Heard It Here First

[Content Warning: The following content contains themes of sexual assault, self-harm, domestic violence, mental health issues, and more.]

Every artist creates for different reasons. Aurelia uses art as a part of their healing process and a way to divulge heavy issues that affect women and LGBTQ+ youth. The debut of Aurelia comes two years after a suicide attempt hospitalization followed by a PTSD diagnosis. These events would lead Gabriella—the mastermind behind the project—to use music intentionally as medicine and as an avenue to tell her story. While this marks their first release under this new moniker, Aurelia has writing and production credits ranging from Icarus Moth and Ehiorobo to Coca-Cola and ShareNow.

Today, this ultra-talented producer, singer, songwriter, and visual artist has brought us a harrowing tune, ‘’Wax.” With Halloween around the corner, this track expresses that while we place fear into things unknown, the scarier things in life are the horrors that happen right before our eyes. 

”The song is very much about being stuck, and being desperate for affection, that stems from both a childhood sexual assault experience (personally) and from rejection of my real character and sexuality. About constantly freezing your own progress for other’s comfort. The wax hardens around the formed character, in the same way one gets ‘stuck’ in their own behaviors.

That was the idea behind the song and the video, that abusive behaviors can manifest and trap you. I was trapped and contorted into a real monster, someone I didn’t want to be, and involved myself in relationships that were completely destructive. It culminated, and 2018 I was hospitalized and diagnosed with PTSD, CPTSD, depression, and was held for being extremely suicidal. I’m healing now, but not brand new. I wanted a video that encapsulated that time period, and I wanted the MV to be horror-esque, to demonstrate how I felt: monstrous. I wanted to talk about how suffocated I was via the abuses I endured, and the ways I tried to constrain myself.”

”I had a working demo of this song for quite a while, but was looking for more collaborators. I was actually referred to Sindrum (the co-producer on this track) via our mutual friend McKenzie, who you might know as Mothica. She is such a wonderful human being, and is always looking to connect friends and people, and actually also gave a bit of feedback about the song itself. After Sindrum took a crack at it, I developed it further and sent it around to a few other people who really helped shape the arrangement as well. I would always recommend having a pair of good ears you can trust.” -Aurelia

‘’Wax’’ draws the listener in with its eerie aura and Aurelia’s imploring vocals. Given its frightening fills, melancholic synths, and gruesome bass, the intensity of the project is commensurate with the message expressed within the lyrics. Shortly following the release of the track will be a chilling music video written, directed, and edited by Aurelia themselves. Connecting the theme from the audio release to a visual experience, the music video illustrates Aurelia’s vast array of artistic abilities at work to bring her story even further to life.

Be sure to give Aurelia’s ”Wax” your eyes and ears for a moment and watch her upcoming music video featuring their debut tune.

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