Fresh off of releasing her debut album, Alayna performed three of its songs for the latest Rolling Stone AU/NZ ‘In My Room’ session.
Released at the beginning of July, Self Portrait of a Woman Unravelling is a 14-track collection that charts the Kiwi singer-songwriter’s attempts to understand herself as both a creative and a person.
“I’ve had this album concept in my head for over five years and knew that it needed to be written, it was only about when it felt it was the right time,” Alayna, who was recently featured in Rolling Stone AU/NZ‘s Up-And-Coming Aotearoa Artists series, said.
“I knew that diving into exploring this subject would be confronting, but what I wasn’t prepared for was that the more that I leaned into myself, the more the woman I was so desperately wanting to get a grasp of would unravel further.
“This album documents my process of leaning in, the subsequent unravelling that happened, and all the questions and answers that I experienced along the way.”
Alayna recorded almost all of her vocals at Auckland’s Big Fan Studios alone (“so many of the songs were so personal”), and she returned there with a trio of musicians to record her ‘In My Room’: guitarist Noema Te Hau, keyboardist Forrest Thorpe, and drummer Damian Graham.
To begin, Alayna performed “A World Without You”, revealing that the track was a favourite of hers. “It’s a love song for someone really special to me,” she said.
After a rendition of another album highlight, “Arrived”, she finished with “If You Want My Love”. “It just about leaning into and nurturing all the relationships around you, and wanting to love and be loved in return,” she explained before performing the track.
You can watch Alayna’s full ‘In My Room’ session – which was filmed and directed by TwoCommas – above.
Alayna’s Self Portrait of a Woman Unravelling is out now via Nettwerk Music Group.
