Houston-raised, LA-based singer-songwriter Alaina Castillo has released her second EP entitled, the voicenotes. The rising R&B pop singer has been putting out various releases for the past two years, beginning with performing covers and making ASMR on YouTube. But this latest work is a self-produced 4-track project alongside executive producer, RØMANS (Lewis Capaldi, Mary J. Blige, Khalid) and is a raw and honest showcase of the rising R&B artist.
Of the EP, Castillo shares with EARMILK via email, “The voicenotes ep is a vulnerable step into overthinking, stressing & learning to let things go. Each song has something to do with a part of me that stays hidden most of the time but can only come out when I’m singing and not having to think about what I’m saying. It’s all the moments I took my thoughts to the voice notes on my phone and just said what I was feeling super quick so that I could get it out there.”
“just a boy” leads the 4-pack as the sultry tone-setter for the rest of the project. The guitar strums steady as she soulfully sings her blues over quick-hitting snaps. As the current lead single of the project, it has already surpassed 3 million Spotify streams.
The following track, “pass you by”, gives us a glimpse into the way Alaina seamlessly sows her sound with her music’s messaging. As she sings about taking time to live in the moment, the steady tempo of the production is in no rush to get to the end. The crooning number is SZA meets Billie Eilish in a moment of positive introspection.
The project is like a voyeuristic view into the private heart of Castillo. As a whole, it feels as though the audience has peaked into someone’s diary where they air out feelings towards old relationships and sad internet haters. Castillo and RØMANS created a project showing their place in the modern progressive R&B genre. Each track is a multi-layered masterpiece featuring different acoustic guitar patterns and instrumental variations. The maturity in RØMANS production only further extenuate the seasoned lyrics crooning from the 19-year old songwriter.
This sophomore album follows Castillo’s debut EP antisocial butterfly, which included her breakout track “i don’t think i love you anymore”. She garnered even more buzz in between projects when the singer-songwriter released the one-off single, “ocean waves.” All of her music has been produced by RØMANS, who also runs the company she’s managed under.
After creating the voicenotes, Alaina has truly found a sweet niche in writing raw and honest R&B. Her unique style of contemporary pop/R&B has left an impression on many and she’s become truly an artist to watch.
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