All Eyes on Ally Evenson

By Riley Watkins 

Music Journalist 

I’m not a betting man, but I would put my life savings on Detroit’s Ally Evenson having the next meteoric rise, we see in the pop music sphere. The most important moment for an up-and-coming artist can be the follow-up to their debut- will they fade into obscurity or strike the iron while it’s hot? 

Evenson didn’t just rise to the occasion with her single “Scary/Calm”, she grew beyond it with the ferocity of a metroplex stomping giant. It’s rare to find a song that both sounds fresh and like a classic you’ve lived with your whole life, especially within the realm of drum-and-bass art-pop. Evenson writes with a genreless pen; lyrics like “I’m so calm, I could make you the martyr but I’ll do what’s harder, this is my departure” could’ve fit snugly on a Paramore track in 2009 or on the Cranberries’ debut in 1993. However, Evenson owns her lines with her electric performance. 

The latest follow up to “Scary/Calm”, “Do U See Me?” is another single off Evenson’s recently announced BLUE SUPER LOVE (DELUXE). Conceptually, the song is similar to the opening track “She Looked Like Me!” on Magdalena Bay’s 2024 release Imaginal Disk; Evenson is confronted with another version of herself with her finger on the trigger. Where Evenson’s track differs is in its atmosphere. The minor piano chords and digitized cascade of incomprehensible vocals elicit a feeling of worthlessness- like an astral projection is visiting you. Evenson gets stranger with each release, and I am here for it. 

The young artist first drew my attention with the release of her debut BLUE SUPER LOVE towards the end of last year. I started the album from the top, but it took me a while to get through the whole thing because the intro track “S****y Heaven” substantially piqued my interest. I listened to the song on loop for days, unable to get over the subtle buildup led by piercing synths, the random instrumental breakdown that sounds like an interlude cut off a Blur album and the glitching fall through of the floor surrounding Evenson in the finale. 

Lyrically, Evenson discusses mortality and the fear of not leaving behind a legacy in her wake. “Tell me when I′m 27, fun in hell or s****y heaven? I’ll swim against the tide as long as I can breathe. Will it be somewhere I’ve been to?” As she subtly tips her signature blue crocheted cap to the musicians who have been dubbed members of “The 27 Club”, Evenson wonders whether or not her fate will be any better or worse than situations she’s already faced in her lifetime. Evenson spends the rest of the album dissecting those situations, showing flashes of coming into her own as a creative. 

There are multiple tracks on BLUE SUPER LOVE like “One Trick Pony” and “Throes” that see Evenson lean into her more pop-centric sensibilities. Both tracks’ choruses have more radio-friendly vocal melodies, but Evenson maintains her style and quirk throughout. “Throes” in particular sees Evenson step into the ring of pop ballads, and she comes out swinging with an awe-striking vocal performance and enough thump in the guitar work to set herself apart from contemporaries. 

I would be doing myself and Evenson a disservice by not mentioning “Virtual Bottle”. The track just has too many impressive lines to count, like “Why am I choosing the hard way? These backroads and gravel. Rockslides, I get high to fly off the handle” and “I’m a parody of myself seeing the world through a seashell”. Evenson grapples with her abuse of substances to get over the pain she experiences in her day-to-day life, implying that she can replace the pain with something far worse. Also, the breakbeat drums are, for lack of a better word, sick as hell. 

Similar to many unsigned solo acts finding their footing, Evenson’s earliest releases lived on Bandcamp. She posted her first single “Why Don’t You Call Me Anymore?” in March of 2020, leading up to the release of her EP Not So Pretty one month later. The EP displays a less edgy version of Evenson, with tracks like “More of a Happiness” with Katrine Noël traversing the shores of surf-rock. “Too Late” is a highlight for me; the track picks up steam in the finale with a vocal performance that sounds like overhearing a distraught roommate wail through the walls, a sneak peek into what’s to come in Evenson’s career. 

Before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the city, Evenson was in her senior year at the Detroit Institute of Music Education. Her experience at the school was a formative and traumatic one, leading to 2023’s In My Dreams, You Laugh at Me, her first wide release via Assemble Sound. Evenson begins to find her footing on the six song EP. Although at times the EP feels derivative of other indie folk-rock acts like Sharon Van Etten or Searows, Evenson separates herself in a variety of ways. She began to play around with electronic production like drum machines and vocal layers, which have both since become staples in her music. Also, she grabbed my ear with every other line. My personal favorite lyrics are “When I say I miss you babe, I’m just saying what do you wanna do today?” from “Good Morning, Al”. 

Say what you will about how pop-music “hasn’t been good since (insert random decade from when the speaker was a teenager)”, but I believe pop is entering a new renaissance. With artists like Chappell Roan and Charli xcx ruling the world, the recent Saya Gray, Magdalena Bay and FKA Twigs releases, the long-awaited return of HAIM and Ally Evenson’s upcoming BLUE SUPER LOVE (DELUXE), it is exciting to be a fan of pop again. It feels like nearly every month there is a new pop artist coming out that not only has a knack for melody, but something important to say and an interesting way to get their message across. I fully believe that Evenson is next up to bat.