Singer-songwriter Alexia Rev shares her jarring truth in the stunning ballad “LA LONELY”. The forlorn piano and breathtaking melodies are proof that you never know what a stranger you might come across on a busy street is going through. What is happening in their mind and even if they look down when you smile at them – what is behind that gesture? Rev’s voice is sensitive and yet in its poignancy it stakes a solid claim of ‘this is who I am and how I feel’. One can’t help but feel empowered by her honesty. “LA LONELY” is intimate sounding and draws grand reactions. It stops you in your tracks.
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The truth is that I’m jealous of the way they are happy, Rev sings with modesty. Her voice is laced with daring warmth. Underneath that shell is just a human being pouring her heart out. And I’m still walking on the streets alone, she continues. Her voice isn’t hushed or mixed underneath the piano and moving synth. It’s elevated. Rev evokes an image of loneliness in a crowded scene and yet the irony is people, too, can feel just as lonely being in a relationship. The song draws inspiration from the stylings of Billie Eilish and Lewis Capaldi. I felt a sense of grayness and darker, cobalt colors. Still, Rev’s voice has ringlets of yellows and golds. She has a porcelain-like tone in her vocals that feels so dainty. You want to embrace her.
I’m looking down so no one sees my sorrow, she sings. This line really struck me. I’ve been in those moments when you feel less confident or frankly, you’re just not in the mood to be happy and you look away or just as she says, you turn to the pavement. What a universal feeling! In listening to this song, it’s easy to escape into a sad state-of-mind. You feel for her. I think Rev is really trying to communicate to her listeners that it’s okay to feel this way and because she does, she’s saying the exact words that perhaps a listener has been trying to define. I don’t think there’s an age limit on that – these emotions come and go with age, yes, but at some point, someone will make you feel like you don’t below or that you’re the third wheel.
On the first listen, my immediate reaction was ‘wow, teenagers will really connect with this track’. On the second listen, my mind went in a different direction. Imagine losing a loved one, being widowed. Rev translates that loss and pain so well in “LA LONELY”. We need songs like this to feel that pain, recognize it and realize that it’s okay. We’re not weird because we get jealous – we’re human. It’s actually quite refreshing to hear from an artist that wears their heart on their sleeve rather than fabricate and use filters around their ‘social media life’. You know what they say – it’s all smoke and mirrors. Not with Alexia Rev. She’s as real as it gets. “LA LONELY” makes you feel like you belong.
Garth Thomas