Ada Lea - hurt

Montreal’s Ada Lea (the moniker of Alexandra Levy) latest single is “hurt,” her first new piece of music in 2021. “hurt” lives in a snowy Montreal winter, a city that Levy calls home and lives and breathes through her music. It thrums with bass and brooding keys, as Levy uses frank language and imagery: “somebody hurt me badly, now I’m stuck in a rut // now I don’t know my body // I could say it or say nothing at all // take a walk or take none at all // get on a bus back to montreal // tell my friends or say nothing at all.” When the song hits its peak, her voice is carried by a swirl of strings and quick-tempoed keys.

Like 2020’s woman, here EP, “hurt” was recorded in LA with producer/engineer Marshall Vore (Phoebe Bridgers, Better Oblivion Community Center), and a band that includes Johanna Samuels (backing vocals), Harrison Whitford (guitars, bass), Eve Parker Finley (strings) and Tasy Hudson (drums). In the accompanying video, directed by Monse Muro, Levy sits at a decorated table, awash in desaturated colors. Peculiar images and colors flash through as the song grows in intensity.

"I wanted to find a way to communicate complicated feelings using the simplest language possible,” says Levy. “I came with a narrative and removed almost every detail, so as not to obfuscate the feeling - but left it open in terms of a resolution: was this hurt necessarily a bad thing?”

“hurt” follows Levy’s woman,> here EP (2020) and her debut, what we say in private (2019), a collection of raw, confessional, and at times messy emotions, presented through beautifully colorful pop songs. “hurt” is a first taste of what’s to come.