ALYSSA JOSEPH - ALIVE EP
Alyssa Joseph’s heartfelt EP alive cements her as a singer-songwriter to look out for, one that meshes vulnerable and intimate moments with gritty, angsty rock.
“I’m short and I hate pink.” This is how Nashville grunge-rocker opens up her alive EP on her song ‘sadboy’. Not only does her music hit hard on this four-song EP, but her lyrics as well. For anyone navigating the beginning stages of adulthood, the insightful and often humorously self-deprecating content on alive will hit home. The guitar is distorted and the drums loud, but there is a level of emotional depth in this piece of work that transcends a typical indie rock album. With the release of this honest and raw EP, Alyssa Joseph is showing the world that she’s a Nashville songwriter on the rise.
Joseph’s alive EP follows a clear story on her journey of self-discovery, reflected through the dynamics of her music. It’s hard not to rock out and laugh along to her first song ‘sadboy’, which pokes fun of the stereotypical “indie sadboi” prevalent in pop-culture, “the kind that are ultra sensitive but not sensitive enough to text you back”. Her next song ‘easier’ is both upbeat and melancholy, as she calls herself out for staying in a relationship that she knows she shouldn’t because “it’s easier”. The lyric video accompanying this song is absolutely one to watch-- Joseph creatively uses breakfast food to spell out the lyrics of the song, in an ode to New Jersey diner culture.
Alyssa Joseph goes deep in her third song ‘leaning’, which describes the period after she graduated college when she was forced to move back home with her parents in New Jersey and face judgement from her peers while she longs to move to Nashville. The lyrics candidly exposes the difficulties young millennials face in the world, as she declares “all my money goes to student loans and the god-damn government”. Finally, the self-titled track of her EP alive goes full-circle and it’s impossible not to feel the emotion through her vocals. The track goes on a rollercoaster of dynamics from soft to loud to soft again, reflecting Joseph’s own existential angst as she asks us “why am I here?!”
Listening to alive is like reading a page of Alyssa Joseph’s diary and one can’t help but feel connected after hearing her bear her soul. Joseph is carving out a new and more inclusive space in the Nashville music scene. She has made a conscious effort to find a diverse team to work with in Nashville and not just cis, white men. Joseph is open about the struggles of being a plus-sized woman in the music industry, saying “as a 17 and 18-year-old I told myself I could not be an artist because I didn’t look a certain way. It took years of growing my self-confidence and seeing trailblazers like Adele and Lizzo to feel confident in myself and have the courage to break the mold.” Alyssa Joseph’s heartfelt EP cements her as a singer-songwriter to look out for, one that meshes vulnerable and intimate moments with gritty, angsty rock.
Brendan Thabo
★★★★★