Relationship breakups are one thing– there’s the tears, the anguish, and the fallout. Maybe you have to move your things out of their place, or you have to reconcile yourself with the fact that they were never going to be “the one”. But friendship breakups? It’s hard to say that there’s more fish in the sea to that. Ava Petrillo’s “ATLANTA” is a cathartic track that describes all those complicated feelings that come with ending a friendship. You’re left with this void in your chest from a person who used to fit right in there, that tender camaraderie between two people who knew exactly how to end each other’s sentences is no more. Comfortable silences, long laughs– no longer, not since they betrayed you, stabbed you in the back. And yet, you’ll still think fondly of the comfort they brought you, just with one another without a care in the world. “ATLANTA” is a dedication to those memories, but more so an acknowledgement of how this person hurt you so and the grieving that comes with that.
“ATLANTA” is so wistful, so mournful, and still so empowering to those who have gone through a similar situation. The soundscape is drenched in strings and rhythmic percussion; and while the song starts with a gentle piano and the distant sounds of a car starting, this eventually ramps up throughout the runtime. I love the song’s progression– in many ways, it represents the narrator’s feelings toward their ex-friend, as the lyrics gain an angry tint to them as opposed to mourning, the guitars eventually becoming heavy, intense, and loud. It all culminates around the 3:00 mark, where the listeners are treated to the amazing vocals of Petrillo echoing as the guitars take center stage. It’s such a nice play between both lyrics and soundscape; and, when the guitars calm down, and the piano is introduced once more, the song closes with these very contemplative tones as Petrillo’s vocals fade out. And when you consider all of this against the songwriting, you get this lovingly complex track with an abundance of meaning behind each word and phrase. There are so many lines in this song that I’d like to talk about, but I’d really like to underline when Petrillo sings, “We were driving through Atlanta / Didn’t have a care in the world”. I think car rides are often seen as mundane things, but there is a sort of simple intimacy that comes with sitting next to a person for an extended period of time and just talking. “ATLANTA” really highlights those feelings, and so it’s all the more devastating when a friend, who enjoyed those moments with you, turns around and betrays your feelings, trust, or any number of things. Petrillo sings, “I didn’t think you would go so soon”– out of context, this might seem like the type of thing you would say about a person who passed away, but even in “ATLANTA”, the meaning is the same: you left my life too early. To me, this track exemplifies what it means to be young and go through a friendship breakup– to think that this person you thought would be in your life forever did something to guarantee that they would not is just heartbreaking. Yet, you can’t help but mull over it and let your feelings out all the same. Freeing, cathartic, or however you'd like to define what it feels like to listen to a song that knows exactly what you've been through, "ATLANTA" is it.
Ava Petrillo is a singer-songwriter whose flair for instrumentation and songwriting is clear in all her music. Ever since she attended a summer program at the Berklee College of Music at age twelve, she flew through the songwriting program to now create her own original music. A true wordsmith, her lyrics seek to connect people to one another, and help those unseen become visible. She uses writing as a way to bring comfort and therapy to feel heard, and so her music takes on a similar quality, shedding light and warmth. She’s self-taught in piano and guitar, with a soundscape similar to Lucy Dacus, Maggie Rogers, and Billie Eilish. Her debut single “WHY” dropped back in 2020 to immense success, now having over 540,000 streams just on Spotify. “ATLANTA” is currently her most recent release. Petrillo’s journey is just beginning, so if you liked what you heard, you should absolutely drop her a follow to see what else she has in store!
Written By Alexa Leung
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