Jul 14, 2022 Photography by Tammie Valer
This week, Nashville-based singer/songwriter Alicia Blue is set to return with her new EP, Inner Child Work. Arriving two years after her 2020 debut album, Bravebird, the record sees Blue exploring inward and examining her own path through grief and healing after she moved to Nashville from her native city of Los Angeles. Ahead of the EP’s full release, Blue has shared one last taste of the record with her new track, “DTMS (Don’t Tell Me To Smile),” premiering with Under the Radar.
With “DTMTS” Blue diverts from her folk roots, instead crafting her take on shimmering indie rock. Blue’s layered vocal harmonies and plaintive melodies steadily build into an emotive ballad, bolstered by iridescent guitar textures and cathartic lyrical confessions. Meanwhile, the track’s lyrics explore the frustration of being told to smile by a loved one and the invalidation that comes with constantly having to present a pleasant facade一“So don’t tell me to smile / I’m not your puppet hanging on your silly string / I’m a real thing, if you want to be with me / Know that sometimes the sun isn’t going to shine.” READ MORE