New York, NY (Top40 Charts) This new music entry to the Top40-Charts comes from one of show business's fave gingers, Alicia Witt (aptly named). Her new song of love lost and longing, CLEVER MIND, is a ravishing combo of words and country-infused music, reminiscent of a song By Reba or Loretta, that speaks of love's "rabbit hole" and the unexpected stumble into romantic ideals, at an age when one should be able to see it coming. Witt is a singer-composer who has steadily built her music career in tandem with her work as an actress. Having started as a tyke, playing wickedly violent Alia, Paul Muad'dib's weird little sister, in weird
David Lynch's weird original film of DUNE, Alicia worked her way through her childhood and teen years, as well as her "I'm in my 20s but still playing teen" years, giving performances of intelligence and... well… wit. In playing adults, yes, she has had many stop-offs in Hallmark's sandbox for the holiday seasons, but along with CHRISTMAS TREE LANE and CHRISTMAS ON HONEYSUCKLE LANE there has also been ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK, THE WALKING DEAD, and the TWIN PEAKS re-boot (thanks again
David Lynch). Alicia's talent as a composer/lyricist/piano player has been on display in her YouTubes and at places like Rockwood
Music Hall, here in NYC. Not surprisingly, Witt previously found success with one of her singles, CHASING SHADOWS, which spent more than a month on Billboard's AC chart in 2021. Her Anti-Christmas song, I'M NOT READY FOR CHRISTMAS, is a semi-naughty, hilarious send-up of the very holidays that have been her bread and butter through the years, and it shows off her clever mind…
...And speaking of CLEVER MIND, this latest single is one of her best! The openness of her emotions is palpable in that slightly raw, "here we go again" way. There is a maturity in her music, here, that heightens the feeling of her being someone who was not expecting the object of her love to sneak up on her again, especially since the one she is singing to is with someone else. Her voice is gorgeous - soft but full and round, but that soft vocal production feels on the edge of smiles and tears, and remains gentle throughout most of the song, until it rises to the climactic moments with ease, and back down again for a gentle landing. The country-influenced arrangement of the music floats the words like bubbles. Her lyrics about feeling 37 going on 16, and love's inevitability, tinge the song with a little sadness, making this a true "country" ballad.
As you can hear, dear Top40-ers, Alicia Witt's talents as a singer/songwriter have a depth of perception that only a true artistic soul could produce, and this new ballad is as clever as it is beautiful. It rings true for anyone who has either been the other woman, or the woman wronged. This number is the second cut from her latest EP, WITNESS, and it predicts similar success to CHASING SHADDOWS for CLEVER MIND because we give this beautiful ballad...
