A cinematic ballad steeped in sun-soaked memories, Brie Stoner’s latest single is a nostalgic tribute to Topanga Canyon’s beauty, lore, and lost love.
Stream: “Topanga” – Brie Stoner
There’s something mystical, something otherworldly and nostalgic about driving through Topanga Canyon — the way the sun filters through the sycamores, the winding roads humming with echoes of the past.
Every twist and turn is another glimpse at natural wonder, and off every dirt path are stories to be told and gems waiting to be discovered. Topanga Canyon will forever be a sacred, special place for people of all walks of life, and this holds especially true for Brie Stoner, who found a home away from home in the mountainous regions north of LA – and now pays homage to that land in her latest single. The singer/songwriter captures the West Coast’s beauty and magic in “Topanga,” a cinematic ballad full of sun-soaked memories, wistful longing, and heartfelt reverie.
I was dressed like a movie star
in the boulevard of broken dreams
You asked me for an autograph
’cause I made such a scene
You said I was the atmosphere
you wanted to breathe in
But I burned like fire,
and I had a good feeling that
I wasn’t gonna be such a
good girl for you baby
No, I was never gonna be your woman, baby
No, I was always gonna be your favorite mess
No, I was never gonna be your woman
Darling I was just going to be your mistake
Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering “Topanga,” Brie Stoner’s first single of the year following the releases of her debut album Me Veo last spring and the subsequent Like a Man EP in the fall. Born in Madrid and currently based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Stoner is an accomplished multilingual singer/songwriter, visual artist, and author, with a musical aesthetic not too dissimilar from musicians like Lana Del Rey or Mitski.
Atwood Magazine had the honor of premiering her debut album last year, praising it as “a dreamy, hazy, multi-dimensional collection [that] captures an artist coming into themselves, finding their voice, and harnessing their inner light after languishing in the darkness for far too long. It’s a mellifluous, melancholic exhale: Thirteen tender, sweetly seductive songs find Stoner plunging into the depths of her humanity, meditating on identity, freeing herself from labels, and celebrating ‘the myriad, mystical threads that make up the whole cloth of the human spirit.'”
You picked me up in the Alpha Romeo
With forest green paint and cognac leather
And I couldn’t take my eyes off you
when you sang the Stones no
No, I was never gonna be your woman baby
No, I was always gonna be your favorite mess
No, I was never gonna be your woman darling
I was just going to be your mistake
Rooted in Stoner’s deep personal connection to the area, “Topanga” ebbs and flows with grace even as she aches within, weaving bits and pieces of her past — canyon drives, fleeting romances, and the feeling of finally belonging — into a lush, expansive soundscape. It’s both a tribute and a time capsule; a love letter to a place that shaped her, and a reflection on how certain landscapes become stitched into our very souls.
“‘Topanga’ is my first love letter to LA, and I suppose it really kicked off the beginning of my songwriting on this album,” Stoner tells Atwood Magazine. “When I moved to Los Angeles in my twenties, it was my drive through Topanga Canyon that really made me feel like I was home. I suppose it’s because the topography reminded me so much of Spain, where I grew up. But also, because you can feel the rock and roll history and lore in the canyon.”
“In the song, I gathered bits and pieces of memories I had during that time… of lovers, of drives in the canyon, of memories that shimmer in a magical way and will forever live on in my heart. I wanted to capture the nostalgic cinematic way Topanga Canyon makes me feel, and I hope listeners can feel that.”
Stoner’s emotive voice has long been a lightning rod of seductive passion and raw, unfiltered emotion, and it’s in the song’s second chorus and subsequent breakdown that she hits one of her highest, if not poignantly bittersweet, highs.
Driving on the 101 to the canyon
Cruising on the highway up to Topanga
Drinking on the back porch
Eyes on the motion
Surfing each other like waves on the ocean
But I was dynamite with the wick lit honey
Nothing you could do to stop what was coming
Cause I was already running from the one I love
Oooh, oooh baby I was already gone
there was nothing you could say
I was leaving my love in L.A.
In releasing “Topanga,” Brie Stoner is also encouraging listeners to visit the non-profit Topanga REACH, a community-driven organization providing emergency relief, disaster recovery, and long-term resilience support for the residents of Topanga, California, whose homes were ravaged by wildfires earlier this year. Learn more at bit.ly/m/helptopanga.
And for those in need of an escape, let “Topanga” whisk you away to a sun-kissed boulevard winding through a lush, rugged, and mythic canyon — a corner of the universe steeped in lore and song, where the light dances through the trees, the air hums with history, and every curve in the road feels like a memory waiting to unfold. Stream Brie Stoner’s latest single exclusively on Atwood Magazine!
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Stream: “Topanga” – Brie Stoner
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