alayna delivers intimate and expansive new single, “If You Want My Love”
November 25, 2022 BY Jason Currell
Rising New Zealand-based singer-songwriter alayna has today released the delicately empowering new single and video ‘If You Want My Love’, from her upcoming album set for release in 2023. Intimate acoustic guitar and delicate vocals expand into cinematic choruses, of deep synths and layers of swirling vocals. In just 2 minutes and 38 seconds, alayna transports her listeners into a world of delicately glistening R&B with unforgettable pop hooks, as she explores universal themes of wanting to be loved.
Listen to ‘If You Want My Love’:
alayna.ffm.to/ifyouwantmylove
“‘If You Want My Love’ is about the longing to love and be loved in return,” explains alayna. “It’s about wanting this, despite our better judgements or the confinements of whether we are ready to open up our heart again after it’s been hurt before. It’s looking at nature and the workings of the world and wondering if this is just what we’re meant to do, why not? Why wait?”
Written with Noema Te Hau, the track was recorded and produced at Noema’s and Big Fan Studios, with drum additions from Simon Gooding. The single was also mixed by Simon Gooding and mastered by Joe LaPorta from Sterling Sound.
“Noema and I were just writing for fun; we didn’t really know where it would end up, as the first version was a lot different production-wise,” says alayna. “Once the song started evolving, we kept refining it until it became really massive. We don’t really know how it ended up where it did, but I’m so happy with it.”
Also out today is the accompanying lyric visual, animated by Izzy Lawrence. A gorgeous visual depiction of the track, the video explores the similarities between the fluidity and movement between flowers in nature, and how natural giving and receiving love is between humans.
“We wanted a moving visual showing various flowers in their cycles,” says alayna. “The video showcases various flowers/nature, emphasising the opening lyric of “I watch the leaves turn red / they don’t put up a fight, they just do what they’re meant / do we do what we’re meant, too?”
WATCH: If You Want My Love (Official Lyric Video) below:
Currently based in Auckland, alayna has been an avid explorer of herself for years, and, though she’s just coming to terms with herself now, she realizes, too, that she’ll be ever-changing, evolving, and continuing to figure things out. Her upcoming new material sees alayna slowly transition from a 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 could be attributed to these influences and the experiences that shaped her.
alayna’s debut EP Sweet Soul was released back in 2018 and amassed over 30+ million streams. The single “Falling Autumn” reached #8 on Spotify’s US Viral chart and got spins on BBC Radio 1. The EP’s closing track “Between Dusk And Dawn” is an emotionally raw ballad she co-wrote with Grammy Award-winning FINNEAS. Her acclaimed sophomore EP Tender came out in 2020, in which HillyDilly said she “has one of the best voices, and her delicate melodies are second-to-none… she continues to impress on each release.”
alayna is currently putting the finishing touches to her debut full-length studio album for Nettwerk, due in 2023.
