On 30th January at 5pm, songwriter and choral director/arranger Gitika Partington will release thirteen albums simultaneously, and without setting out to, she will break the current world record for the most albums released in one day, which currently stands at twelve.
Comprising 130 original songs written and recorded over a five-year period, the project began with the idea of nine albums. Then ten. Twelve became the structure. Thirteen turned up anyway.
During the pandemic part of the process, Tom Robinson of the Tom Robinson band and BBC Radio 6 and Amazing Radio DJ described Gitika as ‘a force of nature’ for producing nine virtual choir videos with help from community filmmaker and choir member Bob Karper. Check out “video killed the radio star”!
Gitika created the thirteen albums as part of a sustained songwriting practice rather than a commercial release cycle. Composed incrementally over the course of five years, including periods marked by significant challenges. Moments of unbelievable light were interspersed, and the weekly songwriting which felt like an anchor. The first twelve albums form a chronological musical record of time passing with a thirteenth album of songs that nearly got away- a body of work intended for wandering, reflection, and long-form listening rather than singles, algorithms, or drip-fed promotion. Lots of the songs are messages to Gitika from Gitika – stories and comments on the day she wrote them. Lots are about returning home, uncomfortable moments, little blasts of therapy, quirky moments. Pleasing no-one but herself.
This release is an artistic gesture as much as a musical one. This project emphasizes that creativity doesn’t require permission or external validation. It encourages anyone making stuff to ignore self-doubt and focus on just making art for its own sake, valuing the creative process over the result.
Now it’s time for the songs to be free now so Gitika can make some more room behind the sofa for something new. All thirteen albums are being released simultaneously. This approach allows listeners the freedom to begin their journey with any album that catches their attention, encouraging exploration and discovery at their own pace. The structure deliberately avoids prescribing a starting point or a preferred order, the songs just come in the order they were written, inviting the audience to wander through the music in whatever way feels most natural to them.
All songs were created in the iheartsongwritingclub.com community. Each week a word came through as the weekly prompt. The club based in Brisbane, Australia, has mostly Australian Songwriters who Gitika has been ‘virtually’ hanging out with for the last 5 years. Hopefully one day she will get to go and hang out with them in real life.
The focus lies in being present and making room for the creative process, for ongoing continuity, and for the genuine expression of artistry. This project is about valuing the journey and the ongoing act of creation, giving space for artistic practice to flourish without the pressure of external benchmarks or accolades.
Thirteen albums, crafted over five years and released simultaneously, represent more than just a prolific outpouring of music. This act is not intended as a grand statement or a play for acclaim, but rather as an invite, open permission for everyone to embrace their creativity without having a critic in the room or in their head. It also feels like a proper ‘release’ akin to setting a huge flock of birds free all in one go in one sky, rather than drip feeding the algorithms. The simultaneous release encourages us all to let go of the need for approval or traditional measures of success, reminding us that art can exist purely for its own sake in whatever form we like. And that it is bloody good fun. One little piece of fun can turn into a volume of work if you just keep doing it regularly and steadily.
And as an extra creative endeavour to top all of this off, when 30th January arrives, Gitika will be reaching out for 130 people via her social media channels to handwrite one lyric from the project on an A4 page with their own extra creative input i.e. doodles, origami, paintings, handprints or wherever inspiration takes them. These notes will then be made into a printed book to further celebrate this amazing project and bring the lyrics into a physical form.
All thirteen ’Twelvefold’ albums are released on 30th January 2026.
