Shannon Sionna - Vienna (Album)

It’s been a long time coming but “Mother Nature” takes her sweet time. The past few years plus have been sort of a fever dream for Shanny, chock full of emotional intensity & harsh life lessons & as a result, she came to a crossroads, as most artists in her position eventually come to. This life she leads is not for the weak & as felt on her single “Halfway to 30”, she’s been going through such a transformative period & that becomes even more exemplified in her opus here. Not only is this record ambidextrous in its style but it’s homages in its title, originally a record by the great Billy Joel to the Luther Vandross inspired cover art showcase her finally stepping into her own, fearless in spilling out the real & raw emotion out of her cauldron. 

She starts the record off, almost war torn from the battles faced. Her body is limp as she attempts to lift herself up “Off The Floor”, knowing that, the person she hoped would extend out an olive branch, doesn’t have a hand nor ear to lend. It’s gotta be tough not being accepted for all that you are & you can feel that pain of a child not feeling loved & wanted re-emerging as they call it deuces on her, for whatever twisted reason they convinced themselves was for the best. A person can only be broken down so much before they eventually decide enough is enough. This is usually when the person who’s been showing no mercy tends to beg for your mercy but she has none to offer. Why should she wait around for potential when she’s the Sun? Apparently her light has become too bright for this person to handle, as they clearly would much rather pull out all the stops to dim it. Maybe when she didn’t know any better, she would crawl back to them for help but after however long she’s put up with this abuse, they can keep their peace treaties to themself cause she ain’t signing shit. Their little olive branch can snap like the frail little twig it is. She’s picking herself up off the floor cause at least then she won’t have to grab hold of a hand who’s only purpose is to pin her down to the floor.

I don’t think that boy is gonna take too kindly to her newfound realization of the power she had all along but who is he to complain? I doubt the boy recognizes it was his own insecurities that have brought out her bad bitch attitude. All the biddies are coming out of the woodwork to this anthem. It’s Shannon at some of her most fiery & ferocious yet! Whoever she’s speaking to, has had her fucked up for too long so, it’s not so much her being rude, though I’m sure that’s how it was taken, it’s just her being blunt with them but boy did they make a sorry mistake. Did they not know that hell hath no fury like a woman’s scorn? When men get our fragile little feelings hurt by a woman, we tend to put down their feelings down more than we probably already have been doing so it’s refreshing to hear her shut down these notions that she’s “for the streets” just cause she’s no longer “for your sheets”. Brooklyn Michelle, who’s the only feature on the record, comes through to match her energy on this long awaited collaboration. She was doing just fine for herself before you showed up so if you wish to leave now, she’s wasting no time showing you the door. You can’t even really pity the poor sap who thought she was gonna plead for him to stay. It’s another classic verse from Brooklyn with her managing to squeeze in so many different flows & vocal textures on top of her brash lyricism. She’s used to being left hanging on a thread but unfortunately for them, she can always hold it down on her own.

On the title track, which I must point out is my personal favorite, Shannon is trying hard to find that balance within herself again as she teeter totters between these different emotions. In relationships sometimes, we can tend to either get lost in them or lose ourselves in the process. She’s found herself in this predicament, possibly making excuses for this person as it’s the only love she’s ever known, constantly chasing those highs but the lows are so far underneath the dirt, she’s not sure if she’s willing to keep clawing her way back out for some cheap dopamine hit. As much love as she clearly still has for this person, whether or not their passion ran as high as hers did, she’s no longer willing to have these mind games ran on her. One second you want her then the you don’t, that hot & cold behavior is manipulation. No wonder she’s lost touch with who she truly is at her core & anybody who’s been caught in the middle of such cyclical torture understands the difficulties you must face when attempting to break free from it. As seemingly impossible as it may feel, Shannon is entering those fears cause how else is she to see what wonders may lie on the other side of them? That self love journey is a frightening & tedious path to walk along but she’d rather that than continued being lead down the garden path. A primrose one may sound nice in theory but that’s all it is, a cute idea.

Things begin to feel much more hopeful on “Rescue Me” when she finally musters up the strength to pull herself out of this abyss. That’s one of the hardest truths for us to hear, that nobody is coming to rescue us, no matter how much we expect it. There’s no knight in shining armor pulling up on a gold stallion to slay our demons for us, rather we have to be that for ourselves. Though I feel she’s more so speaking to her younger self, as I’m sure that’s who she sees everytime she stares at her reflection, I think it can also be applied to those strong relationships in our lives, whether friendships, romantic, familial, we all got people in our corner who want the best for us & will go out on a limb, willingly to protect us. The one skit on the record “Parental Guidance” lets us know that, both her parents are those light sources for her to help navigate her through the darkness she’s found herself in. As someone who’s never had an opportunity to ask these questions to their own & never will, hearing how strong their relationship is brought me to tears, just the poignancy in their words & hearing how proud they are of their daughter for overcoming, it’s as powerful as any of the actual records. You get to hear directly where all that spirituality & wisdom Shannon consistently exudes, spawns from. 

The pain we all have to deal with in this lifetime can make us grow impatient as we wait for some sort of alleviation. It’s not that simple though fore there is no such thing as a speedy recovery. You can’t put a time limit on grief, no matter what it is that you’re grieving so Shannon is merely asking for everyone’s patience as she figures out how to move forward with her life. Sometimes people can take you distancing yourself in order to recollect yourself, personal but she’s letting you know that she’s just stuck in her own head for the time being. As I said before, leading a life like hers is not for the faint of heart, you already seen what it’s capable of doing to her so, maybe just show a little compassion. I feel like people have such a lack of empathy, especially when they assume that your life is all peachy keen just cause that’s for the most part what you see as an outsider looking in, you don’t get to see the blood, sweat & tears cried when the cameras are off & the audience have all gone home. Even the most illustrious lives can be a bit lackluster. 

However, to close out this multi-genred masterpiece, Shannon brings us into her mind for a little “World War Me” on “Life or Death”. This outro really brings out the rebel in her doesn’t it? She may have that soul in her soaringly angelic vocals throughout most of these numbers but on here, we see she’s a Rock N Roll baby at heart, hence, a true warrior as she slays her enemies one by one, refusing to remain under their thumb. In the beginning of this album, she was more than just lying dormant on the cold ground, she was covered by tons of earth rubble while everything around her was in ruins, too weak to emerge from the ashes like the Phoenix she is but by the end, she manages to, spreading her wings & swooping down on her enemies with fiery fervor. She’s not being taken out that easily, she’s going out with a fight & with that attitude, I’d say she’s prepared for any & all obstacles she will no doubt face the further up that incline she goes, in both her life & career & although she went all out on this album, proving that she’s more than meets the eye, I feel like the only person she truly needs to prove anything to, is herself & goddammit did she prove her past self wrong. She’s capable of more than she knows & this is barely even a surface scratcher for her, so imagine what else is left for her to prove the more she pushes herself.