featuring @aleia_mj
Boorloo/Perth artist ALEIA channels betrayal, resentment and the desire for revenge into her gripping new single, ‘Willpower’ — a haunting grunge-pop track that simmers with slow-burning rage and emotional tension. Set for release Thursday, July 30, the single arrives alongside an atmospheric music video that brings its themes of attachment, vengeance and unresolved pain vividly to life.
Following the release of her debut EP, ‘Public Humiliation’, in November 2025, ALEIA returns with a darker and more cutting edge to her emotionally charged songwriting. ‘Willpower’ sees the artist pushing further into the raw, uncomfortable spaces of human emotion, confronting the aftermath of broken trust and the consuming desire to get even.
Produced by Dylan Ollivierre (The Money War, EDIE, Joan & The Giants, Siobhan Cotchin), the track pairs politically charged undertones with ALEIA’s visceral lyricism. Her words simmer beneath a restrained yet increasingly intense production, creating a sense of tension that feels both calculated and ready to explode.
Figuratively drenched in red, ‘Willpower’ unfolds through a hypnotic combination of lulling synths, sparse overdriven guitar, marching snare rhythms and glowering piano. The arrangement gradually builds, mirroring ALEIA’s shifting vocal rhythms and intimate delivery before expanding into a slow-burning alternative indie-rock release that feels simultaneously haunting and cathartic.
At its core, ‘Willpower’ explores the darker corners of emotional complexity — distrust, betrayal, anger and revenge. A self-described overthinker, ALEIA explains:
“‘Willpower’ is a song that explores the chaotic emotional turbulence you experience after someone has betrayed your trust and the extreme lengths someone will go to get even.”
The song’s themes are further explored through its accompanying music video, directed and produced by Stephanie Senior of Clearwater Films. Drawing heavily from the folklore of the Woman in White, the video explores the lingering reality of being unable to let go of a traumatic event.
Set beside a remote road, the video opens with a muffled encounter between a couple inside a car, before ALEIA’s character is abandoned. As the story unfolds, she gradually transforms into an embodiment of the Woman in White, with striking allusions to the Pilliga Highway Princess. She haunts the location and its surroundings, becoming a poetic representation of someone eternally tethered to the moment that changed everything.
Beginning at dusk before descending into night, the video uses manipulated lighting and stark contrast to create an ethereal, atmospheric world. Senior’s visual approach reinforces the song’s themes of haunting and resentment, allowing the music and imagery to converge around the same central idea: what happens when you simply cannot let go.
Exploring the fragile intersection of self-worth, betrayal and revenge, ‘Willpower’ captures ALEIA at her most emotionally raw and uncompromising. It is devastating, dark and ultimately cathartic — a portrait of what can happen when hurt transforms into something much more dangerous.
‘Willpower’ is out now.
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