ALANA SPRINGSTEEN

                                                              "twenty something" 

                                                              Columbia Records/Sony Nashville

Alana Springsteen was well on her way to being one of country music’s next young stars when she announced her official signing with Sony Music Nashville. Songs from her back catalog such as “Trust Issues,” “Me Myself and Why,” and “California” all put her in the bright spotlight, but she quickly elevated to incredible new heights with her major label single, “you don’t deserve a country song.”

With Twenty Something, her three-part concept album scheduled to release in separate pieces throughout 2023, she’s already captured everyone’s attention with additional songs, “shoulder to cry on” and “goodbye looks good on you”; both - as well as the single - lifted from the very well received part one, ‘Messing It Up.’

With the second installment, ‘Figuring It Out,’ slated to hit shelves this summer (7/14/23), Alana now gives us our first taste of what to expect with the release of its title track.

The song, penned by Springsteen with Liz Rose, Trannie Anderson, and AJ Pruis, leans into an airy moodiness through the intro to provide the perfect back lay as the natural hush of her vocal embraces the cold hard truth that when you’re twenty something, “we know it all and don’t know nothing.”

Digging into the messy spot between growing up and still being a kid, Springsteen tackles the everyday toughness that arrives with that phase of life when you’re supposed to a grown up and you’re not quite ready to be one, perfectly describing several anxiety-riddled scenarios through each of the verses:

“You barely sleep, and you don’t eat”

“Try to fit in circles you want in”

“You swear you won’t regret that tattoo”

“Scared to say that the future scares you”

“Your heart is just a bag you’re punching”

However, it’s when she hits the chorus – specifically the second one – that as the music accompaniment bumps up a notch, she skillfully lifts her voice in such an impactful way that it fully embraces the natural frustrations that come with trying to figure it all out while transparently admitting you don’t know anything about being in love, growing up, etc.

Reaching through the speakers and striking the right chord with her target demographic, “twenty something” lands as a song that lets her peers know that they’re all in the same boat of this in between phase of life together. But perhaps more importantly for her career trajectory, Springsteen continues to impressively move the arrow from buzzed about artist to watch toward one who has arrived.

(Review Written By: Jeffrey Kurtis)

• Prev
• Next