Melbourne’s post-punk scene. Max Q released a self-titled album in 1989 that included the singles Way of the World, Sometimes and Monday Night by Satellite.
The album has reportedly not been made widely available on digital streaming platforms, making it a collector’s item among music enthusiasts.
Written at the end of the Cold War, in the wake of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Tiananmen Square protests, the song comments on ideologically driven oppression.
Hutchence died in 1997 and Olsen died in 2024. Olsen’s widow, Jayne Olsen, welcomed news of Arena’s recording.
“I felt very emotional to learn this EP will be released on 16 October, the date Ollie passed away,” Olsen said.
Depeche Mode’s Enjoy the Silence has become a modern standard. Originally appearing on the British band’s 1990 album Violator, it became the highest-selling single of the group’s career. The song has been widely covered, with artists including Tori Amos, Nada Surf, Lacuna Coil, Susan Boyle, Patti Austin, Carla Bruni, Anberlin and Hybrid recording their own versions.
Ordinary World was a major comeback single for Duran Duran in 1992. Taken from the band’s seventh studio album, commonly referred to by fans as The Wedding Album because of its cover artwork, it remains one of the group’s most beloved songs. The track has previously been recorded by Adam Lambert and Paul Anka.
Reflecting Arena’s Italian heritage is Ada Mori’s 1973 song Torno Bambina. The track originally appeared as the B-side to Mare, Mare, Mare, Mare. The obscure release is an emotional pop ballad.
The final track on the EP will be Frank Ocean’s Cayendo, which was released in 2020 and remains his most recent official release. The EP will be Arena’s first release since her 2023 album Love Saves.
The new EP comes as a documentary about Arena’s life and career also is set to be released. Tina Arena: Unrave Me, which has its world premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival on 12 August and nationwide cinema release on 27 August.
Celebrating 50 years in the spotlight, the Helium Pictures production is an intimate, cinematic portrait told through two interwoven lenses – Tina the icon and Tina the woman – peeling back five decades of fame through archival footage and new interviews with Tina’s sisters, mentor Johnny Young, and peers including Celine Dion, Ronan Keating, Marc Anthony, Desmond Child and Jessica Mauboy.
