No one can sum up the experience of being an adolescent woman quite like Samia. The NY-based indie singer/songwriter has the voice of an angel and the lyrics of a heartbroken human who needs honesty to survive. Her debut album The Baby unfurled as her introspection did—examining her own emotions and behaviors as well as her interpersonal relationships. Through this process she wrestled with nostalgia, grief, betrayals, heartbreak, and growth.
The young artist has been inspired since she was fifteen years old, and made a fake manager’s email address to book shows. This ambition and devotion shines through on The Baby, which is out today via Grand Jury. Read her track-by-track below, and order the record here.
Hiding away with someone in a stranger’s house in Texas for a few days, spending most of it staring at the moon from the pool, knowing full well this feeling can’t last forever and trying to guess how long it will. Trying to find the beauty amidst the fear in blatantly ephemeral moments.
2. “Fit N Full”
Living in the East Village and judging myself for caring so much about the way my body looks despite all of the culture and excitement happening around me.
3. “Big Wheel”
Finding out someone I trusted had been lying to me for a long time, being hyper-empathetic and forgiving about it and then realizing I’d been harboring resentments toward quite a few people in my life that I was too scared to vocalize for fear of losing them.
4. “Limbo Bitch”
Pretending to be really confident and independent to maintain a relationship with someone who might have liked me because they thought I was really confident and independent.
5. “Stellate”
A note to myself trying to make peace with old traumas.
6. “Triptych”
Sobbing in a green room in Denver. I’d just read the story of Francis Bacon and his lover/muse, George Dyer, whose chaotic lifestyle served as Bacon’s artistic inspiration. Dyer overdosed in the bathroom of a hotel room paid for by Bacon, who famously painted a triptych of his lover’s final moments. I had just been through a pretty tough breakup and felt I might be purposefully getting myself into dicey situations to justify my big feelings and write about them. “Triptych” was a pretty blatant cry for help and an opportunity to confess my fear of being misunderstood.
7. “Does Not Heal”
Getting pretty scraped up climbing a fence trying to break into a school bus lot with someone, realizing I was really hoping it would scar so I’d never forget the moment.
8. “Waverly”
Was totally obsessed with someone who worked at the restaurant I frequented and way too scared to ask her to be my friend.
9. “Winnebago”
An attempt to confess the sentiments of “Limbo Bitch,” trying to admit to all of the times I’d cried in the bathroom and come out ready to party. Hoping that even if this person never understood or saw me for who I am that these moments would still be important.
10. “Minnesota”
Realizing I’d just bought a plane ticket to Minnesota.
11. “Is There Something in the Movies?”
Was trying to make sense of a betrayal and blamed the lure of the entertainment industry. I grew up around that world so it was sort of a sad caution to the person who broke my trust.
