Music Industry News

New Zealand-born, Los Angeles-based artist Alisa Xayalith shares her latest single, ‘Ordinary Love’, which serves as a preview to her forthcoming project.

The track was co-written with singer/songwriter Benjamin Francis Leftwich and produced by Tyler Spry (Cannons, girl in red, Dagny, One Republic) and Harry Charles.

The vibrant pop anthem celebrates the beauty and simplicity of everyday romance. Featuring Alisa’s tender vocals and employing diary-like songwriting with gentle guitars, ‘Ordinary Love’ encapsulates a newfound appreciation for the uncomplicated joys of love.

Alisa mentions, “‘Ordinary love’ feels like my own kind of coming of age story. The unfolding of something very real and feeling confused by how uncomplicated it can be when I’ve mostly known and lived the opposite.”

Accompanying the release is a playful music video filmed in Phoenix, Arizona, starring Alisa, directed by Brandon Black, and assisted by Alex Lam.

On the music video she explains, “I spent a weekend running around the suburbs with Brandon and Alex. The visual process overall has been this ground roots, DIY operation which has been challenging and rewarding. I wanted the music video for ‘Ordinary Love’ to be a collage of beautiful moments captured and strung together, a visual rush of images that felt like the start of something new. There’s a spinning shot that opens up the video, which was a happy accident. The camera got stuck on the gimbal mount and wouldn’t stop spinning, I improvised leaning over the camera lens and kept performing. It turned out to be one of my favorite moments we captured that day. There’s also a sunrise in Mexico edited in that I took earlier this year on my iPhone 13. That little piece of sky represents a significant moment in love for this year, and this song was the North Star that started the album process.”

‘Ordinary Love’ follows her singles ‘Boys & Guitars’ and ‘Roses’. The Frou Frou-esque ‘Boys & Guitars’ is a nostalgic and wizened look back at romanticizing boys in bands. Taking inspiration from the Carpenters’ classic gem ‘Superstar’, Alisa writes from the perspective of a lovestruck fan. With ‘Roses’, Alisa invites listeners to embrace the messy beauty of love, the strength found in weathering storms together, and the unwavering hope for a brighter future.

Alisa Xayalith continues to evolve as an artist, promising more new music to come this year.

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Born to refugee parents who left Laos from the overspill of the Vietnam war, Xayalith is one of seven children. While Xayalith faced many hardships in her childhood, one of the hardest was dealing with the loss of her mother at just seven years old – something, she says, has had an ‘immense impact on her’ as a human being. Her father later remarried, which added more layers to an already complicated life that the young Xayalith built a resilience to ‘survive’. But, she says, it is this resilience and determination that has carried her through her career. Music has always been her escape. Seeking it out through school choirs, vocal groups, musical theatre – then, at thirteen, learning to play the guitar, and write her own songs. The decision to pursue it as a career came when she returned to New Zealand after a year overseas. She enrolled in music school, which is where The Naked and Famous’ story began. Over 850 shows later, recognition around the world, and records we know and love, we now experience Xayalith’s solo story.