Kevin Bronson on September 29th, 2015

0

Alexa Melo’s “Bleach” laments her dark heart, and her new video for song glowers with some equally dark imagery. At the heart of the song’s emotional purge are Melo’s experiences as a teen; she was signed to a major label very young but found frustration and then bitterness in the industry’s attempts to “mold” her. “Bleach” addresses that head-on. “The brainwashing and manipulating that occurs in the media and entertainment business and how easily your true colors can fade if it successfully breaks down your spirit,” she says. “It’s about mustering up the courage to not conform and pave your own way.” With the help of  producer Christian James Hand (the Mowgli’s), the preternaturally gifted singer-guitarist, still not quite 21, did so by releasing the powerful and stylistically diverse album “Alexa Melo” in June. She’s hyper about cover songs too — she’s covered Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon,” David Bowie and, most recently Sophie B. Hawkins. As Melo celebrates her birthday Wednesday, it will be interesting to watch her plow forward, for better or worse, on her own terms. As she sings in “Bleach,” “It’s a lost cause to defend / the flaws that make me who I am.”

||| Watch: The video for “Bleach”

||| Stream: Melo’s cover of “Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover”

||| Live: Alexa Melo plays Wednesday at Club Moscow at Boardner’s, along with the Things, Alexander Charles and the Absolute. She also performs Oct. 12 at Loaded Hollywood, Oct. 16 on the plaza stage at the Greek Theatre and Oct. 27 at the Viper Room.

||| Previously: “Still Right Here”