We’ve all been through those moments where you wish you could go back and talk to your younger self — and turning this idea into a lyrical masterpiece, Alanna Lyes unveils her latest track, “To My Former Self”. Opening with an emotive piano ballad, Alanna calls upon her bedroom-pop sensibilities to create a hypnotic soundscape. Accompanied by a visual which paints the scenes of a twisted fairytale, Alanna sits alone at a tea party, while her gentle vocals almost echo in the distance — as if she’s not really there.

In her own words, Alanna explains,“‘To My Former Self’ is a raw reflection on my life as a teenage girl and young woman, unable to escape an environment where I felt emotionally blackmailed into vanity, sex and inferiority. I often looked back on a past self with a degree of distaste, but here I really tried to forge myself into more of a sympathetic older friend in order to gain self-acceptance. The video really taps into the feeling of being trapped – in water, in a strange and isolated world… all a series of nightmares that I can’t quite seem to save myself from, so instead I have to learn to let go.”

Both haunting and comforting, Alanna divulges the good and the bad of growing older both in age and emotional intelligence. While handling sensitive and albeit uncomfortable themes, Alanna’s symphonic melody ensures a sense of freedom by the end. “To My Former Self” is out now on Freshly Squeezed Music, hacked from her 2021 album, Lies Here. To stream now, scroll below…