At just 15, Ava Valianti is showing that you won’t believe that she’s 15, with her insanely mature performance and songs that resemble diary entries cracked open and set to music.
Her latest single, “Buttercups”, is no exception. It starts off with gentle acoustic guitar plucking and Ava’s soft, high voice wrapping around you like a memory you don’t want to let go of. The chorus comes with her voice soaring to a falsetto and singing the refrain like you would to a baby. She sings, “Aren’t you my buttercup, my buttercup, baby?”
Just when you’ve settled into the dreamy calm, the track flips. Yeah, I didn’t imagine it either. Suddenly, the beat drops hard and fast against the strumming sparkling clear guitars guitars slice in, and Ava’s voice, now thick with pain, soars with raw emotion. It’s as if the song grows up in real time, the innocence cracks, and you’re left staring into the wreckage of what used to be love. It pulls the rug out from under you, and that’s exactly why it works.
We start suspecting just how sweet this love was, she was singing of up till now, it’s more like, she’s still deluded and can’t accept things fully. The beauty of “Buttercups” lies in this contradiction that comes like comfort laced with denial.
Already with accolades, radio play, and festival gigs piling up, Ava’s not just some teenage dream; she’s got the emotional chops and songwriting maturity of someone twice her age. With “Buttercups” leading the charge toward her debut EP this fall, she’s carving out her space in this cutthroat industry. Mark your calendars, because she has gigs lined up this August and September.
STAY IN TOUCH:
FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER | SPOTIFY | BANDCAMP | TIKTOK | WEBSITE | YOUTUBE
Review by: Naomi Joan