Today, singer-songwriter Ali Holder premiered her latest single, “Reborn” on American Songwriter. The song comes ahead of her third album, Uncomfortable Truths, set for release on April 10. “Reborn” discusses chronic pain from a thoughtful perspective. Having suffered migraines for twenty years and vulvodynia for eight, Holder lays stigma aside with her latest track.
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“I knew I wanted to write about chronic pain, I just wasn’t sure how to make it clever,” Holder explained, “so, I figured I would lay it out word for word instead. At a certain point, you start to lose hope that your life will ever change; you become used to living a smaller version of your life. Just like having control over the way I thought, I had control over this song. I wanted to give myself a rebirth. I wanted everyone else living with chronic pain to know that you can be reborn, even if just in spirit.”
“Reborn” is the third single off of her upcoming album. Influenced by personal struggles, the twelve-song collection explores mental illness, chronic pain, healthy boundaries, and relationship challenges. Intertwined is a theme of privilege, discussing physical and psychological violence, poverty, and women’s rights. As the title suggests, Holder set out to bury the idea that pain is not to be shared.
This single comes on the heels of “Bad Wife,” released just a few weeks after the first, “Bruja.” “Bad Wife” challenges marriage difficulties as a taboo topic. Hodler married her husband after only six months together; a visa expiration led the two to take a chance on love. The reality of the affiliated life adjustments diminished some of the anticipated romance. Her lyrics tell the lesser shared, but widely experienced story of newlywed life.
“I wanted to convey that marriage can be very tough and that it’s okay to talk about it,” explained Holder. “I don’t know why we don’t talk about these things. There is no shame in struggling. We are so much better off to share our struggles with others, so they know they’re not alone, so we know we’re not alone.”
“Bruja” takes on the voice of La Loba. La Loba, or, “The Wolf Woman”, is a Pueblo mythology character who is known for collecting bones, as well as her ability to resurrect the wild spirit of life from the underworld. Her initial interest developed from her time spent in West Texas, where she learned about this blended heritage.
“I saw an art installation where plaster cast hearts were hanging from the ceiling to represent women who had gone missing via the Mexican Cartel. I always wanted to avenge them, so I had La Loba raise the bones of the 300 dead women to march as an army on the men who destroyed them.”
Like much of the album, “Reborn” reveals raw footage of real life. Holder manages to somehow wrap up the sometimes painful narratives with a positive bow. Not always neatly wrapped, but the message of a change of mindset prevails.
“You can choose to focus on the negative or the positive,” Holder says. “I am making a choice for the positive. All this in hopes that someone else can hear it and feel less alone about their own pain.”
Listen to Ali Holder’s latest single “Reborn” below. Look out for the release of her third studio album, Uncomfortable Truths, on April 10th.
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