Review: Ava Valianti blossoms on debut EP, ‘Petunias’

We take life for granted, particularly our youth. One day, you’re a teenager, and in the blink of an eye, you’re turning 40. 16-year-old singer-songwriter Ava Valianti uproots her life to better perceive the seasons of life that seem to fly faster and faster. She also takes a second, much longer look at her life, her troubles, and her understanding that existence requires growth through pain. Petunias, a seven-track project, sprouts between the cracks of adolescence, from the suffocating meandering of loneliness to celebrating the messiness of youth.

Valianti’s feathery voice ignites her words. They become like campfires dotting the countryside and sending up blinding red and orange light for the whole world to see. “Everything’s better when you’re messier,” she sings in “Hot Mess.” The choral backing vocals underscore the song’s intrinsic chaos, forever linked to this moment in time. With the focus track and closer “Running on Empty,” the Massachusetts-based artist peels back her heart’s throbbing membrane and allows the listener to witness her character in all its raw vulnerability. Decorated with acoustic guitar and swelling strings, the song punctuates the entire EP’s arc, from wallowing in the clutter of her life to fully accepting that growth is the only path forward.

Ava Valianti’s debut EP, Petunias, marks a significant introduction for an artist full of promise and just getting started.

Follow Valianti on her socials: Instagram