Nobody really prepares you for your first heartbreak. That gap between what you expected love to feel like and what it actually does to you is exactly where Olivia Soli lives on her new single “Encore”. The Los Angeles native, who made it to the top 20 on Season 21 of American Idol, takes that raw, unfiltered ache and turns it into something you can press play on and feel a little less alone. The song borrows its frame from the world of theater. Soli casts herself as someone who has been performing in a relationship that ran its course, and by the time the track ends, she is done taking curtain calls for something that no longer deserves one. It is a clever angle, and it holds up across the whole song without ever feeling forced. The cover art, shot by photographer Nick Whitmill in a style that draws on old Hollywood glamour, visually extends that idea. Soli described wanting it to look like watching a heartbreak play out on a vintage television from across the room, and that is exactly the feeling you get.
The writing itself is where Soli really shows her hand. The verses are conversational, the kind of lines that do not sound like lyrics until you realize how well they land. Her favorite moment in the song comes in the second verse, where she calls out the quiet awkwardness of loving someone who does not quite fit into your world. That specificity is what makes the song stick. Anyone who has been in that situation will recognize it immediately. Her West Coast upbringing shapes the atmosphere of the track, too. There is a warmth to it, something that evokes open roads, dry heat, and late-afternoon light. Personally, “Encore” sits with you after it ends in a way that a lot of breakup songs do not. It does not push you to feel sad; it just holds space for it. That is a harder thing to pull off than it sounds, and Soli does it without breaking a sweat.
With a debut EP on the way later this year, “Encore” is a clear sign that Olivia Soli is building something real and worth paying attention to. Go follow Olivia Soli right now on Instagram at @oliviasoli and stream “Encore” on Spotify and Apple Music. If you have ever gone through a heartbreak you were not prepared for, this one was written for you. Add it to your playlist, share it with a friend who needs it, and keep an eye out for her debut EP coming later this year. She is the kind of artist whose entire catalog you will want to have ready the moment it drops, so getting in now means you will already know her name when everyone else is just catching on.
