Jia plays it cool while surveying a wasteland of doomed romance in her darkly cinematic single Let My Baby Go — premiering exclusively on Tinnitist.
The sophomore single from the Vancouver indie-rock singer-songwriter is a masterful marriage of nostalgic styles, sounds, influences and archetypes — the dream-pop haze of ’50s girl groups; the lush deadpan vocals of Lana Del Rey via Nancy Sinatra; the twangy low-neck guitars and glinting slides of southwestern desert rock; the thumpy tom-toms and lumpy gait of Tom Waits; and lyrics that drop references to everyone from Lee Hazlewood and Sonny Bono to Nick Cave. Somehow, Jia seamlessly smears them all together into a woozy, seductive tale of obsession, desertion and heartbreak — while hinting at events and motives that are far more malevolent and mysterious:
“I had to let my baby go
He was no longer good for me
One final kiss before I hit the road
Toward coastal highway seas
My darlin’ how I loved you so
Oh, how I love you still
But you swallowed me up like Tylenol
And how very often you were ill.”
If it sounds like something from an underground movie soundtrack, no wonder — Jia says the song was inspired by her affinity for Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill films and the cool, melodrama of spaghetti westerns soundtracks. The Taiwanese-Canadian sinrger-songwriter wanted to create something that could exist in that world, and in turn, create a world of her own. One listen to Let My Baby Go will make it clear she accomplished that mission.
Jia was chosen as one of 10 singer-songwriters to participate in the Women in Music x She is the Music Songwriting Camp in 2021, where she received masterclasses from industry professionals and mentorship from the top songwriters in the industry.
Check out Let My Baby Go above and below, listen to the song on your preferred DSP HERE, and follow Jia on Instagam.
