‘Only One’, premiered with FLOOD Magazine and is an enchanting alt-R&B track, which sees MALIA grappling with the aftermath of unrequited love, the moments when you step back and question the relationship. On the song, MALIA looks inwards, her soulful, velvety vocals uplifting the lyrics as she muses:
"guess I love way too hard
did I make this up
am I the one?
the only one in love?"
A conceptual work surrounding heartbreak, the songs on What's After 'I Love You?' chronicle the life-shattering stages after a breakup. Within it, MALIA navigates realising a love is lost, questions all she once knew to be true, and finds healing in channelling her experiences into creativity. MALIA embraces vulnerability on the record, invites us to open ourselves up to love, and shows us that beauty can come from pain.
A note on the EP from MALIA reads:
Heartbreak is one of those life situations that can trigger you to call into question everything about yourself, who you are, how you show up in this world? You begin to examine each dark corner that may have been swept over in the past, all the way to the root of the limiting beliefs that may have been planted decades ago or more. For me, this pain was unlike anything I’ve ever felt and I found myself at rock bottom. My first reaction was to clamour to get the feelings back that I was clinging so hard to out of fear, but sitting with that pain instead of pushing it away or attempting to change the situation was the best thing I could have done
Once I was able to regain some sense of composure, making music was my only outlet. My heart, mind, body and spirit were calling out for me to create, perhaps as a sense of closure I felt I was lacking. This is the most vulnerable I’ve ever been in my writing. It makes me feel so exposed to share, but also empowered because of the growth I experienced through this intense pain created the best version of me yet. Sharing these songs with the world forces me to continue to remain open and live from a place of love over fear. I hope my story reminds people that moments of darkness however painful, actually hold our hand and help us elevate.
With love,
Malia
WHAT'S AFTER 'I LOVE YOU?' – TRACK LISTING
01. Falling Fast (interlude 1)
02. More Than Love
03. Currency
04. Drive Me To Think (interlude 2)
05. Hung Up
06. Only One
07. Everything And Nothing (interlude 3)
08. Undone
