EP review by Charlotte Poynton
Kaurna Land’s aleksiah, Australia’s freshest pop darling, has been making the rounds as a support act for Teenage Joans, Cavetown, Kita Alexander and more, whilst releasing masterfully crafted tales of yearning, jealousy, angst and growth. Working hard behind the scenes whilst piling up achievements, including 6thmost played artist on Triple J Unearthed in 2023, aleksiah has been putting together an EP of chart-toppers, which you can listen to now (and on repeat for the rest of time). This debut EP, titled Who Are You When You’re Not Performing?, neatly wraps up all of aleksiah’s releases in a gorgeous packet of pretty dresses and dreamy indie-pop. With long-time fan favourites including ‘Fern’, and new pop hits like ‘24’, aleksiah has the perfect soundtrack for all of your angsty petulant experiences.
The EP opens with ‘Fern’, aleksiah’s debut single and my personal favourite song. Singing of an obsessive yearning for a crush, ‘Fern’ is laced with hooky lyrics and an absolute earworm of a chorus that you can’t help but to sing along to. No number of words or level of vocabulary could ever properly describe my immense love for this song, or how effortlessly aleksiah has encapsulated the experience of queer infatuation. Perhaps one of the strongest debut singles to come out of the recent music landscape, ‘Fern’ acts both as a pre-cursor for the impending success of aleksiah’s career and the pure quality of this very EP.
The pop anthem for all the overachievers, big-dreamers, and all-nighters, is track two of ‘24’. With a boppy chorus and verses full of the advice we all need to hear, this song is full of lyrical gems including “a self-aware pity party”. The main hook of “Life will be better at 24” refers to both aleksiah’s current age and the year that we find ourselves in, addressing that ‘24’ is the desired phase to reach all of her goals, which is then further reflected on in the final chorus when aleksiah sings of how she may have not gotten everything she dreamed of, but she has found something worth more than that. A nice take-away from a song that is wildly too relatable, ‘24’ is four minutes of modern pop bliss ensured to bring comfort to everyone with a long to-do list.
Blending acoustic indie verses with folkloric, worldbuilding lyrics, aleksiah’s ‘Ant Song’ comes in at track three. Recounting the innocent bliss of a first love, ‘Ant Song’ is equally heart-warming and nostalgic for a younger phase of writing love letters and rehearsing conversations in the mirror. aleksiah effortlessly captures the high school essence with mystical vocal melodies in the choruses and a pre-chorus that brings a rosy hue to any listeners cheeks.
The focus track of Who Are You When You’re Not Performing? is track four of ‘Getting Older’. Addressing the shards of glass that you’re forced to walk over in the mere journey of growing up on a feminine path, aleksiah’s poignant lyrical richness and delicate yet powerful vocals cut deep to the soul and left me purely speechless with eyes full of silent tears during each listen. It’s no secret that the path through life, through the music industry, and through simply ‘Getting Older’ is more treacherous for anyone who doesn’t fit the clean-cut male stencil, but this song packages the detrimental impact of that and reflects on how it destroys a young child and lingers in one’s character throughout their life. ‘Getting Older’ is a simply beautiful yet heart-wrenching song that cannot achieve justice through my words alone, I highly implore you to grab a tissue box and take three minutes to appreciate aleksiah’s pure achievement of putting pen to paper and encapsulating these feelings.
All spite and pent-up anger finds a home in track five, titled ‘Pretty Picture.
Embedded with pure, fiery Aries energy throughout the punchy lyrics, aleksiah addresses a situation where she was taken advantage of and the fear and trauma that lied beneath the surface actions. Despite the hyper-specific subject of the song, the angst and pain that comes with being wronged is universal, and aleksiah’s ‘Pretty Picture’ has become anthemic in reclaiming power and standing your ground.
In the act of saving the best to last, aleksiah closes her debut EP with title track, ‘Who Are You When You’re Not Performing?’. Embracing the deepest shades of vulnerability through mystical melodies and lyrics that cut straight to the bone, aleksiah flexes her ability to ask the heaviest questions and address the most important topics in songs that are instantly guaranteed to be played on repeat. With an eerie yet honest recount of girlhood and society’s hunger for shiny, flawless facades; ‘Who Are You When You’re Not Performing?’ is a question bold enough to send any person – whether a performer themselves by trade or merely a performer in the dance through life – into a spiralling identity crisis. Through tying up the album with such a significant thought, aleksiah has cemented herself as one of the strongest and most powerful voices in the modern Australian music scene, with a discography set to rival all others.
aleksiah will be performing this EP in all its glory at her upcoming headline tour over the next three weeks. If you were lucky enough to score tickets to the Meanjin show before it sold out, I’ll see you there (I’ll be the one screaming along to ‘Fern’)!
