Folk-pop phenomenon Alyssa Grace shares her debut EP, spilling my guts, a raw collection of achingly personal lyrics and heartstring-plucking music that more than makes good on her meteoric rise. Over the past five months, the singer-songwriter from Torrance, California, has picked up more than 4.5 million monthly Spotify listeners with just three songs to her name, including last month’s Billboard Hot 100 breakout “bloodstream.” Now, she shares a seven-track set that places those unexpected hits within a powerful narrative about self-doubt and self-growth, and what it means to both love and be loved. Listen to spilling my guts HERE, out now on Artist House, and watch the just-released music video for “bones” HERE.
At just 19 years old, Alyssa is quickly becoming known for drawing on timeless songcraft to tell a 21st century tale of her own, handcrafting tunes steeped in acoustic tradition, yet amplified by Gen-Z candor. Her voice soothes as often as it shakes with pain, longing, or anger, and her verses flow easily through hooks and back again — seamless storytelling that leans equally on striking metaphor and unflinching detail. She’d sound at home on dusty vinyl or in a viral post.
spilling my guts includes Alyssa’s official debut, February’s “dog with a bone,” a spare song about terribly toxic love that accrued over half a million streams in its first week, vaulting into the Top 50 of the Apple Music Singer-Songwriter chart as well as Spotify’s Viral 50 — not only in the U.S., but also in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, and Norway. She then followed with the humbly lush “picking petals,” reeling in 28M Spotify streams to date, climbing the UK Official Singles Chart, and hitting the Top 5 on Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart.
But then came June’s “bloodstream,” which earned 2 million streams on its first day. A gripping depiction of the internal struggle to overcome emotional trauma, the single exploded on TikTok, contributing to Alyssa’s running tally of more than 1.5 billion views across over 1.5 million UGC videos on the platform. It also entered the Hot 100 at #93, and peaked at #25 on UK Singles. She recently discussed the meaning of “bloodstream” on Genius VERIFIED and performed that song (and others) on both The Sticks and Medium Sized Backyard, who wrote, “This set is a masterclass on songwriting and Alyssa is an absolute force. Our sound guy was in tears.”
If “bloodstream” provides an emotional turning point on spilling my guts, then “bones,” which opens the EP, plunges the listener in Alyssa’s story as she navigates a romance gone wrong. Over transfixing piano, swelling cello, and small bursts of acoustic guitar, she describes a one-sided devotion that’s skirting doom: “And I’ll fix myself to be loved by you, but to love is to look for someone you won’t lose / And if you do and if it breaks, you can’t bring me back from my grave, babe / So dig up my bones.” Much of the set explores this heavy space, although the warmly sweet final track, “baby swim” featuring Missouri riser Andrew Lucier, offers closure in the form of a would-be duet between Alyssa and her ex — even if she had to script it herself.
Holler recently described Alyssa’s songcraft as “visceral” and that fits. She’s an open-hearted lyricist and an immediately accessible vocalist who seems preternaturally gifted at bringing us into her world — mentally, emotionally, physically. Stay tuned to see where she takes us next.
Alyssa Grace, spilling my guts
1. “bones”
2. “somebody to somebody”
3. “dog with a bone”
4. “picking petals”
5. “spilling guts”
6. “bloodstream”
7. “baby swim” ft. Andrew Lucier
photo credit: McKenna Mobley, download hi-res here