Pop seductress and powerhouse singer-songwriter ALMA is premiering the acoustic version of her potential heartbreak anthem, "Stay All Night," exclusively with PRIDE.
"It’s funny because I wrote this song for me even though lots of people seem to think I wrote it about someone else!" ALMA tells PRIDE.
"I could be mistaken/You could be a heartbreak," she reflects over a somber guitar riff and atmospheric electric guitar, a more melancholy shift from the original song's bouncier feel. "So why would you leave?/You could stay all night."
"It was at a time that I really needed some encouragement to just be free and not think about the 'what if’s' or worry about what was going to be good for me. Now when I’m feeling anxious I just ask myself, would it really be that f---ing bad?"
The track is the second release off of her upcoming EP which will boast acoustic versions of a few tracks from her debut album, Have U Seen Her.
"This acoustic version is really special to me," she says. "It gives people time to really hear the lyrics and think about what they mean to them. I hope they help them get some perspective too..."
To celebrate the release, ALMA also participated in our Soundtracks of Pride series, where our favorite LGBTQ+ musicians share songs that made them who they are. We all have those songs that are forever ingrained in our coming-of-age stories. Songs that gave us hope, played during our first kiss, made us feel fierce, or simply helped us understand ourselves a little bit better. Oftentimes, this is particularly true for LGBTQ+ artists.
ALMA's playlist features Robyn's "Dancing On My Own" ("Brings back so many memories — good and bad ones! If the DJ puts this on as the last song of the night you can’t go wrong!"), Amy Winehouse's "Rehab" ("Amy is my favourite forever and this song is such an inspiration for me!"), and MGMT's "Electric Feel" ("This song was playing in my favourite teenage club and I fell in love. I really had to search for this song though because there was no Shazam back then!").
ALMA's Have U Seen Her? Acoustic EP is out on June 25. Listen to "Stay All Night (Acoustic)" above along with her Soundtrack of Pride playlist. Be sure to check back in for the rest of June for more from LGBTQ+ artists!
Photos: Lusha Alic