IVA Reflects on "Immense Tenderness," in a Compelling Single

From Wilmington, Delaware, the versatile artist and singer-songwriter IVA releases an incredibly meaningful and emotional single entitled "Immense Tenderness."

Initially influenced by her talented oboe-playing grandfather, who led many ensembles throughout his life, IVA later began training in opera singing at the age of nine. After training as a classical soprano at The Julliard School and Manhattan School of Music while also graduating from Princeton University's world-class performance program, IVA was granted a Fulbright scholarship to study her ancestors' music in Sweden.

Although her music career has seen many successes, IVA's journey hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows, as she often fuels her lyrical content with incredibly emotional themes. When speaking on her latest single, "Immense Tenderness," IVA had this to say, "I was in a turbulent relationship that resulted in domestic violence. 'Immense Tenderness' is something I wanted to share in my artistry, if you think it's your darkest hour, there is hope, and there is light. Speak up and get help."

Diving into the single, "Immense Tenderness," the intro opens with a haunting and ethereal operatic vocal arrangement that sweetens our speakers with incredibly dense and celestial tones. As a warm acoustic guitar begins strumming its way to our hearts alongside tender percussion flairs, IVA later makes her way in and expands on how she misses the feeling of immense tenderness before settling with someone who brought the complete opposite.

The lyrics within this single are more than emotional; they're striking, as IVA continues her vocal venture while touching on her past self before being with someone who drenched her in sorrow and sadness. As the song comes to an end, we're left in a deep daze of introspection, evaluating what doesn't serve us anymore.

Get your dose of introspection with help from IVA's latest poignant single, "Immense Tenderness," available on all streaming platforms.

Welcome to BuzzMusic, IVA. We want to thank you for shining a light on such a needed topic within your latest single, "Immense Tenderness." What compelled you to write a song based on domestic abuse?

I had moved back into my house after leaving the abusive relationship and was feeling more down than I ever had before. I woke up one morning and thought about how wonderful things had been at the beginning, the Immense Tenderness we had felt, and that he had shown. I didn’t understand how he had changed to want to intimidate and scare me, which he surely did. So, I wrote the song to try to piece together the steps that brought us to the painful abuse and ultimately to the end. It was as if some unseen force was guiding me to the piano to write it. Once I sat down at the keyboard, it almost wrote itself. Then Jaron Olevsky, the producer on the song, helped me to shape all of my thoughts into the song that you now hear - because I had A LOT of lyrics written.

How did you achieve such a haunting and emotion-evoking sonic atmosphere for your single, "Immense Tenderness?” What sort of vibe did you want to deliver through the sonics?

It was Jaron Olevsky who found that haunting vibe, along with my band. He had heard a vintage keyboard instrument called a Wandering Genie” and found one for sale. That instrument created some of the otherworldly sounds on the track. Also, the recording environment at the recording studio, Rittenhouse Soundworks, gave us a large feeling of space on the track. And, of course, the screaming at the end was me recreating the sounds I had made when I walked away from the abusive relationship. I was in so much anguish that I would scream to try to get it all out and bang on the floor with my fists. It was quite a time. I decided to bring those sounds to the song itself.

Was it difficult for you to open up and write lyrics for "Immense Tenderness?” What did you want your audience to take away from your lyricism?

It actually wasn’t difficult to write the lyrics because they just came out…and continued to come out. I did write “we make it up” for the bridge as I felt that a lot of the conflict could have been avoided if we had somehow had better self-awareness. It felt like an avoidable drama, living in an abusive relationship, and yet, it was very, very real. I felt he was mad at me for imagined reasons. I could not convince him otherwise, no matter how painstakingly I explained it.

Could you drop any hints regarding the operatic piece set to release in early 2024? How is "Immense Tenderness" incorporated into this forthcoming project?

The opera will be called “Inside Out” and it will more explicitly share my story as a victim of domestic abuse. I will be exploring some of the screamings that I did in the aftermath of the relationship. I wonder what it would be like had I, and other victims truly screamed from our core in the presence of our abusers. I’ll use both operatic and popular style singing to create these sounds and look forward to finding the cast that can experiment with me.

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