Avery Anna is an American singer-songwriter who has rapidly gained recognition in the country music scene. Her musical journey began in childhood, singing alongside her grandfather, who played guitar. These early experiences introduced her to classic country artists like Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard, fostering her deep-rooted passion for the genre. Avery started singing at the age of 10 and quickly learned to play the guitar and piano. Her breakthrough came when she began posting cover songs on her TikTok channel, recorded in her bathtub for optimal acoustics. These videos went viral overnight, propelling her into the spotlight and leading to a recording contract with Warner Music Nashville.
Avery's debut single, ‘Narcissist,' gained significant attention on social media, showcasing her emotive storytelling and resonant vocals. Her collaboration with Sam Barber on the duet ‘Indigo' further elevated her profile, reaching the top ten on the Hot Country Songs chart and marking her first entry on the Billboard Hot 100. With over 500 million global streams to date, Avery has become an in-demand touring artist, recently announced as support on Luke Bryan’s upcoming ‘Country Song Came On' tour. Her music, rooted in both modern and classic country influences, continues to resonate with a growing audience, solidifying her status as a rising star in the industry.
We enjoyed her ‘Breakup Over Breakfast' album last year and you can read our review of that release right here but it was her appearance at this year's C2C festival in London that really blew us away – read the review here and now here we are with Anna's sophomore release ‘let go letters.' Anna's unique ‘let go letters' concept has long provided a safe space for her community of listeners to release heavy emotions and memories by writing them down. After reading countless letters about body dysmorphia, depression, addiction, self-worth and more, she began transforming these shared experiences into music. The result is a 15-track collection that places her fans’ stories at the heart of the album, offering a message of solidarity and hope.
‘let go letters' is a raw, courageous and deeply human project rooted in stories not just from her own life, but from the lives of her fans. Framed as a concept album built around personal letters written to her over the past four years, Anna has crafted a series of songs that capture the messy, painful and ultimately beautiful process of being heard and understood. It opens with the spoken-word introduction ‘Love, Avery', a heartfelt message from the singer that sets the emotional tone. With soft piano chords underneath, she declares, ‘nothing robs you like being numb and nothing heals like a song,' a poignant thesis statement for an album dedicated to letting pain breathe.
The standout ‘Mr Predictable' follows with a piano-led beginning that quickly swells into a full-on rock explosion. Singing from the perspective of someone watching a cheating partner, Anna wails, “I feel unloveable… don’t think you’re fixable,” capturing the ache of betrayal. Similarly, ‘GRAVE' is a rousing pop-punk anthem about trust and heartbreak. “I wish I had the words to say, but I’m still working through the pain,” she sings before unleashing a guttural final chorus that wouldn’t be out of place on an early 2000s Avril Lavigne record. These songs blend vulnerability with bold sonic shifts, refusing to stay within the usual bounds of country-pop, sounding, instead, something like what iconic rock pioneers Queen would sound like if they collaborated with someone like Taylor Swift.
‘what are friends for?' and ‘Self Esteem 4 Sale' tackle the pain of toxic friendships and identity in a social media-driven world. The former skewers “passive aggressive attacks” with dramatic flourishes of piano and guitar, while the latter strips things back to pedal steel and acoustic strums, touching on image, insecurity, and pressure: “All you need is a viral hit,” Anna sings with biting clarity. ‘My Mother Lies (voice memo)' continues this exploration of identity and self-worth in a heart-stopping acoustic minute where a girl wonders how she can believe she’s pretty when her mother doesn’t believe it about herself. These songs don’t offer answers—they offer solidarity.
The emotional centerpiece of the album, ‘Skinny,' is a haunting two-minute piano ballad that explores body image with unusual nuance. “I want to be S.K.I.nny,” she sings, only to pivot in the second verse to those who wish they weren’t. “Why are we so obsessed with being skinny?” she asks, letting the question hang in the air without judgement. Then there's ‘depression,' a devastating look at mental illness: “The devil’s come to play… nobody’s listening so you just hide it and slowly fade away.” These tracks showcase Anna’s ability to give voice to silent struggles, combining soft melodies with lyrics that cut to the bone.
Even as she leans into darker territory, Anna never loses her ear for melody. ‘Giddy Up!', her duet with Maggie Antone, begins as a sweet country number but veers into a punk-tinged release of emotion as both singers shout about “burning everything down.” ‘cheerios' is another masterclass in juxtaposition, pairing bright instrumentation with gutting lyrics about a drunk father: “It’s kinda sad when your hero’s face down in his Cheerios,' Anna sings with fascinating mix of vitriol and disappointment. ‘Danny Don’t', perhaps the album’s most important track, is Anna’s response to a fan contemplating suicide. “You don’t know why you’re broken, so how can you fix it?” she sings, her voice aching with empathy on another song that carries the album's through-line of parental failure to it's most extreme.
The final stretch includes ‘there’s no you (voice memo),' a brief but poignant tribute to grief, and ‘butterfly project,' a shimmering track about connection and emotional rescue. The closer, ‘Wish You Well,' is a cathartic release that confronts trauma head-on: “I hope you never feel the pain I felt… you should be ashamed of yourself.” Here, Anna finds her power—not in revenge, but in letting go on another song about a dysfunctional family and the devastating effect that can have on the people in the house. There's more clever use of time changes and mood changes throughout this song that leaves the listener breathless and never quite knowing where the song is going to go – which is both exciting and unique in these days of generic, throwaway, consumable music.
With ‘let go letters,' Avery Anna doesn’t just write back to her fans—she sings their stories back to them with grace, rage, vulnerability and compassion. It’s not just a concept album—it’s a lifeline that both entertains and impacts the listener with the juxtaposition of its heartbreaking subject matter, soaring melodies and ambitious instrumentation. It's a brave, challenging listening from an artist only just at the beginning of her own musical journey – what an accomplishment for an artist so young – and one that will only serve to inform and help evolve the albums and songs yet to come.
Track list: 1. Love, Avery 2. Mr Predictable 3. GRAVE 4. what are friends for? 5. Self Esteem 4 Sale 6. My Mother Lies 7. Skinny 8. depression 9. Giddy Up! 10. cheerios 11. Danny Don't 12. there's no you 13. butterfly project 14. Wish You Well Release Date: May 16th Record Label: Warner Nashville Buy ‘let go letters' right here.
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