Music
No one ever warns you.
That’s what singer-songwriter Olivia Soli says about experiencing your first love and the heartbreak that comes with it.
Soli, who became a top-20 contestant on Season 21 of American Idol, processes that emotional turmoil on her song “Encore.”
“I really wanted the verses specifically for the song to be super conversational and relatable,” Soli says.
The second verse is Soli’s favorite part of the song. In it, she sings, “I can't even take you to parties with people my age.”
The song gives Soli the chance to explain her story. But by the end of it, she’s ready to walk away.
“It's kind of like a play,” Soli says. “I actually don't need an encore. I don't need to go through this again, and I'm leaving that in the past.”
Letting the curtain close, so to speak, is reflected in the cover art as well.
“I wanted it to feel like I was watching this heartbreak on an old television from a distance,” Soli says.
The image was photographed by Nick Whitmill. The two wanted to channel ethereal, old-world Hollywood. “Encore” is about an actor, Soli says, so she wove the motif throughout the song lyrically and visually.
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Soli says her native Los Angeles and the wider West Coast also impact her sound.
“I want it to feel almost like you hear the song and you see West Coast imagery, you see the desert, you see oak trees,” she says.
This world-building will carry through to her debut EP, which is expected to be released later this year. The project should give people a better, more cohesive understanding of who Soli is as an artist, she says.
Soli’s songwriting process starts with a brain dump to collect her thoughts before she matches her lyrics to a melody. Songwriting is like therapy, she says.
It was Idol that made her more comfortable with sharing her vulnerabilities with the world.
“I started understanding that the more vulnerable and the more [the audience] had a lens into my heart and insecurities that people can actually relate to, I felt like that was the most compelling for people and what connected with people the most,” Soli says.
That’s what success as an artist means to Soli: connection.
“I feel like I will reach success when I will be able to connect with people in such a way that changes their lives, and feeling the reciprocation of that and knowing that I'm doing my due diligence as an artist.”
Soli knows that if you find an artist to deeply connect with, it can change your life. For Soli, those artists were Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and Dolly Parton.
Now, Soli has the opportunity to be an influence on the next generation.
“I hope to be someone that they can feel seen and heard through my music,” Soli says. “I’m no different from anybody else that's going through heartbreak … I hope to be a shoulder to cry on.”
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