KARISSA ELLA

                                                                "Hometown Bar"

                                                                Independent Release

Karissa Ella emerged to the forefront as an artist to watch when she released “Vintage” about a month ago, allowing us to travel on a feel-good, nostalgic trip back in time to when life seemed so much easier.

She now returns with “Hometown Bar,” another song dripping with nostalgia as she takes us inside the mind of someone who is chasing after their dreams but is in the middle of the wondering struggle of what life would be like if they hadn’t.

The softer pace lets Ella wrap the emotional tilt of her vocals into each word she sings as her incredible voice stands boldly in the spotlight.

She transparently brings us to that place that we all arrive at when we’re chasing our dreams and hit a wall that stops us momentarily and makes us start to wax nostalgic on where we come from and what it’d be like to go back to it now.

She takes us to her small-town, everybody knows everyone hometown bar, as she introduces us to the specific people that patron it, giving this song an ultra-personal touch, but one that’s done in such a clever way that we can all relate it to the people we know who match the descriptions she gives such as: 

“Jack’s on the barstool, hasn’t moved”

“Bobby in the back goes by Robert know, just like his dad I heard how he’s got 4 mouths to feed…with one paycheck for two weeks.”

She confesses later in the song that she’s experiencing feelings of guilt because she got out, while the chorus sees her wondering who she’d be today if she had stayed instead of listening to her mama when she told her to leave and chase after what she wants – something she sings of in the bridge.

The truth is that most of will stay put and chase our dreams, but there’s always those moments that will catch us off guard and slide us into a what if scenario that plays out in our heads before we shake it off and step forward into our hopes and dreams again.

This vulnerable feeling is perfectly captured by Karissa Ella as she invokes our own emotions to come flooding out, while masterfully holding on to the buzz that’s already surrounding her as she gratefully accepts the artist to watch tag that’s been placed on her. 

(Review Written By: Jeffrey Kurtis)

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