Alayna Releases Sophomore Album 'Set Her Free' Featuring New Single 'Tiny Spaces'
With her sophomore album Set Her Free, New Zealand-based singer-songwriter alayna invites listeners on a transformative journey through the multifaceted nature of love – self-love, love in womanhood, and love in romantic partnership.
Following the emotional excavation and inward reflection of her acclaimed 2023 debut Self Portrait of a Woman Unravelling, alayna found she was ready to change perspective. Instead of turning inward, she flipped her focus outward.
"After Self Portrait, I could see everything a bit clearer. The common thread was that love was woven into everything. It's the glue in a family dinner table – you're looking at a table, and you appreciate that you get to eat from it. But what about the very thing holding it all together? That's the glue. That's the love."
Written over a year and a half, Set Her Free emerged through waves of creation – from a writing camp in Bali, to a writing trip in Los Angeles, before being woven together alongside executive producer Ben Malone in Aotearoa.
alayna categorizes the album through two interwoven lenses: the physical and emotional realms of mind, body, and heart, and the thematic threads of self-love, love in womanhood, and romantic love. Each track is determined in its mission to interrogate one specific manifestation of love.
WATCH & SHARE: ALAYNA – "TINY SPACES"
Lead single "Mother's Mother" is a poignant tribute to the matriarchy, capturing generations of gratitude and reverence in a single, breathtaking song. "Animal" is, in her words, "all body" – a visceral, sensual declaration of autonomy and self-respect, inspired by the physicality of movement itself. On "Tiny Spaces", romantic love is examined at its most expansive and most ordinary – a love that can hold the universe while living quietly in the mundane. "Love You More" offers one of the album's most devastating moments: the acceptance that the greatest act of love is allowing someone the freedom to grow beyond you.
The album closes with its title track – a largely instrumental meditation built around a single question: "What of I, if I set her free?" Here, the album's title becomes a mantra of liberation: the truest expression of love, alayna says, is the freedom to grow.
"Set Her Free was in my bones for a long time. I've always searched for this kind of freedom in myself, this liberation in all areas of my life. My journey as an artist, a human, and particularly as a woman, have all unfolded alongside each other. The most ever-deepening understanding and wisdom as I go through this life is that love is this deep, expansive and pulsating life force that is at the centre of everything, and with each experience I go through, it widens and deepens further," alayna explains.
"I found a strong pull to write about love in womanhood – I realised this profound love I had always looked for in romantic connections was actually always there in the relationships with the women in my life. I wanted to focus on this love, this unseen 'glue' that is there within platonic friendships, the real reason we are held together. Uncovering these truths enabled me to write about relationships with a renewed perspective and also helped me look at my most important relationship of all – the one with myself. My ever-evolving understanding is that love is interwoven across such a spectrum of different types of expression and connections. I want to celebrate how extraordinary the capacity of the heart of a woman is. Love is in the smallest cracks, and as vast as our entire sky – a love so big, but it still fits in all the tiny spaces."
LISTEN & SHARE: ALAYNA – SET HER FREE
alayna.ffm.to/setherfree
Soft-edged and soul-anchored, Set Her Free is both intimate and expansive, drawing listeners into moments of stillness, resilience, and transformation. Executive-produced by New Zealand's Ben Malone and shaped by an international team of collaborators – including Grammy-winners Sebastian Kole (Alessia Cara, Teddy Swims) and Oak Felder (Demi Lovato, Kehlani), alongside Ryan Linvill (Olivia Rodrigo, Chappell Roan), Chelsea Lena (Ruel, Joji), Emma Rosen (MGK), Chelsea Warner (Pania, BOYSODA), VRON (UMI, Kiana Ledé), Zaire Koalo and Trevor Brown of The Orphanage (Lizzo, Kelly Clarkson), Micah Premnath, and Serban Cazan (Jennie, Rag and Bone Man, Jojo) – the album moves with a quiet confidence, balancing cinematic production with a warmth and closeness that radiates outward, inviting listeners into the shared space of alayna's world, while her voice and storytelling shine at the heart of every track.
With more than 85 million global streams and a reputation for crafting songs that feel both personal and universal, alayna continues to carve out her place as one of Aotearoa's most affecting voices. Set Her Free is a radiant next step, an invitation to witness the power of love in its smallest cracks, and its widest skies.
SET HER FREE TRACKLISTING
Following the emotional excavation and inward reflection of her acclaimed 2023 debut Self Portrait of a Woman Unravelling, alayna found she was ready to change perspective. Instead of turning inward, she flipped her focus outward.
"After Self Portrait, I could see everything a bit clearer. The common thread was that love was woven into everything. It's the glue in a family dinner table – you're looking at a table, and you appreciate that you get to eat from it. But what about the very thing holding it all together? That's the glue. That's the love."
Written over a year and a half, Set Her Free emerged through waves of creation – from a writing camp in Bali, to a writing trip in Los Angeles, before being woven together alongside executive producer Ben Malone in Aotearoa.
alayna categorizes the album through two interwoven lenses: the physical and emotional realms of mind, body, and heart, and the thematic threads of self-love, love in womanhood, and romantic love. Each track is determined in its mission to interrogate one specific manifestation of love.
WATCH & SHARE: ALAYNA – "TINY SPACES"
Lead single "Mother's Mother" is a poignant tribute to the matriarchy, capturing generations of gratitude and reverence in a single, breathtaking song. "Animal" is, in her words, "all body" – a visceral, sensual declaration of autonomy and self-respect, inspired by the physicality of movement itself. On "Tiny Spaces", romantic love is examined at its most expansive and most ordinary – a love that can hold the universe while living quietly in the mundane. "Love You More" offers one of the album's most devastating moments: the acceptance that the greatest act of love is allowing someone the freedom to grow beyond you.
The album closes with its title track – a largely instrumental meditation built around a single question: "What of I, if I set her free?" Here, the album's title becomes a mantra of liberation: the truest expression of love, alayna says, is the freedom to grow.
"Set Her Free was in my bones for a long time. I've always searched for this kind of freedom in myself, this liberation in all areas of my life. My journey as an artist, a human, and particularly as a woman, have all unfolded alongside each other. The most ever-deepening understanding and wisdom as I go through this life is that love is this deep, expansive and pulsating life force that is at the centre of everything, and with each experience I go through, it widens and deepens further," alayna explains.
"I found a strong pull to write about love in womanhood – I realised this profound love I had always looked for in romantic connections was actually always there in the relationships with the women in my life. I wanted to focus on this love, this unseen 'glue' that is there within platonic friendships, the real reason we are held together. Uncovering these truths enabled me to write about relationships with a renewed perspective and also helped me look at my most important relationship of all – the one with myself. My ever-evolving understanding is that love is interwoven across such a spectrum of different types of expression and connections. I want to celebrate how extraordinary the capacity of the heart of a woman is. Love is in the smallest cracks, and as vast as our entire sky – a love so big, but it still fits in all the tiny spaces."
LISTEN & SHARE: ALAYNA – SET HER FREE
alayna.ffm.to/setherfree
Soft-edged and soul-anchored, Set Her Free is both intimate and expansive, drawing listeners into moments of stillness, resilience, and transformation. Executive-produced by New Zealand's Ben Malone and shaped by an international team of collaborators – including Grammy-winners Sebastian Kole (Alessia Cara, Teddy Swims) and Oak Felder (Demi Lovato, Kehlani), alongside Ryan Linvill (Olivia Rodrigo, Chappell Roan), Chelsea Lena (Ruel, Joji), Emma Rosen (MGK), Chelsea Warner (Pania, BOYSODA), VRON (UMI, Kiana Ledé), Zaire Koalo and Trevor Brown of The Orphanage (Lizzo, Kelly Clarkson), Micah Premnath, and Serban Cazan (Jennie, Rag and Bone Man, Jojo) – the album moves with a quiet confidence, balancing cinematic production with a warmth and closeness that radiates outward, inviting listeners into the shared space of alayna's world, while her voice and storytelling shine at the heart of every track.
With more than 85 million global streams and a reputation for crafting songs that feel both personal and universal, alayna continues to carve out her place as one of Aotearoa's most affecting voices. Set Her Free is a radiant next step, an invitation to witness the power of love in its smallest cracks, and its widest skies.
SET HER FREE TRACKLISTING
Love Of My Life
I See You
But It's Lonely
Hold Me
Softly
Braveheart
Animal
Small Things
Love You More
Mother's Mother
Tiny Spaces
On Your Way Home
Set Her Free
I See You
But It's Lonely
Hold Me
Softly
Braveheart
Animal
Small Things
Love You More
Mother's Mother
Tiny Spaces
On Your Way Home
Set Her Free
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