Singer/songwriter Love, Alexa takes us track-by-track through ‘Spring Cleaning,’ a soul-stirring and unflinchingly honest EP that transforms grief, heartbreak, and self-doubt into beauty, clarity, and cathartic rebirth. Her most vulnerable and visionary work yet, the five-track record blends dreamy folk, country, and blues into a radiant tapestry of healing and transformation, liberation and empowerment.
Stream: ‘Spring Cleaning’ EP – Love, Alexa
I’ll jump the fence you painted white, rather die than be the painter’s wife. Won’t let you win the war, I’m not nothing after all…
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Love, Alexa’s latest EP opens in a whisper and ends in a roar.
Across five soul-stirring songs, the Detroit-born singer/songwriter spills herself onto the page in vivid, visceral color – painting pain, growth, reckoning, and rebirth with breathtaking vulnerability. Spring Cleaning is a brutally raw and achingly beautiful exhale: A diaristic, harmony-drenched indie folk experience that blends dream pop’s soft haze with the grit of Americana and the soul of country blues. It’s devastating, defiant, and divine – an intimate soundtrack for letting go of everything that no longer serves us, and reclaiming the pieces of ourselves we thought we’d lost.
“I’m not nothing after all,” she sings at the end of “The Painter’s Wife,” a line that hits like a revelation – the kind that reverberates long after the music fades. A stirring portrait of healing, reckoning, and spiritual renewal, Spring Cleaning finds Love, Alexa embracing her true voice and shedding the past in a radiant, soul-baring rebirth.
I don’t trust a gut feeling
Lost my will to believe
I’ve been wrong before
That’s something he taught me
There’s a war on the horizon
It’s the kind that no one sees
It’s the kind
that most scares me
Waiting for the coast to clear
I’ll stay quiet if you’re still here
I’ll give you
Everything I am
To paint a flag the brightest white
To live and die a painter’s wife
I let you win the war
It’s just easier
To be nothing at all
– “The Painter’s Wife,” Love, Alexa
Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering Spring Cleaning, the third EP from Love, Alexa – and a triumph of the heart, the soul, and the spirit. Independently out June 20, 2025, the LA-based artist’s new five-track collection arrives as her most personal and poetic work yet – a tender, turbulent, and transformative journey through grief, healing, identity, and release. Alexa Lusader has long used music to process and purge the deepest parts of herself, and Spring Cleaning finds her at her most fearless and free: From the haunting depths of “Mouth” and “Jealousy” to the cathartic, sun-soaked title track, she invites us into her world with open arms and an open heart.
“After the release of my last EP Dirty Child, I fell into an unshakable depression,” Lusader tells Atwood Magazine. “At first I chalked it up to postpartum, but after a couple weeks I knew it was something bigger. Around that time, my dad and stepmom invited me on a Mexican cruise – Midwesterners love a cruise – and instead of partying, I shut my phone off and sat on the balcony every night watching the stars rise out of the ocean. It was the night sky that told me how to move forward – get even more honest. From there, I was taken on a winding spiritual journey. The first phase? Cleaning out what was buried and trapped – hence the title.”
Love, Alexa began as a rebirth.
The artist debuted her moniker in 2018 with Dear You…, a diaristic electronic-leaning EP dabbling in pop/R&B that she once described as “me creating music for me.” That project marked a turning point in Alexa Lusader’s journey — one that found her shedding the expectations of others and reclaiming her artistic autonomy. But she was still very much finding herself.
“Ever since I was younger, I was always obsessed with physically writing, pen to paper,” she explains. “Whether it was journaling or writing letters that felt like love notes, I’d always sign off with ‘Love, Alexa.’ Then I started writing little notes and posting them on my Instagram. It felt like a natural progression… more intimate – a spotlight on the more raw, unseen emotions.”
2023’s Dirty Child pushed her sound further into the analog realm, trading electronic flourishes for live-band warmth and weaving rock, folk, Americana, and Y2K pop into a vibrant, vulnerable fabric. “Spring Cleaning took that sound and made it better,” Lusader reflects. “More clear as to who I am and what I have to say.”
Love, Alexa candidly describes Spring Cleaning as “brutal, beautiful, and reborn,” and it’s a fitting summation of this five-song journey through pain, purging, and personal growth. The EP opens in stark, devastating fashion with “The Painter’s Wife,” a slow-burning stunner that unpacks identity loss and emotional abandonment with poetic finesse. It’s the record’s darkest hour – an exorcism of past selves wrapped in hushed harmonies and haunting twang – and from there, the healing begins. “Jealousy” is a striking self-interrogation, its shimmering pop glow underscoring an internal war between envy and accountability. “Mouth” channels betrayal into power as Alexa flips the narrative, reclaiming her worth over a bed of raw, expressive vocals. By “Come Quietly,” a folk-blues ballad steeped in warmth and vulnerability, the armor has softened; the heart is no longer just open, but giving. The title track closes the EP in a radiant, cathartic sweep – a sonic baptism that celebrates growth, forgiveness, and the freedom of letting go. One song at a time, Spring Cleaning transforms grief into grace, tracing a path from emotional wreckage to renewal with fearless honesty and breathtaking beauty.
As a lyrically forward artist, it’s no surprise that Love, Alexa has strong attachments to her words – and when asked about her favorite lyrics on Spring Cleaning, she lights up. “The Painter’s Wife,” her personal favorite on the record, feels like poetry to her – and with lines like “to paint a flag the brightest white / to live and die a painter’s wife / I let you win the war / it’s just easier to be nothing at all,” it’s easy to see why. That verse eventually flips on its head, becoming a declaration of self-worth and resilience: “I’ll jump the fence you painted white / Rather die than be the painter’s wife / Won’t let you win the war / I’m not nothing after all.”
On “Jealousy,” one standout line came unexpectedly during a shark documentary viewing: “Bait on the hook / Wish I wasn’t such an open book / I’m a sweet treat, fresh meat in open water.” Alexa calls it one of her favorites – a darkly cheeky metaphor for vulnerability and exposure. “Mouth” hits even deeper: “You’ve got a mouth on you / And it’s hurting me / I’ve got a mouth on you / This isn’t what I need.” She remembers sobbing when she wrote those words, calling it a moment of deep release and reckoning with past wounds.
“Come Quietly” brings warmth and wisdom to the table in its understated confession: “Now you can take what I can give / And I won’t feel the weight of it like I did back then.” For Alexa, healing gave her the ability to give again – no longer hoarding her love and energy just to survive. “Happy to report,” she says, “I’m not surviving anymore.”
Finally, the title track “Spring Cleaning” is filled with lyrical gems. Alexa points to lines like “I’m not at the party, I’d rather be bored / Blank pages, my slate is as ripe as a plum / Damn there’s a freedom in coming undone” as some of her most evocative, embodying the season’s spirit of renewal. Another favorite comes right before the chorus: “Calling out to her / It’s time to blossom, flower / Back down to the dirt / Barefoot through the flowers.” That verse, she shares, was written for her friend Cyn’s daughter, Beatrix – a personal and poignant dedication wrapped in hope and growth.
At once gentle and gutting, Spring Cleaning is a reckoning wrapped in a lullaby — a space where raw wounds meet soft light, and the act of letting go becomes an act of self-love.
Love, Alexa doesn’t just tell her story; she lives it in real time, turning heartache into healing and vulnerability into visceral art. These five songs ache, shimmer, and soar with a rare kind of emotional clarity – the kind that lingers, offering companionship in the dark and hope in the aftermath. It’s an EP that doesn’t just sound beautiful; it feels necessary. In its quietest moments and its most cathartic crescendos, Spring Cleaning affirms that growth is messy, rebirth is painful, and the path forward begins with telling the truth.
As the dust settles and the doors swing open, Lusader reflects on what this record has meant — not just for her, but for those who might find solace in it. What started as a personal purge has become something more: A soundtrack for surrender, a balm for the broken, and a gentle reminder that we are never alone in our becoming.
“I hope listeners learn it’s never too late to start over, wipe the slate clean,” Lusader shares. “I hope they remember to appreciate the beautiful among the brutal and I hope they know the only permission they need is their own.”
“As for me, I found God a couple weeks after finishing the writing of this record and during the release of this EP – I’ve been forced to deepen that surrendering of control while I spring clean even more. Life imitates art. I’d be lying if I said it hasn’t been excruciating but the moments of clarity have been better than I could have imagined. I’m still very much in the thick of it while also feeling more motivated and alive than ever reminding me of the duality of life and the human experience.”
Experience the full record via our below stream, and peek inside Love, Alexa’s Spring Cleaning EP with Atwood Magazine as Alexa Lusader goes track-by-track through the music and lyrics of her third EP!
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:: stream/purchase Spring Cleaning EP here ::
:: connect with Love, Alexa here ::
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Stream: ‘Spring Cleaning’ EP – Love, Alexa
:: Inside Spring Cleaning ::
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The Painter’s Wife
I started the verse back in 2022 but didn’t know where to take it until a monday night mushroom trip showed me the residual pain that needed to be cleaned out once and for all. That session ripped me to shreds – realizing the ways I still kept myself small as if he was still in my life, imagining myself living and dying a painter’s wife. It allowed me to feel it all and come back stronger. Sonically, I was inspired by the Beatles and classic country vocalists like Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline and Lucinda Williams. The way their voices dripped with emotion.
Jealousy
This came at a time I was becoming more unapologetic about what I felt even if it painted me in an unfavorable light. I had a strong desire to change my ways and release me from the shackles of jealousy. I love a good juxtaposition and wanted the music to sound like main character, healing energy with a touch of melancholy. A sonic bath of guitars and something that could be on the Legally Blonde soundtrack.
Mouth
This was the first song written for the EP and it scared the shit out of me after we wrote it. It was inspired by a guy coming back into my life abruptly and how he highlighted past patterns of mine. This song was created as a reminder to not let myself be treated like that and I haven’t since. Instead of using big guitars, we used my vocals to portray that cleansing feel. I love how sweet the background vocals sound against the raw lyrics. The duality! The range!
Come Quietly
I love me a ballad and it was so fun to go folk/americana/blues with my vocals. One of the things I appreciate about my voice is its versatility but this song helped me realize where home is. My voice shines like a diamond in this genre. This is the part of the record where I’m starting to open myself up. Going from talking about wanting to let love in to slowly putting it into action
Spring Cleaning
I was cleaning out my wardrobe, apartment, people in my life, emotions, you name it. I was taking inventory of everything. Creating all this space for the new, the abundance. Utilizing the big guitars again as a sonic bath, a baptism, a cleansing ceremony. After writing this song, I knew the EP had to be called ‘Spring Cleaning.’
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:: stream/purchase Spring Cleaning EP here ::
:: connect with Love, Alexa here ::
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© Emilie Wilde / Ganguette Co:: Stream Love, Alexa ::
