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Alexandra Lillian Reminisces On Intimate Moments In New Single “Ventura Boulevard”

“Ventura Boulevard” is a heartfelt pop country anthem looking back on Lillian’s most intimate moments in the City of Angels. 

Country pop singer songwriter Alexandra Lillian reminisces on her Los Angeles romance through rose-colored lenses in her new single “Ventura Boulevard,” out January 7th. Lillian meets listeners with tender poetry on this track, inviting them to explore a love story that unfolded along the Ventura Boulevard streets. The artist brilliantly showcases her warm tone while recounting a night on the boulevard with her love interest; the two meandered through the neighborhood as he opened up to the singer-songwriter about his childhood. Cascading drum beats, decadent electric guitars, and a booming bass line caress Lillian’s powerhouse vocals throughout “Ventura Boulevard.” Lillian delivers a track with colorful lyrics reminiscent of a Taylor Swift anthem layered with the passionate vocals of a Carrie Underwood chart topper.

Country pop lovers can find this beyond catchy anthem on all major streaming platforms on January 7th. 

More About Alexandra Lillian:

Alexandra Lillian Evans, known professionally by her first and middle name, is a 25-year-old singer-songwriter who draws inspiration from 20th and 21st-century pop country and country rock music.

Despite the absence of music history in both her maternal and paternal bloodlines (excluding her paternal great-grandmother Lillian, who was a blues singer), Alexandra’s loved ones encouraged her to start performing so she could channel her energy levels and extroverted personality in environments for which they were best suited. Her first performance memory is a ballet recital when she was three years old; she loved it so much, she refused to get off the stage after the curtains closed. Her mother eventually lured her off, and her energy, extroverted nature, radiance, and determinism still prevail today. Alexandra pursued musical theatre for seven years, stopping her freshman year of high school. By then, she was about a year into guitar lessons and voice training. She was raised on 1970s and 80s classic rock and in her teenage years, she developed a love for pop music. Alexandra still has a deep appreciation for both genres today and integrates them into her country sound.

While she would not focus on country music until beginning her own projects, Alexandra’s introduction traces back to Taylor Swift’s self-titled debut album followed by “Fearless,” to which she remembers dancing and acting out the lyrics in her sixth grade best friend’s bedroom. Around the same time, Carrie Underwood’s early hits such as “Before He Cheats,” “Jesus, Take the Wheel,” and “All-American Girl” topped her iPod’s “most played” song list. The main aspect of country music that speaks to Alexandra is storytelling.Taylor and Carrie still remain at the root of her inspiration, though she would later learn about (and dearly appreciate) some 20th-century “women of country” who paved the way for succeeding generations: Tammy Wynette, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Faith Hill, and Shania Twain. It only took hearing one song from each woman for Alexandra to become hooked and motivated to explore their histories.

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Alexandra moved from her native San Francisco to Boston in August 2018 and felt (“wicked”) inspired by the music scene while earning her B.S. in journalism from Boston University. Her songwriting journey began in late April 2019 when she took her first two originals, “Arizona Boy” and “Once a Babe” to Bristol Studios, catching producers’ attention. Alexandra recorded both songs in May of that year and they were released on all streaming platforms as singles in June. Since the release, “Arizona Boy” has been aired on radio stations and garnered listeners in the United States, Canada, France, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Sweden, Austria, Peru, Brazil, Chile, Mauritius, Russia, Philippines, Taiwan, and Australia. Within one week of the initial airing, the song was ranked 4 or more stars out of 6 by several disc jockeys worldwide. As of August 2020, the song has over 1200 radio airplays.

Alexandra released her debut EP, “Aesthetics,” in September 2019, her debut album, “Just Drive,” in August 2020, and a collection of covers from iconic “women of country” in September 2020. She now resides in Los Angeles and is excited to be back in the Golden State. In 2021, Alexandra released her first collaborative record with the production company NOYZR, “Taking Chances” (featuring vocals from Matt Norman) along with her second full-length studio album, “Broken Streak,” which features collaborations with various LA-based artists including Aaron Lee, frontman of the rock band Killin’ Candace, hip hop/R&B singer-songwriter and producer Medrano, and Boston-based artist Christina Howard, frontwoman for the rock group Brightside.

Artist Spotlight

“Subterranean Homesick Blues” finds a new direction through Ghost of Panama

Ghost of Panama

Rearranging a song that carries six decades of cultural weight is a creative challenge, but Ghost of Panama approaches “Subterranean Homesick Blues” with clear purpose. The rock band radically reworks Bob Dylan’s counter-culture hit, reshaping its identity while keeping its rebellious spirit. It’s a tribute to musical heritage and a statement of artistic independence all in one.

This new interpretation is very much shaped by the production, made at Ghost of Panama’s home studio in West London. The setting allows an intimate approach to reinterpreting a familiar song and lets the group engage directly with the material, taking it in a new artistic direction.

“Subterranean Homesick Blues” centers on the tension between conservation and transformation. Ghost of Panama is true to the song’s rebellious spirit without adding to its legacy, and this approach gives the release an adventurous feel, grounded in countercultural energy but driven by a desire to see what the composition can become in a different musical context.

Their version of this 60-year-old classic shows that respecting a song’s history can also mean breaking the rules and finding new ways to express its spirit. Fundamentally, “Subterranean Homesick Blues” presents Ghost of Panama as artists who want to engage with the past without being tied to it. The release’s strongest identity is a familiar heritage reimagined through a singularly forward-looking creative vision.

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Artist Spotlight

“NO MORE” by Amanda Holley connects healing, awakening, and survival

Amanda Holley

“NO MORE carries that kind of emotional weight, and some songs feel like they come from lived experience but reach for something bigger. Amanda Holley blends R&B and soul, turning a lifetime of survival into a vision of healing, awakening, and the determination to move beyond what caused the pain.

“NO MORE is a healing anthem for people who have gone through bad experiences and reached a place of higher awareness, but it’s also an emotionally charged protest. The duality is introspective and outward-looking at the same time, turning personal survival into a broader declaration that some experiences, conditions, or cycles should end.

Holley had a premonition of the song six months before the world went into global shutdown. In the vocal booth, working out melodies with her collaborators, she pictured people in the streets. Those images were hard to imagine at the time, but subsequent events would make them painfully familiar.

“NO MORE is given a particularly contemplative underpinning by the context. The identity of R&B and soul leaves room for emotion. The song’s themes link survival, awakening, resistance, and the need for change. Amanda Holley is an artist using music to process personal endurance and a broader sense of social awakening. It’s got a complicated significance, and its release feels like a glimpse of a moment when personal intuition and public reality collided in an unexpected way.

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Photo Credit: Yulia Shusharina

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