ALANA SPRINGSTEEN

                                                             "Trust Issues" 

                                                             Warehouse West Entertainment Records

Alana Springsteen has been able to show us a lot of different sides as to who she is as an artist/songwriter through her releases over this past year.

Whether it was the catchy, pop country feel on “Zero Trucks,” the intricate switches in time signatures on “Me, Myself and Why,” or the softer pace of the heart-tugging “New Number,” Alana Springsteen has set her signatures in motion by utilizing her voice in all the right ways to hit the emotional pull of the lyrics as she brings us through transparent songs about breakups, struggling to move on, and the confusing emotions that consume you amid a broken heart.

In many ways, her newest single “Trust Issues” combines all these different layers into one 3-minute midtempo package that leans on an interesting balance between intricate melody shifts and her emotionally packed vocals as she sings us through the aftermath of a breakup and how the brokenness has affected her.

Over the strum of a simple acoustic guitar, Springsteen sets the tone when she confesses as the song opens “I don’t recognize myself, baby you got me jaded.” However, it’s the first lines of the second verse, “I bought my therapist a house, with all the damage you did me,” that are the most important in the song as the overall lyric brings you straight into one of her therapy sessions as she uses most of the song to pour out her feelings as she relives how much she loved him and who she’s become because of him breaking her heart.

“I used to love you hard as hell and now you’re someone I hate, and I hate it.”

“I didn’t know you’d let me down from the way that you kissed me, it kills me.”

“The dumbest thing I’d ever done, is tell my friends that you were the one.”

Running through the gamut of relatable emotions, there’s a touch of brash sarcasm in the thank yous throughout the chorus – thank you for the lies, wrecking my life, breaking my heart, the scars, etc. – ultimately leading to the stark honesty of the hook that reveals that all she got in the end were “trust issues.”

While I was able to catch a live, acoustic version of this song a few days prior to it’s official release, the studio version presents a different vibe as it sees Springsteen once again using memorable, interesting switches in the timing within the melody between verse and pre-chorus, and then again with the chorus itself.

This dynamic songwriting style leans on taking big risks that are working and really making her stand out amongst a crowded scene, and when you combine that with lyrics that present raw, honesty, you get an artist who is surpassing the artist to watch buzz that she’s been tagged with and get one who is moving into her next chapter as one who’s arrived!

(Review Written By: Jeffrey Kurtis)

Do you like what you're reading on Today's Country Magazine? Donate today by clicking HERE

• Prev
• Next