Track by Track is our recurring feature series in which artists guide readers through each song on a release. Today, Raffaella gets into her brand new EP, LIVE, RAFF, LOVE (Act II).
Indie pop songwriter and Consequence CoSign Raffaella has released a brand new EP, LIVE, RAFF, LOVE (Act II), a follow up to 2022’s ACT I EP. Bigger and darker, the second act functions as the shadow to the first act’s light, creating a dialogue between each other. If Act I was a revolution, Act II is a revelation.
Each song on LIVE, RAFF, LOVE (Act II) acts as a companion piece to its respective counterpart on the previous EP, and each song pairing has its own overarching theme. Some touch on more abstract ideas like love and adulthood, while others get more complex and detailed, such as learning to speak up for oneself in spite of expectations to be the ideal woman. On the hyperpop anthem “POLLY POCKET,” for example, Raffaella tries capturing the anger ignited by the overturning of Roe V. Wade. “I don’t really know how else to put it other than my body has suddenly become the thing that surrounds my IUD,” she explains.
Watch the new video for “POLLY POCKET” below, and read on for Raffaella’s full track by track breakdown of LIVE, RAFF, LOVE (Act II).
Starting next month, Raffaella will embark on her first-ever headlining tour, “Live, Raff, LIVE!” Get tickets here.
Love: “Come to nyc, pls” —> “Gush:”
The prospect of falling in love (“Come to nyc, pls”) becomes the reality of having fallen (“Gush”). Act I’s love song peeks at optimism despite any potential humiliation (open mouth smiling with “hope stuck in my teeth”). Act II’s grabs the wheel and goes full speed ahead — “I could spend my whole life loving you/ Hey, can you teach me how to drive?”
It was scary to imagine the possibility of losing something before I had the chance to experience it — it’s even scarier to catch it and hope it never wants to let go.
Avoidance/Delusion: “BUICK” —> “Fcking Smiling:”
In “BUICK” I chose perpetual delusion — partly because it’s about someone I was okay with losing and, for him, maturity felt unwarranted. “Fcking Smiling,” however, confronts the consequences of avoidance after a falling out with someone who means the world to me. The first is a break up; the second is a heart break.
Whoever thought ‘ignorance is bliss’ (“BUICK”) woke up and realized that ignorance can quickly turn into hell (“Fcking Smiling”).
