"Set Her Free": alayna's new album pursues serenity in unconditional love

Taking even further steps towards artistic liberty, alayna's newest flagship project Set Her Free explores how transcendental love can be— for it is omnipresent, within and around us. The songstress, spiritually rejuvenated by embracing love in its truest forms, lets these songs become the emotional medium for expressing longing, heartbreak, and ultimately renewal. For those tuning into this album, the experience can be best described as deeply sentimental for how emotionally unconstrained and intimate it is.

The New Zealand-based songstress has a magnetizing timbre; warm and soothing, her vocals bear a soulful and mellifluous signature that carries quavering fragility and heartwarming tenderness. It is this hard-to-replicate, well-honed talent that has propelled her status in the music scene. After a few years of releasing singles and EPs that drew plenty of attention globally, the debut album "Self Portrait of A Woman Unveiling" (2023) was lauded for its introspective and self-exploratory themes, and although successful in casting a much-deserved spotlight on alayna's discography, it came with the cost of a creative burnout.

Over the span of a productive radio silence, she quietly and scrupulously knitted together another album— this time adopting even greater keenness to broaden horizons. Set Her Free was molded over the course of a year and a half, in synergy with different collaborators (notable mention being executive producer Ben Malone, who played a major role in shaping the album).

During the onset of the LP, "Love of My Life" immerses the listener with gleaming harmonies: alayna's delicately fluttering, pristine tone melts over the richly ambient composition as she yearns from the center of her heart ("I wanted to be like the girl of your dream life..."). "I See You" is sun-kissed and blissfully lush, made remarkable by the singer-songwriter softly cooing words of comfort. The soul-baring vulnerability revealed in the piano-laden ballad "Hold Me" is simply stirring, establishing the emotive prowess of the performer. 

On "Softly," the album diverges into other styles, unfurling as a velvety and shimmering nu-soul composition, glued together by smooth bass notes and a dusty drum sequence. "Animal" unshackles the deepest of unspoken desires, a lustful and sultry performance moving in a silky gait with crisp percussion and seductive vocals. 

The album spreads outward after its midpoint, mostly noticeable in the subsequent tracks. For instance, the chill-hop construction of "Mother's Mother" is sincerely devoted to boundless affection found in matriarchy; the follow-up "Tiny Spaces" is wondrous in how compact yet encompassing love can be. Concluding on a melancholic note, the titular act touches upon the most painful yet selfless act of love: one of letting go and flourishing independently (resonating in its refrain "What of I, if I set her free?"). 

Stream Set Her Free on Spotify and YouTube, and stay connected with alayna through her Instagram and TikTok.