If you had told me that the song I couldn’t stop humming as I encountered my daily routine was a piece penned by an on-the-rise TikTok musician, I would have stopped you at “on-the-rise” and said, “Yeah, probably.” There’s nothing that the up-and-coming musical forces seem swayed from trying and the future of music feels well-managed and destined for higher highs than recent fare (and the recent fare isn’t anything to be ashamed of.)
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The overall camaraderie across global networks between artists feels like a distinctly new voice and form of the ageless, yet as-of-late aged-out, punk mentality — not the one the media was peddling, but the true familial efforts made by the punk kids to bring together outcasts and anyone who needed a crew to call theirs. There’s a lot of that in modern music and the truest musicians feel like judgment-free, experimental art kids. There’s no telling what the scene will sound like a decade from now but the kids have something going and Ashley Suppa’s approach fits well within such an open, welcoming atmosphere.
Working out of a musical household with a guitarist father that featured in the company of countless noteworthy musicians, Ashley Suppa was destined to fall into the effortlessly impossible career path of a musician. At the age of six, she featured on Ace Frehley’s album “Anomaly,” and from there the ambition only continued to spike; having pursued her songwriting over the last few years and having an education in the topic of music, it’s no wonder her debut single “Trouble” feels as tuned-in as it is.
There’s a retro aesthetic that penetrates the overall song, but the contemporary spin that similarly keeps time across “Trouble” from start to finish feels entirely necessary. Suppa’s unique perspective as someone so young and yet so talented feels unattainable to most in music, so seeing someone use it with such ease and to such great effect is inspiring. The attention to detail when crafting a song so focused on invoking a specific sound and era from music history is something most would argue is beyond Suppa’s years, but if it was, why does she manage to use it to her advantage with so much joy?
“Trouble” is a song that feels entirely indicative of a set sound and atmosphere within independent music releases; if there was to be a barrage of soundalikes similarly attempting to play pieces as good as what Suppa has here, the attempt would be noble but undeniably difficult to pull off. Still, the prospect of music seeing a new class of retro-modern pop could be something extremely beneficial to the overall genre as the last year has felt fairly stagnant when it comes to pop pioneers.
The world could use a nice reset button in the form of artists paying homage to 70s funk and gaudy fashion, and if everyone tried, there would at least be a few songs as catchy as “Trouble” to pass the time with! Regardless of the bigger picture, however, Ashley Suppa feels focused and entirely in her element. Whatever comes next, who can say, but there’s something about Suppa’s can-do attitude that gives me the feeling it won’t be any trouble.
Claire Ubelacker