Nashville’s Savana Santos (ex-Avenue Beat) spills her guts as she embarks on a solo profession stuffed with achingly intimate songwriting and brutally uncooked music – or as she calls it, “melodic phrase vomit.”

Stream: “cheater” – Savana Santos

Alt-pop trio Avenue Beat shot to fame with what was arguably the “it” tune of 2020: An enormous f***-you anthem to the 12 months that took a lot from us, and gave us nothing however grief, loss, concern, and fracture in return. Already enjoying collectively for seven years at that time, the Huge Machine-signed band of greatest buddies Savana Santos, Sam Backoff, and Sami Bearden discovered favor in everybody from Atwood Journal and The New York Occasions to Individuals and Teen Vogue, all of whom fell for the 22-year-old trio’s candor, heat, and wit.

But the journey was short-lived, and by the point Avenue Beat launched their debut album, it was already over – a lot so, actually, that they cleverly named their LP the debut farewell album.

“That complete period looks like a fever dream,” the band’s lead singer, songwriter, and producer Savana Santos remembers, now two years out. “It was wild and wonderful and loopy, and I really feel so fortunate to have been capable of expertise it.”

The trio might have run their course, however Santos’ personal story is simply simply getting began. After impulsively tossing a one-off single out into the ether beneath the “moniker” shmavana shmantos again in 2021, the now 25-year-old Nashville resident made her formal solo debut on Huge Machine / Valory Music Co. / Tape Room Information earlier this summer time. Launched in mid-June, “messy” stays true to its identify not less than on an emotional degree, with Santos’ achingly intimate vocal efficiency and brutally uncooked lyrics highlighting her expertise for bringing to life the rawest components of our innermost selves:

I didn’t know that you knew how
To interrupt a coronary heart so good
To push and pull and
Twist the knife
Similar to the unhealthy man would

However there’s a stupid,
egocentric, fucked up
A part of me that isn’t set
No, I don’t need you to
Un-learn me but, so

I’m glad that it acquired messy
I’m glad that this was conflict
And we fought petty
As a result of meaning
At the least you received’t overlook me
Truthfully I’m glad that it acquired messy

– “messy,” Savana Santos

“I wrote ‘messy’ at 2:00am one night time after I was in my emotions,” Santos shares. “It doesn’t all the time really feel like a alternative for me; I both sit with the sensation and let it soak into my physique in a adverse approach, or I can write about it and get it out in tune type. I put an early model of the tune on my Instagram two years in the past, and to this present day I nonetheless get messages asking after I’m placing it out or folks telling me they’ve been rewatching the video. I knew it was one which caught with my followers, so it was pure for me to launch this primary.”

Having reintroduced herself with a superbly brooding ballad, Santos returned earlier this month with a extra upbeat, totally spellbinding bed room pop seduction: Launched August 4, “cheater” will get even messier (are you able to think about?!) because the artist “narrates the stress” in a relationship, coming to a climax in a refrain stuffed with guilt, longing, and pressure.

“Fact is I been sitting, pondering ’bout anyone else, I been out right here crossing fingers hoping you could possibly by no means inform,” she sings, her breathtaking voice doing acrobatics as she gracefully rises and falls in waves of intense emotion. “I do know that you just’ll be mad as a result of it’s somebody we each knew, I’m a liar, I’m a cheater, I’m in love with the previous you.“

“This was a few particular time in my life,” Santos remembers. “It’s one of many songs that I didn’t love the day I wrote it, however a couple of weeks later I felt it with all of my coronary heart. I’ve this observe in my cellphone with simply random shit that pops into my mind. I keep in mind seeing the phrases, ‘I’m a cheater I’m in love with the previous you,’ and it caught out at me. I like to tug conditions aside in songs and discover them in several methods. This tune was me doing that with a sense I used to be having. It felt like a distinct segment emotion that I wanted to specific in a approach different folks might perceive.”

I’ve been pondering ’bout learnin ’bout physics
To attempt to journey again in time
To when the sentiments and the intercourse was fucking wild
I don’t wanna lie after I’m with you
Don’t wanna offend you, I miss you
However I’m touching myself to the considered the previous you

– “cheater,” Savana Santos

Savana Santos is simply two songs into her solo profession, and we will solely hope that she’s right here to remain.

Her unfiltered, diaristic lyrics are matched solely by her unapologetic and soul-stirring musical skills, all of which have up to now coalesced in two achingly uncooked and intimately stunning songs stuffed with feeling, depth, and substance. To be clear, Santos doesn’t simply put on her coronary heart on her sleeve; she pours her complete humanity out in tune.

For her half, Santos says she doesn’t assume too a lot about it; she’s been writing songs since she was an angsty fourteen-year-old again in Quincy, Illinois, and so it’s all second nature at this level.

“It’s only a type of self-expression and a technique to get out my emotions in ‘melodic phrase vomit,’” she laughs.

“I simply hope the experiences I put into these songs can relate to somebody someplace. If that occurs, I’ve finished my job as an artist.”

Santos’ personal story is simply getting began, and it’s already a stupendous mess (in the easiest way doable, after all). Keep tuned for extra to come back from this fast-rising artist, and reconnect with Savana Santos in our interview under!

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:: stream/buy cheater right here ::

:: join with Savana Santos right here ::

A CONVERSATION WITH SAVANA SANTOS

Atwood Journal: Savana, congrats on the beginning of your model new solo journey! First off, who’s Savana Santos as an artist, and the way does she differ from Avenue Beat?

Savana Santos: Avenue Beat was such a enjoyable journey to get to do with my greatest buddies. I’d say my music nonetheless comes from an analogous place, simply with just a little little bit of a unique perspective.

“F2020” was such a jam, and the debut farewell album was a really enjoyable hi there and goodbye. Do these songs nonetheless resonate with you right now? What’s your relationship with Avenue Beat’s brief however impactful life?

Savana Santos: the debut farewell album means a lot to me, it’s like my little child baby. That complete period looks like a fever dream. It was wild and wonderful and loopy and I really feel so fortunate to have been capable of expertise it.

How have you ever dealt with the transition for writing for and performing as a bunch, to writing for your self and performing your personal songs?

Savana Santos: It’s very totally different if you don’t have a “crew” to hype you up or offer you a unique standpoint. It’s important to make ALL the choices for EVERYTHING and simply hope you’re not making the incorrect one. It’s very bizarre…but additionally thrilling! But in addition SCARY!

shmavana shmantos was a enjoyable, short-lived idea. What drove you to make music beneath your personal identify, and was {that a} acutely aware and/or tough choice?

Savana Santos: I cherished her. I like her. I’ll miss her. It wasn’t even a call in any respect, actually. Sooner or later I used to be similar to “fuck it” and threw up a tune. It was such a low stakes undertaking for me, and that’s what made it so enjoyable.

This brings us again to your debut as Savana Santos! What impressed you to (re)introduce your self through “messy”?

Savana Santos: “messy” is a tune I’ve been sitting on for like THREE years. I posted a video on Instagram and up till I introduced it as a single, I used to be nonetheless getting messages asking if I’d ever put it out, which actually astounded me. That made it really feel like a pure first tune.

“messy,” in a phrase, aches. “I did not know that you just knew find out how to break a coronary heart so good,” you sing on the tune’s begin. “To push and pull and twist the knife similar to the unhealthy man would.” Instantly, you set a tone that’s brooding, uncooked, and trustworthy. What, for you, is particular about “messy”?

Savana Santos: Brooding, uncooked, and trustworthy is how I prefer it! [laughs] I believe “messy” is so particular to me as a result of it caught round for thus lengthy. Some songs you write and overlook the subsequent day, however this one has all the time discovered its approach again.

“cheater” is rather more upbeat than its predecessor. What excites you about this tune, and was it vital for this monitor, with its emotionally charged message, to have a stronger sonic cost as nicely?

Savana Santos: I produced this with my good friend Johnny Simmen, and he actually helped discover a lane for the monitor. I like when songs go someplace you don’t count on, particularly with manufacturing. We simply went in and did some experimenting with that in thoughts, and that is what we acquired!

Your finale, “i’m in love! i’m in love! i’m in love!” is totally invigorating – it is such a cathartic launch of ardour and pent-up emotion. Why finish the tune like this?

Savana Santos: That is wonderful, I’m so glad you caught that. I totally LOVE a headbanger construct up second. It’s my favourite factor ever.

With these two songs, how would you describe the image you are portray of your self as an artist, and what are you most excited to indicate folks about your artistry?

Savana Santos: In truth, I’ve completely no thought. I don’t actually take into consideration portray an image of myself after I’m writing a tune, it’s only a type of self-expression and a technique to get out my emotions in “melodic phrase vomit”! [laughs] I simply hope the experiences I put into these songs can relate to somebody someplace. If that occurs, I’ve finished my job as an artist.

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Stream: “cheater” – Savana Santos

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