Tessa Rae Dreams of Love and Melancholy in Romantic Single “Sweetly, Softly”
On this romantic Valentine’s Day, LA-based singer-songwriter Tessa Rae gifts the world with the tender notes of her latest single, “Sweetly, Softly.” With simplicity and ethereality as its defining characteristics, the track is a delicate piece of whimsical indie-pop that draws inspiration from the fever dream of falling in love. This enchanting composition serves as the first single from Tessa Rae's upcoming EP, which shares the same evocative title and is slated for release later this year.
“Sweetly, Softly” weaves a musical tapestry with mellow acoustic guitars and whispering strings, creating an atmosphere steeped in bittersweet melancholy. Tessa's resonant vocals effortlessly float above the gentle instrumentals, conveying a myriad of conflicting emotions.
Lost in a haze of desire and uncertainty, Tessa Rae discovers contentment in the liminal space of undefined love, as expressed in the lyrics: “All sweet things turn a little sour / Every battery eventually runs out of power / But I love this roller coaster / Hold my hand until it’s over.”
The accompanying music video for “Sweetly, Softly” serves as a visual journey through a dreamscape of ambiguity. The video skillfully juxtaposes color and form, seamlessly transitioning between raw black-and-white scenes at a lonely beach and opulent jewel tones in an old-Hollywood glamor-inspired bedroom. This visual feast captures the lush complexities of Tessa’s desire, as she delicately teeters between hesitancy and hope.
In creating the music video, Tessa Rae opted for a timeless approach, shooting the entire production on film. This choice was made to emulate the enduring quality of the song. Collaborating with Oliver Pearson, Tessa shares that their creative partnership deepened throughout the process. They spent time storyboarding and envisioning the emotions they aimed to evoke. The result is a video that mirrors the fantasy of falling in love, with dream-like imagery portraying Tessa hovering above her lover as he sleeps. The desolate beach footage adds another layer, reminiscent of the space that love occupies and the void left when it fades away.
“We shot ‘Sweetly, Softly’ completely on film so as to emulate the timelessness of the song,” Tessa Rae says. “I shot the video with a friend of a friend, Oliver Pearson, and in turn we grew very close and took our time throughout the process, storyboarding and dreaming up what kind of emotions we wanted to evoke. So much of this song is the fantasy of falling in love which we portrayed through dream-like imagery of me hovering above my lover as he sleeps. There was something so desolate about the beach footage that felt reminiscent of the space that love fills up, and the space that is left when love has faded away.” As Tessa Rae shares her artistry with the world, “Sweetly, Softly” stands as a testament to the timeless allure of love and the delicate dance between vulnerability and strength that accompanies it.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Thank you for sitting down and talking to Unpublished Magazine. Our readers would love to get to know you and your music more. For any readers who aren’t familiar, what inspires your artistic style and creative persona?
[TESSA]: I do feel like at the core of it is the songwriting and I love being able to tell a good story. I think if it wasn't for the storytelling aspect, I wouldn't be a musician, because my go-to is always the lyrics and then everything else comes along with it – like the visuals and the artwork – but at the core of it, I'm definitely inspired by telling a good story based on my experience.
[UNPUBLISHED]: You are about to release your single “Sweetly, Softly” on Valentine’s Day and I absolutely love the acoustic soundscape and the intimate lyricism. What is the inspiration behind the song and why the decision to release on Valentine’s?
[TESSA]: I've had the date of Valentine's in my mind for this release for so long. It felt like a good idea because the song is a really good romantic song. I feel like it's rare that I write from the perspective of the good side of love. I think it's easy to overthink love and doubt it. There is a little bit of trepidation in the single like maybe it won't last forever, but overall “Sweetly, Softly” is really whimsical and focused on the good, so I thought it'd be sweet to do it on Valentine's Day.
[UNPUBLISHED]: What did the creative process look like for “Sweetly, Softly?”
[TESSA]: For this single it's one of those songs I don't really even remember writing because it happened so fast. I was with my producer and I barely remember that day. Usually it's not so simple. It's usually more of a process. And this one just flowed really naturally. It was so easy. I've always had a special place in my heart for the song. I knew I wanted to do a visual for it, and so I reached out to a friend of a friend and from there we started dreaming up what the visuals would be.
[UNPUBLISHED]: “Sweetly, Softly” is also accompanied by a music video. I love the vintage feel and grain effects and it adds to the soft, romantic atmosphere. What is the inspiration behind the video and how was your experience filming it?
[TESSA]: The experience was so nice. It was my favorite video I filmed because it was really collaborative and I grew really close to the director. We became fast friends and we would meet up for a glass of wine and talk about the concept and it was nice to feel like I had a lot of creative input. From the jump, the director Oliver Pearson wanted to shoot everything on film, which I loved. There is that timelessness to the song, like it is hard to place in terms of what era. I think the idea of shooting on film made a lot of sense and the director really wanted it to feel like a dream, so that's why I'm hovering above the love interest like I'm in his dreams. The beach felt really desolate like the loneliness of love when the love is gone.
[UNPUBLISHED]: “Sweetly, Softly” is the first single off your upcoming EP. Why did you choose this to be the lead single and sneak peek into the upcoming project?
[TESSA]: I feel like when I wrote this song I wanted to try out a new sound that I’ve been searching for and this one felt like me and it felt honest. “Sweetly, Softly” was what I felt like I wanted my music to feel like going forward. I was writing a lot of acoustic songs and turning a new chapter and it made sense.
[UNPUBLISHED]: I would love to hear anything you would love to share about the upcoming EP. What can listeners expect from this new era of music?
[TESSA]: What's cool about the EP is that it tells a story that is full circle and I am finishing it up right now and it is always changing. The final song on that project is called “Finish Line” and it's like a full cycle of a period in my life that I felt like needed completion. I feel like the music is helping me complete the cycle, which is nice.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Have you taken any new approaches or experimented more either lyrically or sonically with this new era of music compared to your previous releases and how so?
[TESSA]: I think the songwriting has been more of an intimate experience, because a lot of the songs I did write alone or wrote not in an environment where it's like, ‘okay, here's a session and you're gonna write the song in the session.’ It was comfortable and a lot of them were written at home, so I was able to come from a real place of honesty and say things that I didn't need to say.
[UNPUBLISHED]: What kind of atmosphere or emotional space do you aim to create for your listeners?
[TESSA]: I think this music fills the space of a lot of it is the in between of love, like the very first feelings and the very final feelings. I guess there's a lot of space in between there. It's like holding your breath, almost before the shoe falls off the other foot or when you know something bad's coming, but you want to live in this space that's really pure and beautiful, but not being able to escape the reality of life and that things get complicated. I feel like it's a familiar feeling that a lot of people relate to.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Speaking of Valentine’s Day and its romantic associations, what are some of your favorite ways to show self-love and care to yourself?
[TESSA]: I like that question. I love journaling. That's important to me. I love tarot. I feel like that's a great way I can connect with myself. I love taking a sauna and sweating everything out, because there's so much to sweat out in this life.
[UNPUBLISHED]: How are you feeling in this current era of your career and what does the rest of the year look like that you would like to share with Unpublished?
[TESSA]: I feel like I'm starting to feel a sense of calm with music now that I'm getting to the completion of this project, which is different for me, usually I'm really on edge about the music, so it's nice to feel a little sense of peace. I'm excited. My plan is to release throughout the entire year and not get stuck, so we're just excited to share a lot.
