For all its “Last Frontier” singularity, Alaska certainly has turned out a few musical success stories including Portugal the Man and Jewel. There is a new up and comer who fits the alt pop world who sounds years beyond her 20. Ava Earl adds a couragoues pop twist to her songbook that lines up with the vivacious edge and lyrical wit of Gracie Abrams, Remi Wolf and Melanie Martinez.
Having opened for the likes of Maggie Rogers while still in high school and releasing four albums by the time she was 18, Ava Earl has already solidified herself in the Americana scene as an emerging artist. She made a big step up in 2021 with her album The Roses, produced by GRAMMY-nominated JT Nero and now shes making a bigger jump with her fully realized new album Too Much.
Too Much continues on this path. Produced by JUNO-winner Zachariah Hickman and recorded at Great North Sound Society in Maine, the album champions a new sound––one that breaks away from previous recordings while staying close to Earl’s unique writing style. Glide is premiering the expansive “Too Much” (below) that hits with welcoming mix of alt-pop and organic lo-fi folk and orchestrated Arcade Fire type flourishes.
“Women are often told or made to feel like we are too much,” Earl says. “We are too much for our surroundings, too much for our peers, too much for our own good. We are supposed to wait our turn, couch our ideas in questions, and just be small. That’s never worked out for me. From a young age, I have been labeled ‘too much’ and I know from experience, I couldn’t be less if I tried. This album works through those feelings of being too much—both for others and sometimes for myself,” says Earl.”
My whole life, I’ve been told I was ‘too much.’ I’ve always been a bit over the top in everything that I do, and it’s something I’ve come to love about myself, but also something I’ve been criticized for my whole life. In recent years, I’ve also had the frequent feeling that it’s not just me, but everything else that is ‘too much.’ Both of these ideas are at play in “Too Much,” the title track for this album. In the song, I use the pursuit of a romance to shed light on my own insecurities, skewing them into something desirable. This is shown in the first verse: “Regret / half the things that I said / I know I talk too much / I guess / I’ll make a fool of myself / Until you shut me up.” I’ve always been told I talk too much, but when writing this song, I want it to sound like part of my charm. These ideas that I’m a mess, or that I lack self control, become almost alluring, even if nothing may come of the pursuit in the end. This whole album is an attempt at expressing exactly who I am at a specific time, and embracing that in entirety. I want any talkative little girls who listen to know that they deserve attention, and that being ‘too much’ isn’t really a bad thing at all.
