Ashlynn Malia: open
From 19-year-old recording artist, dancer and choreographer Ashlynn Malia, the melodic single “open” channels the intimate fear associated with letting someone understand who we are inside. Through Malia’s urgent, emotive delivery, the track’s message resounds as it is swept upon rising instrumentation. “I wrote this song a few years ago, when my sense of alienation was completely mental,” Malia tells us. “I felt like an outsider socially, and I was struggling to find the ‘right’ way to connect with people. Any time I would meet somebody, I’d be so caught up in wanting to say the ‘right’ things and paint a view of myself that I thought would fit them better. The thought of removing those personality filters terrified me.”
