Moderately impressive, but encouraging: Ayliva is (maybe) our Ariana Grande.
In times when even superstars like Taylor Swift or Lizzo make their fans believe that they are not demigods, but rather service providers for a close-knit community of equals; In times of great gestures of sisterhood in pop, you need the chutzpah to be really stupid, a really bold beast, an old-school mean girl. Ariana Grande had that guts when she sang, “Break up with your girlfriend, I’m bored.” Buuuuuuh! Something like that gets deducted from the feminist B-grade, but at least it gets good chart placements.
The singer Ayliva from Recklinghausen achieves a similar level of cunning, presenting herself somewhat shamelessly as the German Ariana Grande, with a ponytail and a bow in her hair. She dedicates her song “Ugly”, currently at number one in the singles charts, to an ex-boyfriend, whose most beautiful thing was apparently Ayliva herself: “I loved you so much, but I think you just look so ugly without me,” she sings after her lost love and her new friend, free from fear of accusations of lookism.
After such weighty topics, Ayliva seems to be treated to an asshole revenge song from the heart
In order to understand why medium-impressive vocal acrobatics accompanied by plucked guitar and beats from a set of musical instruments interest so many people, you have to remember how Ayliva became known: with an alleged threat from her ex-boyfriend. The music video for her debut single “Your Guilt,” a reckoning with a toxic relationship, began with a voice message from an ex in which he threatened the singer and banned her from releasing the piece.
Whether the voicemail was authentic – the voice was repeated, but according to Ayliva the content of the message is real – or a marketing stunt to make it easier for an industry to get started: It is not known. The whole thing led to many women reporting on Tik-Tok about their experiences of violence. After such weighty topics, Ayliva seems to be treated to a heartfelt, asshole revenge song – even if it doesn’t sound half as exciting as little spite felt.
This column first appeared in Musikexpress issue 12/2023.