Born in Miami, but raised in Key West, Florida, Liza Jane is a talented young artist with a rock-opera style and a booming, soulful voice. A voice that makes her music vulnerable, yet powerful at the same time. Her EP, Unbreakable, speaks on overcoming hardships and persevering through our darkest moments. Walking her listeners through an array of emotions from toxic relations, to even our own negative thinking and finding the courage and strength to live on.
The first song on the EP, ‘Dream Tonight’ demonstrates her rock-opera style best with electric guitar strings strumming in the intro, leading into her sultry vocals. She opens her song with the line, “My heart is stronger than my head, and I can’t live without you.” This line alone introduces the song’s message, the bitter-sweet reminiscence of a relationship gone bad. It’s fair to assume, we’ve all had a relationship (platonic or non platonic) where we have said things we didn’t mean, done things we shouldn’t have done; and when we realize our errors, it’s too late to repair the damage. In this song, it is lyrically transparent that Jane has faced this issue with someone close to her. As she laments, “If I had a dream tonight, maybe I could dream tonight of you. Instead of these things inside, the nightmares clouded in my mind” it gives nostalgia and apologetic intent. These feelings are relative in her chorus, “I can’t take back the things we said, can’t take back the life we had, can’t take back the things we did, can’t live without you”. While this song expresses her lament to ending a bad relationship, the next song tells the story of what went wrong.
In the second song, ‘Don’t Bring Me Down’ Liza is almost telling her listeners that the toxicity in the relationship went both ways. She opens the song with, “Just wanna dance by the ocean. Feel the sand and breeze. Light up my emotions. I’m letting go take the keys. Don’t bring me down”. Hearing these lines, it seems to me that her partner wasn’t the supportive type, and she might have been a victim of emotional manipulation. In her next lines she sings, “It would take a lot to break me. Don’t need you to save me. Let me be free (x2)”, it hints at an urge to get away from the “abuse”. The next line she sings, “Just wanna dance the night away. But you won’t let me breathe. I’m up all night into day. I don’t care if you leave. Don’t bring me down” almost expresses a growing despise inside Liza’s heart instead of love, bringing her to let go.
The third song on the EP, ‘Carry On’ serves as the climax to the end of her relationship. She’s telling her ex-partner to move on because she already has. As she chants, “Carry on, carry on, I don’t care. You go this way, I go that way. Carry on, carry on headed somewhere.” In the previous song, there are lyrical suggestions that Jane’s partner might have had some type of control over her. In this verse, “This broken record I’ve heard before. Tryna tell me who I am and where I’m from. Already know who I am. I don’t need your opinions please. Sorry ain’t sorry, you ain’t getting my apologies” she emphasizes breaking free from that control and getting her power back in an unapologetic fashion.
The next song, ‘Unbreakable’ contains 808s that sort of give a persevering feel as they “push” the song along. This song serves as the aftermath of what happened to Liza, after getting her power back from someone controlling she now holds her head up high stating that she is a fighter that can’t be taken down. Yet, she writes the song in a way that anyone who is going through something rough can listen and be encouraged to fight through it. Amazing.
The final songs, ‘Numb to It All’ and ‘Wake Up’ revolve around dealing with disconnectedness or the urge to turn back to the people who hurt us. However, the overall point of this EP is that we can all be “unbreakable” because everyone has a fighter inside and better days will come if you keep going.
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