Altar is a brand new song by R&B and pop singer, Autumn Paige. This is her first release of 2024 and was accompanied by another, Topless, just a few weeks later. After listening to Altar, my immediate reaction was "wow, this is throwing me back to late-2000s Good Girl Gone Bad-era Rihanna." According to Paige, this song is "a reflection of loving someone too much and finding your way to break away from it." I definitely saw this theme of toxic love being portrayed throughout the lyrics including one of the first lines, "Your love is religious, yeah/And I'll swear I'll drink the wine." In fact, the song uses a lot of lyricism contrasting religion and sexuality similar to Sam Smith's Unholy and Lady Gaga's Judas. The song contains phrases "holy and divine boy," "like a devil in disguise," and of course, "I worship you at the altar." She continually compares the man that she loves to a Godly figure. I am always a fan of when artists take risks like these. Though it may be controversial to some, I believe that tackling taboo themes like these show how fearless an artist is. Even after just a few singles, Autumn Paige has proved herself as a certified badass.
I mentioned Rihanna earlier, but listening to Autumn Paige will remind you of all of the great R&B pop girlies who have emerged in the last two decades. You'll hear a bit of Kehlani, Summer Walker, Jhené Aiko, and even Doja Cat in this song. Altar starts off with some head-banging drums which I can only describe as the type of beat that will give you "the stank face." I was quite literally rocking back in my seat in time with it. Though the song may have some devilish lyrics, Paige's voice is angelic and this track specifically shows how well she can belt. Tunepical describes her as a "vocal maverick" and I 100% agree with them on that. The chorus was stuck in my head after just my first listen. Her delivery of "Give me your love, give me your love/Each and every night, boy" hit me the same way SZA's "I might kill my ex/Not the best idea" did back in December 2022... you can tell it's worthy of a being a smash hit.
Autumn Paige is a native of the entertainment capital of the world, Los Angeles, so it's no wonder that she's killed the music game so much less than a year into her career. Her first mass-released single, Melted, was only released last August, but her team describes Altar as "the first single to [her] new sound." Paige already boasts a huge following with over 20,000 followers on Instagram, 30,000 followers on TikTok, and 15,000 views on the song's official music video. Speaking of the video, let me give Paige and her team their flowers for this one. Directed by Jerel Mocak, the video features the singer rocking green hair and a "Dump Him" T-shirt while wielding a baseball bat in a church. As someone who believes that a great pop song should always be accompanied by a great music video, I was pleased to see that Paige seemingly believes this as well. The video compliments the song's message a lot and is exactly how I pictured this song's visuals in my head. If you're looking for your new favorite artist, I can definitely recommend Autumn Paige. Altar and its companion single, Topless, are available now.
Written by Jordan Elliott
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