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Daena's 'Alter Ego' Album: A Bold Debut from Nashville’s Indie Pop Rock Scene




Alter Ego announces Daena to an indie scene hungry for new, original voices.


This Queer Nashville Indie Pop/Rock artist’s highly anticipated release walks listeners through a raw, emotional retelling of a quarter-life crisis. We get an intimate look at love, anxiety, and the vagaries of the human spirit across eight tracks.


Storytelling delivered with sugary-sweet pop sensibility proves a dynamic sound strengthened by lyrical vulnerability. Alter Ego is a must-listen for fans of artists like Olivia Rodrigo, Zolita, and Beabadoobee.

A View of 20-Something Queer Life From the Inside Out

With Alter Ego, Deana takes us on a deeply personal ride. The themes of love, fear, change, and identity are handled not with sweeping generality but heartbreaking singularity. The album is a post-coming-of-age soundtrack of an artist taking stock of her life. There is impressive scope and writerly maturity for a debut album.


The Alter Ego album begins with “Emily (Kiss & Run)”, the most radio-worthy song on this album covering the appropriately effervescent subject of a summer fling. But the work can reach contemplative tones, as it does with “Turn Lane.” Here, Daena reflects on her fear of change with poignant directness. Meanwhile, other songs—like the love ballad “Lucky Number”—open up the sonic landscape with hints of alt-country texture.


Each track develops the work as a whole, producing something with some heft but always with a dose of fun.




Embracing Her Roots

The Nashville influence is palpable throughout Alter Ego, not just in Daena’s powerful, evocative voice but also in her ability to seamlessly blend pop, rock, and indie influences. It’s no wonder that she’s been embraced by the very music scene that gave birth to her unique blend of 00s-inspired pop.


As a queer artist in a city known for its deep-rooted musical heritage, Daena is helping pave the way for more diverse voices to be heard in the Nashville music scene. That’s why she’s worked with the It Gets Better Project, which works to uplift the lives of young queer people.



Alter Ego album
By: Karen Williams| Photo: Acacia Evans


The Road Ahead

Alter Ego debuted live on October 4th at Nashville’s iconic Lipstick Lounge, one of the last standing lesbian bars in the country, marking the start of an entirely new journey for Daena.


The album fulfills the promise of “Close Isn’t Enough”—Daena’s single that reached over a million streams on Spotify.


Alter Ego is an unapologetic, full embrace of the quarter life crisis as it exists today. Working with a stunning palette of indie pop sounds and influences, she paints a picture both vivid and, ultimately, hopeful.


Are you interested in checking out Daena’s debut album Alter Ego? You can find it on all streaming platforms, including Spotify and Soundcloud.


For more on Daena, visit her official website.


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