The Secret He Had Missed (feat. Julia Cumming)

Manic Street Preachers started writing their 14th studio album, The Ultra Vivid Lament, in late 2019. "The Secret He Had Missed" was the first song James Dean Bradfield wrote for the record. The Manic's vocalist told HMV as soon as he penned it, he knew he would treat the album like "The Clash playing Abba." Bradfield added: "When something like that happens naturally, you have to latch on to it. There was no mission statement, no M.O. You get a clue that pulls you in the right direction."

Bassist Nicky Wire's lyrics tell the story of the sibling Welsh artists Augustus John and Gwen John, and how opposite their lives were.

A talented draughtsman and portrait painter, in the early 20th century Augustus John was considered the most important artist at work in Britain. But critics claim that after the First World War, his powers diminished and his work degenerated into pretentious showmanship. A Catholic convert, Gwen John lived in France for most of her life and many of her paintings depict the Dominican nuns of a French convent. She was the lover of French sculptor Auguste Rodin. Nicky Wire told NME: "Augustus John was bohemian, reckless, amazingly talented but some might say wasted his talent. Then Gwen John was much more about the interior world, living an almost nun-like existence in France with very little possessions. It just goes to show how different it can turn out between a brother and sister."