Ava Valianti's new single "Laugh Track" will hit you right in the feels and maybe even make you laugh a bit. The track is a moody, magnetic mix of dark comedy and soul-baring honesty that turns the spotlight inward and asks much of us are afraid to verbalize: "Is the world laughing with me… or at me?"
"Laugh Track" is more an emotional audit than an old-fashioned song, realized with a haunting score and lyrical honesty. Ava does not simply write lyrics; she writes inner thoughts. With this song, she welcomes you into the contradiction of existing under the duress of always performing, even when no one is watching.
Ava's preoccupation with the space between who we are and who we choose to show the world isn't simply enticing but profoundly relatable. That feeling of being beholden to this constant gaze, of being saddled with a role you never auditioned for, makes "Laugh Track" burn with its cutting heat. You can sense her tussling with identity and perception in every line, every verse, a confessional delivered through teeth and a half-smile.
"Laugh Track" rides the line between introspective lyrics and a distinctly cinematic production style. It is the kind of production you can imagine with dusky lighting and slow pans of a character having a moment alone in their kitchen. Proximity here makes the track feel like a conversation you didn't know you had to have but needed to.
Ava Valianti gives us a flashlight and walks us through the hall of mirrors, which is self-awareness. Her courage isn't only in penning the song but also in embracing the messy middle of that strange limbo where we aren't quite the villain but not quite the hero, either, and where we don't know whether the studio audience in our heads is applauding or just waiting for us to face-plant.
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