Hailing from Nashville TN, alt-rock artist Holly Auna releases her expressive single "Water." Always holding on to her roots from Southern Indiana, the last decade Holly Auna has been busy traveling back and forth from Nashville to New York City and is continuously growing her work. With her latest hit "Water," Holly Auna triggers similar delivery to a nostalgic Taylor Swift through energetic country/rock instrumentals, a fiery vocal performance, and the incredible use of major to minor shifts. Holly Auna sings lyrics about losing someone you love and knowing that they won't return even when the choice is always present.
"Water" opens with mellow guitar picking and Holly Auna's pure vocals as she sings the understanding of what's at stake and that she'll continue to wait for them to reappear someday. The instrumentals are very emotional, especially with the droning electric guitars that rain down from above, Holly Auna keeps the track alive with her heartfelt lyrics that show pure-hearted vulnerability. Reaching a climax of sound around the bridge, Holly Auna and her supporting instrumentals create this heavy atmosphere, almost exuding anger and the other countless emotions we feel during heartbreak. Holly Auna has perfectly crafted "Water" to portray her inner emotions, and we can't help but hold on tight for the ride.
Hey Holly Auna, welcome to BuzzMusic! Your latest single "Water" has us feeling our deep running emotions. Why did you choose to write a song about waiting for someone to return, even when the odds aren't in your favor?
Thank you so much for having me on BuzzMusic! I’m excited to hear that “Water” has you in your feels! Songwriting is strange, sometimes we express things in unconventional ways. To anyone reading this who hasn’t heard the song, “Water” is about loving someone so much that you know you’ll wait forever for them, even when you know they aren’t coming back.
I wrote this song about my boyfriend, not because he had ever abandoned me, but because for the first time in my life, I understood loving someone so much that you would wait for them, no matter how long it took. It was actually a unique experience for me to show a breakup song to someone I’m dating and say, “Hey I wrote this about you!” Luckily he’s a songwriter as well and understands the obscurity that sometimes comes with putting our feelings into art and said it was “very sweet!”
We're truly loving the instrumentals you've provided with your single "Water". How did Holly Auna and your team create such a striking atmosphere with the instrumentals?
Thank you! I’m blessed to have bandmates that are also some of my very best friends. The five of us, Dan Kozlowski (drums), John Townsend (guitar), Ryan Oetken (guitar), and Matthew Foss (bass) and myself, actually co-produced this project together. We spent a year playing “Water” live around Nashville before taking it into The Amber Sound studio with Mat Poole. In the studio, we added keys with Alex DeVor and steel with Andy Ellison.
I also asked the band boys for their experience of how we created “Water.” Guitarist Ryan Oetken said, “The parts came together pretty fast. John came in with the ambient guitar part and we created our parts to complement his.” John Townsend (guitar) added that he thought our drummer, Dan Kozlowski’s, “treasure chest of percussion toys” created a vibe in itself! And to bass player Matthew Foss, it was the hits that fall on the “and” beat that create a unique vibe for this song.
We've heard that Holly Auna's single "Water" was a co-write between you, Lydia Dall, and John Townsend. What helped you write from such a vulnerable place during the songwriting process?
I wrote this song two years ago with Lydia Dall and John Townsend. Lydia has been one of my best friends for eight years now since we first met while attending Belmont University both as Entertainment Industry Studies Majors. In the past three years, we've written literally hundreds of songs together. The day we wrote "Water" was the first day we'd ever met John, and at that point in time we had no way of knowing he would end up being one of our best friends, and I for sure didn't know he'd end up being a part of my band, helping produce, mix and master this project.
It is so important to write with people you trust. It doesn’t matter if it’s a heartbreak song, love song, or just a song to pitch to another artist, writing with people you feel comfortable around always yields the best art.
We've also heard that Holly Auna's second tour "The Spring Fling Tour" was unfortunately canceled due to the world's current circumstances. What should we anticipate from your live performances once venues open up again?
This spring I was supposed to be going back on tour with Joshua Hunt hitting many cities in the southeast part of the United States, we were sad to cancel our tour but as always, safety first.
I am finding ways to still perform safely during this difficult time. On July 11th I’ll be performing at Nashville Craft Distillery with Lockwood Barr as a part of the Safe Summer Songs Acoustic Drive-in Series! I’m so excited to be a part of this drive-in social distanced show and look forward to trying to find more shows like this during 2020.
I have also been using this time to perform on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok LIVE. Every Wednesday I’ve been going on Instagram LIVE with another singer/songwriter as a part of my Songwriter Feature series on my blog thesongwriterdiary.com.
I’m currently starting to book for the summer of 2021 in hopes of getting back to a normal touring schedule. I love traveling, meeting fans/new friends, and performing my original songs. I can’t wait to hit the road again!