At just 22, alt-pop singer-songwriter Ella Red is already reshaping pop storytelling with a debut album that’s as cyclical as it is cathartic. IT’S NOT REAL traces beginnings and endings in equal measure, pulling threads from the very first song she wrote at 16 and flipping teenage angst into something existential, comforting, and urgent. Ella opens the album boldly: “I can see my corpse in reflections,” she sings over sparse piano on the first track, “Parasite.” Her songs often begin with a single lyric that blossoms into entire worlds. On “He Asked For It,” she channels female rage into a reclamation of language too often used against women. She toys with the bridge between reverence and sacrilege on “Religion,” a song that echoes the lyrical vulnerability of Hozier, while “Party Animal” unspools playfully from its title. With pre-release single “Ball and Chain,” she engages the listener in a dance of “glitter and glue,” leading with confident guitar before descending into a throbbing beat and lightly distorted vocals. It’s a showcase for her vocal range, doubling as a window into her psyche. Then, the refrain “We’re All Going to Die” is an acceptance — a celebration, even — as much as it is a concession to the reality of things. Elsewhere, she experiments with form, setting “Predator” in 6/8 time and effectively capturing the thrill and fear of the chase. She invokes vivid imagery on “Funeral,” conjuring ghosts and building catacombs as a metaphor for release. The result is a body of work that feels like both a diary and a myth materializing in real time, grounded in Gen Z coming-of-age energy but timeless in its themes. Live, songs like “Aphrodite” consistently resonate with women who feel their stories in her lyrics about identity and self-perception. It’s this duality, and her ability to express what others cannot put into words, that she holds as her greatest responsibility — and her greatest joy when it comes to performing live. “I’m able to unlock another part of people’s understanding of their experiences,” she says. From a young age, Ella approached music with deep, genuine enthusiasm. While learning to play piano, guitar, and cello, her passion was matched by her curiosity, which prompted her to ask big questions and gravitate toward the experimental and unusual. “My favorite thing about songwriting is telling the stories that others can’t,” she shares. “That's our duty as as songwriters — to explore things.” Giving herself the space to embrace her most comfortable expressions of femininity — pink dresses, unapologetic brightness — Ella refuses to choose between her softness and ferocity, instead finding a balance in honoring both, allowing herself to live three- dimensionally. “Ive never been happier than I am now, wearing pink and everything feminine,” she confirms. Now, with influences ranging from Lady Gaga to Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo, Ella Red invites her peers into a world that bends time and collapses boundaries. This feels clear on offerings like “Cupid” and “Always the Artist,” two of the album’s softer, more tender tracks that leave her fully unguarded. But even here, in deceptively restrained territory, her lyrics are razor sharp; there is power, too, in her vulnerability. The arc of the album continues when the beat returns in “Spider String” before the project’s closing track, “IT’S NOT REAL.” As the grand finale approaches, her thesis feels most clear. This is the story of a girl who has existed throughout time, existing continuously and living vicariously through others. Her art is the proof. After all, what could be better evidence of a life that touches many others — shimmering throughout space and time — than a record that could outlast any one of us? Ella Red is the restless time traveler healing herself in her craft and inviting others to do the same. And if it all sounds like too much, don’t worry…it’s not real.