Nessa Barrett

Nessa Barrett holds a twisted fascination for unrequited love. Moving to Los Angeles at 17 plunged her into a world of extremes. Now 23, she has spent her formative years navigating the intoxicating, often punishing romantic cycles of love stories built on illusions.

Her new album, Tough Love, explores the bursts of romance that thrive in a city like Los Angeles. “Tough Love is a sonic dark romantic experience,” Barrett explains. “Each song represents a different form of tough love.” Sonically, Tough Love expands on the brooding, trip-hop foundations she has been cultivating since her Aftercare tour and her recent EP, Jesus Loves a Primadonna. The cinematic, noir atmospheres of her previous work now make room for a guitar-driven palette. Her wide array of influences shines across the record, drawing from Massive Attack and Portishead to Alice in Chains and Fleetwood Mac, though she always adds her “own dark twists.”

“My entire life, I’ve been in this nonstop cycle: I fall in love, create a fantasy in my head, get obsessed, it’s passionate — and then reality kicks in, and I go through the heartbreak again,” she shared previously. “Obviously, I don’t learn my lesson, because I write another album about the same things. But that’s just life.”