The Layered Bloom of Alexandra Alden’s ‘Magnolia’ – By Margherita Borg Buhagiar
Alexandra Alden’s latest single, Magnolia, which was officially released in late April 2025, is far more than just a precursor to her anticipated album, When is it too late?, which is set for release in October 2025. It’s a meticulously crafted audio-visual experience, a testament to the Maltese-born indie artist’s maturing vision, where song and imagery intertwine to explore profound themes with delicate artistry.
From its very first notes, Magnolia establishes an intimate and reflective atmosphere. A delicate, arpeggiated acoustic guitar unfurls, soon joined by Alden’s consistently engaging voice. She delivers the melody with a gentle clarity, achieving a sound that feels both refreshingly contemporary and imbued with a certain timeless indie quality. There’s a captivating purity in her vocal delivery, allowing the lyrical content to resonate deeply without affectation.
Lyrically, Magnolia is indeed a poetic exploration of vulnerability, resilience, and the quiet courage of emergence – much like the flower itself, which famously blooms on bare branches before its leaves appear. The imagery of beauty breaking through, of facing the unknown with a fragile yet determined strength, is palpable. One gathers a sense of introspection, perhaps of personal narratives of transition and self-discovery, themes Alden has touched upon previously but which find a particularly poignant and nuanced expression here. The song’s arrangement is beautifully judged to support this. While predominantly acoustic, allowing Alden’s voice and guitar to breathe, it’s subtly enriched by keys, synth, bass and drums, which offer gentle harmonic support without disturbing the song’s essential soft-like quality.
This delicate nature is masterfully amplified by the accompanying music video, directed, edited and animated by Gideon Van der Stelt. Filmed within the evocative setting of Malta’s National Museum of Archaeology, the visuals are not mere accompaniment but a core component of the song’s narrative. Moreover, the video features dancers in cream-coloured attire – their aesthetic perfectly complementing the historic location – performing choreography extracted from ‘Intimate Żfin’. This event, curated and choreographed by Paolo Mangiola (then artistic director of ŻfinMalta) for the inaugural Malta Biennale 2024, aimed to foster a closer connection between audience and performers. Van der Stelt seamlessly incorporates these dance snippets, where close-ups reveal dancers softly holding eye contact or wrapped in tender embraces during intimate duets. These moments beautifully mirror the softness and delicate nature of Alden’s song, powerfully enhancing the lyrical sentiments, particularly within the chorus.
Van der Stelt’s direction further deepens the experience by masterfully intertwining the historic frescoes and designs of the museum with visuals of the magnolia flower itself blooming. The initial colour palette is soft, echoing Alden’s gentle vocals and the fluid movements of the dancers. However, as the song reaches its bridge, the colours turn more vibrant, visually heralding the blooming of the magnolia trees – a potent visual metaphor for the emergence and resilience celebrated in the lyrics. This thoughtful fusion of liminal spaces, historical echoes, and natural imagery crafts a dreamlike meditation that perfectly accompanies and elevates the song.
Though Magnolia navigated a slightly unconventional path to its official release (following an early leak that led to its disqualification from the Malta Eurovision Song Contest selection), its arrival now reveals a composition of considerable grace and emotional honesty. It speaks of an artist refining her craft, capable of conveying nuanced emotional states with both subtlety and poetic sensibility. If Magnolia, in its rich audio-visual tapestry, is indicative of the quality and thematic depth of the upcoming album, then When is it too late? is undoubtedly a record to anticipate with keen interest. This is a strong, introspective offering that confidently affirms Alexandra Alden’s place as a significant and thoughtful voice in the contemporary indie scene.
