Alicia Waller’s latest single is a complex self-portrait rife with duality and tension.
“I wanted to capture the moment of great belief in oneself,” says the New York City-based singer and academic, who’s a faculty member at the renowned Harlem School Of The Arts. “But also the doubt that inevitably follows.”
Waller will have to power through any self-doubt as she ramps up for the release of her debut album, Louder, Then (Frente) on May 29, With help from bassist and co-producer Marcos Varela (Mingus Big Band, Billy Hart), the classically trained soprano sidesteps her opera skill set for a liberating exploration of soul, jazz and R&B. With the expansive “My Day, Part II (If For The First Time),” Waller aims to harness that “spark of inspiration that emboldens an artist to endeavor upon a new creation.”
“Ultimately, the song ends in the decision to believe in—and stay truthful to—the purity of that initial spark,” she says.
We’re proud to premiere Alicia Waller’s “My Day, Part II (If For The First Time).”
—Hobart Rowland
