Filipino-American singer Alfa has released her debut single with AWOOO Records, Alessandra de Rossi’s new record label, which the actress unveiled in late September. Titled “Every Word You Say,” Alfa’s single is a campfire-meets-coffeeshop synth ballad that tugs on the heartstrings with its equally painful lyrical theme.
Alfa had written the song during her downtime, while housesitting for a friend. Inspired by the story of Fleabag, the British dramedy that she had just binge-watched at the time, the singer wrote most of the song in one day, building it with the melody. “The words came to me quickly because I really wanted to capture the feeling as I was going through it. So, altogether this song came together pretty easily,” Alfa said in an interview with POP!.
Writing “Every Word You Say” went smoothly for Alfa as inspiration struck, but for her the biggest challenge she usually faces when writing her music is distraction. “If I’ve got a lot going on in other aspects of my life, it’s hard to free my mind up to let the inspiration flow. I have to be really protective of my creative time, but sadly, it’s not always easy to do that while adulting,” the singer said.
According to Alfa, Fleabag had inspired her to write “Every Word You Say” as she was “taken in by the story and the idea that you could be massively in love with [a person] but still make a choice not to continue that love because of stronger forces.” The British dramedy tells the story of the love between a woman and a priest.
“I don’t want to give too much away for those that haven’t seen [Fleabag], but there was something really compelling about seeing two types of love stacked up against each other: love in the romantic sense, and love in the sense of spiritual commitment. Seeing the way this unique story was treated and fleshed out onscreen really inspired me and evoked a lot of emotion,” the singer said.
Alfa also cited French singer-songwriter Camille as one of her inspirations for “Every Word You Say,” saying that Camille’s approach to her songs is “so interesting and ever-evolving.”
Starting from a barebones demo with rough vocals and violin (Alfa has been playing the violin since the age of 8), “Every Word You Say” is a piece that carries the weight of transformative, intelligent pop. According to Alfa, this is a “new sound” for her, but it’s something that she has been wanting to try for a long time.
For Alfa, trying something new is a natural thing, especially since she has been songwriting for most of her life. “For me it was about trying things I hadn’t done before while also embracing things about myself that I’d denied before. Writing with a pulse at the center of a song was the new part, while featuring the violin in my newer material is me embracing my musicality,” she said.
Alfa has been making music for over a decade. Despite the competitive nature of the music industry, her music has reached many on-air, online, and on-screen across the US. Her global appeal as a singer seems to have a sort of cultural remove from her roots, but this distance was closed when she released her first non-English single “Alindahaw,” which she sang in Visayan.
“Alindahaw” became a big hit in 2020, getting top honors in the world category of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest. It is also vying for an AWIT citation for Best Global Recording.
AWOOO Records head Alessandra de Rossi has previously praised Alfa for her varied musicality. “Her musicality is poetic and cinematic, and you sense it in her breath, in the instrumentation, in everything,” the actress said.
“Maybe she’s thought about it a great deal, or maybe it’s magic. Whatever it is, I think it’s gold,” de Rossi added.
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