Premiere: Ziggy Alberts Opens 2021 with Uplifting Single “letting go,” a Tender Outpouring of Inner Light

Singer/songwriter Ziggy Alberts shines with an inner light on his radiant new single “letting go,” an intimate and tender release of tension, stress, and solitude.

Stream: “letting go” – Ziggy Alberts

We find strength and joy in companionship on life’s adventures, lifting each other up along the way. It is about being able to change direction when you feel yourself getting off course.

Letting go means something different to everybody: For many, it’s a sign of acceptance and a mode of catharsis; for others, it’s a recalibration back to center, and a return to balance and one’s core.

For singer/songwriter Ziggy Alberts, it’s all of the above, and then some. The Australian artist shines with an inner light on his radiant new single “letting go,” an intimate and tender release – of tension; of stress; of solitude; of life’s visceral weight.

We cut through glaciers to coastline
By the afternoon
And rivers cut through the gorge and
The waters clean and the waters smooth
See I’ve been trying to move along, move along
Consumed in keeping strong for far too long
When all I had to do was rest my head
And rest my heart
You don’t have to feel like this, no

I’m letting go
See I’ve been trying
to hold on, hold onto this fear all alone
I’m letting go
See I’ve been trying
to hold on, hold onto this fear all alone
And it doesn’t feel right anymore

Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering “letting go,” the sophomore single off Ziggy Alberts’ forthcoming fifth studio album searching for freedom, set for release March 19, 2021. Alberts’ first original LP since 2018’s critically acclaimed third album Laps Around the Sun (which peaked at number 2 on the ARIA Charts), searching for freedom was first teased out in late 2020 with the stirring single, “heartbeat,” a mesmerizing layered outpouring of affection and sincerity. Alberts also released an acoustic fourth studio album, Truly Acoustic, in October 2020.

Out everywhere January 22, “letting go” arrives as Ziggy Alberts’ first single of 2021, signaling a strong return to the fore with his signature acoustic grace and dynamic sincerity. A charismatic Australian singer/songwriter hailing from Queensland, Alberts currently has over 1.64 million monthly listeners on Spotify alone and has released four LPs and four EPs over the past nine years. The journey from 2013’s debut Made of Water to now has been neither easy nor simple for the genre-blending folk-pop troubadour, but Ziggy Alberts’ growth and musical development are evident throughout what has already been a praise-worthy and enviable career.

In premiering Laps Around the Sun‘s single “Love Me Now” in mid 2018, Atwood Magazine labeled Ziggy Alberts as an artist to watch and praised him for creating a “pure stripping-down of the soul”: “It’s a song you sing when darkness comes, and you can no longer feel the light; a song you sing when you look in the mirror, but you don’t recognize the face staring back; a song of intimate upheaval that cuts deep, and leaves a mark… A raw, pained plea to love.”

My voice is getting tired
And I’m sick of arguing with you
Do you ever feel like you’re on a train
Moving too fast to stop
But someone you love is in the carriage
And you can’t get off

Baby could you love me now
Baby could you love me now
Baby could you love me now
Could you love me now
Could you love me now
Enough to let this go

– “Love Me Now,” Ziggy Alberts

“letting go” is yet another stripping down of the soul, as its very name suggests.

The song finds Alberts shedding all pretense in an intimate and tender upheaval of inner tension – an act which inevitable leads to a warm and welcome cathartic release. “I’m letting go,” he sings in a soulful chorus. “See I’ve been trying to hold on, hold onto this fear all alone, and it doesn’t feel right anymore.”

“‘letting go’ is a song about letting go of fear and the notion of having to heal everything alone,” Ziggy Alberts tells Atwood Magazine. “We find strength and joy in companionship on life’s adventures, lifting each other up along the way. It is about being able to change direction when you feel yourself getting off course.”

We continue to hear and feel this overhaul of the self in the second verse of “letting go.” Alberts wears his hearts on his sleeve, his arms outstretched and welcoming others into his inner sanctum:

And I came back to rest
And work along this canvas line
We can sleep to work at better rest at night
With less upon my mind
See I’ve been trying to move along, move along
Consumed in keeping strong for far too long
When all I had to do was rest my head
And rest my heart
And you don’t have to feel like this, no

“I have spent time busking and jamming this song with friends over the last few years, but it never made it onto an album until now – despite being written around the same time as (2015’s) ‘Runaway,'” Alberts explains. “I’ve grown more and more confident over the years not to rush song releases – this record certainly seems the most fitting for this track.”

Between “heartbeat” and “letting go,” it’s already clear that searching for freedom will be Ziggy Alberts’ most mature and complex offering to date.

Not only is he tackling more nuanced emotions and deeper subject matter in his lyricism, but he’s also incorporating a multifaceted musicality to his trademark acoustic instrumentation – a signature style that has been steadily developing throughout his career. The horns and string swells in the “letting go” finale are just one in a myriad of examples that find the artist’s sounds and styles going above and beyond – all in good ways (it’s important to acknowledge that “bigger” isn’t better, and “more” isn’t always a good thing). In Alberts’ case, his expansions are tactful and compelling, adding (and not taking away) from his song’s overall experience.

I’m letting go
See I’ve been trying
to hold on, hold onto this fear all alone
I’m letting go
See I’ve been trying
to hold on, hold onto this fear all alone
And it doesn’t feel right anymore

I don’t want to do this
on my own, on my own, love
I don’t want to do this
on my own, on my own, love

A radiant summery song full of intimacy and heartfelt charm, “letting go” is a noteworthy start to what is sure to be a landmark year for Ziggy Alberts. Especially in this time of such disconnect and isolation, it’s a reminder that we are not alone; that we are part of communities, families, and friend groups that extend beyond the individual. We are each a part of something bigger than ourselves, and it’s time we recognize that and celebrate it, embracing our loved ones for all the light and love they bring into our loves.

Stream “letting go” exclusively on Atwood Magazine.

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Stream: “letting go” – Ziggy Alberts

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