Aáyanna - Don’t Look Back (Album)
After returning from a brief hiatus of self-doubt, I found myself scouring my Twitter & Instagram feeds for new music when I came across a live performance from an unfamiliar artist who went by the name of Aáyanna. Within the 45-second video to her music, I was sold on her angelic voice and passion to bring together happiness in her art. After this introduction, I find myself with her recently released album “Don’t Look Back,” which I took as an order to not turn around but instead looked forward with my findings. The album was incredible, it was a beautiful walkthrough of her life, and I adored it on many occasions and was played throughout my new awakening helping me find my worth for writing again.
The project begins with the intro titled “Gas Light,” where Aáyanna doesn’t waste time explaining the fault in your decisions to play with her emotions. It provides a powerful and emotionally charged start to the project, delving into the complexities of relationships. From the lies, you make of confessing your love for her but not meaning it, to false psyche outs of leaving with no intention to do so. It’s emotionally draining for her to continue believing it’s her making mistakes when it’s you feeding the demons that influence this behavior. Aáyanna paints the victimization in your words so vividly that you can hear the pain in her voice reenact those familiar feelings once again. While the tale is sorrowful, the raw talent of spilling out her heart in the record is incredible and immediately shows you that you have something special embarking on this songstress arc. Changing up the tempo and the temperature, Aáyanna gets a little “Risky” on the next track, explaining that even though she’s in your city, please don’t hit her up.
“I take my apologies in Zelle or designer.”
Two bad b***hs on the side of her, and she’s in the place where you can find her, not playing you no mind but dealing with the fact she can have anyone on one knee for her with the snap of your fingers. While the vibes are building in a sultry manner, it begins to dim as we conclude into the next record, breaking open a moment of silence for a heartbreak. “Good Girl” talks about her genuine feelings for someone crumbling into nothing due to their negligible consequences. She was the good girl you wanted, the companion you can trust, the best friend you need, and yet you found a way to fuck it up in the worse way possible. Now, she disguises the tears she had for you as scenarios of your downfalls, with the hopes they come true to see you in uttered agony like the day she found out about you. It’s a record of despair, but again, Aáyanna flourishes even with pain in her tone; she lets her heart open and sings to the listeners for a brief moment of embrace. It’s one of the things I enjoy about an artist of this magnitude, the ability to share her life in hopes it heals someone’s pain who’s going through something similar.
How much do you love her? What would you do to show how much she means to you? Would you kill for her? She asks this sinister question to see how far you would go for her love. “Kill For Me” places the metaphorical gun in your hands and allows you to determine your next steps to show just how far you are committed to her. Would you stick up someone for her? Ride or die till the wheels fall off? Would you point and aim at an opp? Aayanna takes it a step further for you to confide in her trust and show your love really means more than your word; it’s a poetic expression that you have to acknowledge to be welcomed in her heart. Hand in hand goes her following two records, “Won’t Cry & “Can You Take It,” not because of the similarities but because they use a softer tempo to get emotional in the wordplay. Take “Won’t Cry”; she slowly discusses that her everlasting love for you is now deteriorating in their relationship, where she needs to ask if you still have feelings for her. She can take the answer; she won’t cry, but she needs to know because it doesn’t feel right anymore. Aáyanna wonders if this was ever real, the fact she has to ask these things makes it nonexistent for her, but if so she won’t shed a tear for you. “Can You Take It” is my introduction to her music and what made me an instant fan of her music. She discusses the intimacy of feeling your movement when y’all bodies are together, the energy, and the moment of euphoria before you reach your point of climax. Its deep affections record that you can pinpoint her delivery to be divine. Her outro record gets straight to the point (literally), stop all the talking and teasing and just “Show Up.” she’s waiting for you, and her time is precious for you to waste it. Please don’t ask what time is good; it isn’t a factor, let her know you’re on the way as soon as the address is sent, by plane, train or automobile she wants you quickly don’t tell her you miss you but rather say it face to face. A love balllad like this finishes up this impressive performance from Aáyanna, who opened up her soul and allowed us into her spiritual journey. She is a genuinely gifted songstress with the openness to give us everything in her music, and we appreciate her passion for welcoming us into her world.
Best believe moving forward, we are backing every release she does; she has a few new fans in San Antonio that I know will grow nationally. I pray that one day, I get the chance to see some of the singles performed in a live setting in the near future. We highly recommend you check out her project here while sharing it on all social media avenues to introduce someone new to her music.