The Musician Insight

The reality of a musician’s life

A heartfelt confession

Wallice enters the scene with her first studio album, The Jester (2024), full of sarcasm, with country, rock and pop influences.

The Opener, the first track of this opus, explores the dreams of the young artist, to make it big. The track opens with a description of the singer’s daily life: “Someone spilled their beer on me, wash it off, I rinse and repeat”. The accompaniment, consisting of a soft instrumental (acoustic and electric guitar, piano, strings, and percussions) establishes the sadness and bitterness we will feel throughout the song.

Wallice confesses on how redondant and lonely a musician’s life can become, with each day blending into the next one: “No one knows my name in this crowd, I’ll sing my little nameless heart out”. The chorus’ lyrics share how invisible the singer feels, by not being recognized as a great musician: “I’m the opener, talk right over me, ‘cause the concert starts the second when I leave”.

This sentiment comes back with Wallice stating how she does not fit in the current music industry: “They won’t include me, I don’t know how to sing about sex […] I never understood, what they’re all singing about”. The theme of time flying by and our fear of missing out, adds a little sourness to the track: “Gotta learn to soak it all in, ‘cause time is sand that’s slowly slipping”. Throughout the song, we sympathize with her, as the anguish of not succeeding lives in all of us. The track concludes with the singer confessing on her mental state: “relying on a reckless dream […] I sacrifice my self-esteem”, and how she wishes to be in the spotlight, at last.

The Opener is a true depiction of what many musicians and ambitious people go through: the loneliness that comes with chasing your path, on your own.

Photo © Le3ay