Aotearoa singer and songwriter alayna today announces her greatly anticipated debut album, SELF-PORTRAIT OF A WOMAN UNRAVELLING; which is set for release on July 7. Along with the announcement is the final single to be unveiled before the album’s release, the personal and reflective track ‘Arrived’.
Listen to ‘Arrived’ HERE
Spacious synths set the soundscape for ‘Arrived’, with alayna’s captivating vocals placed centre stage. An existential undertone creates an initial tension, as alayna’s exquisite songwriting takes her audience on a journey of personal discovery and understanding; the music expanding into a sense of vastness as she realises she “might never ‘arrive’ anywhere”.
“There’s a euphoric release of feeling as I let go of this pressure I’ve put on myself,” explains alayna. “‘Arrived’ is about how I’m feeling like I’m falling behind in life, and that everyone else seems to be doing better. I feel there’s too much noise coming from everywhere, making me think I should be ‘there’ by now. I come to realise that maybe I’ll never truly ‘arrive’ to that place of having it all figured out.”
Written and recorded at Parachute Studios with Josh Naley (Wells*), the single was mixed by award-winning engineer Simon Gooding, and mastered by Joe LaPorta from Sterling Sound.
“I had been having these feelings for a long time, and the day we wrote this, Josh was creating this incredible soundscape” says alayna. “Once I found my melodies I wrote the lyrics very quickly, almost trying to keep up with how fast they were coming. It felt so freeing to finally be able to articulate what I’d been feeling for so long, and I knew it was going to be a very important part of my album journey.”
The accompanying video for ‘Arrived’ will be revealed in coming weeks.
With her debut album SELF-PORTRAIT OF A WOMAN UNRAVELLING announced today for release on July 7, ‘Arrived’ is an “important part of the puzzle that I’ve been piecing together throughout my journey of writing the album.” It follows alayna’s recently released singles ‘Meteors’, ‘Cherry Tree’, ‘If You Want My Love’ and ‘Buckle In Baby’ - most recently ‘Buckle In Baby’ reaching #8 in the Hot 20 NZ Singles Chart. ‘If You Want My Love’ has notably already reached over 500k streams on Spotify alone.
alayna’s new material sees her slowly transition from an R&B and soulful singer to a singer-songwriter where her lyrical skills truly shine. Growing up listening to heavyweights such as Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen, alayna’s songwriting depth can be attributed to these influences and the experiences that shaped her.
Get ready for alayna’s debut album by soaking in the story and atmosphere of today’s single. ‘Arrived’ gives a taste of what’s to come, giving hints at the overarching theme of the album which “ultimately explores the concept of who I am, where I am, where I’ve been and where I’m going.”
Listen to ‘Arrived’ HERE
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