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Photo: Monika Oliver

Wallice is back! Ahead of her highly anticipated debut album, The Jester, out November 15, the LA native has blessed our ears and timeline with not one BUT TWO new singles, "Heaven Has To Happen" and "The Opener." Vulnerable and vibrant, the double single release showcases her evolution and artistic refinement without sacrificing an ounce of her wear-your-still-bleeding-heart-on-your-sleeve candor. 

The first of the two singles, "Heaven Has To Happen," is a heartbreaking confession about suffering from imposter syndrome even while you're living your dream. She croons over the mellow yet melancholic intro, "April Fools came late this year / I'm never in on the joke / Maybe I'm not meant for this career / Any minute I think it'll go up in smoke." Her anguish and declining confidence in who she is and her craft cuts deep, with a seething tension that can't be ignored. "How many more jokes can I make before the wool gets pulled out from over my eyes?" Wallice sings just before a brief, mid-song outburst of distorted bass.

According to the artist, the inspiration behind the second single, "The Opener," is, in a sense, the catalyst for The Jester. In April 2023, Wallice found herself on stages in arenas full of strangers who had often stood in line for days to see their favorite band, The 1975. Wallice was the opener, playing the biggest shows of her life to crowds that mostly didn't know her name, and as thrilling as that was, there was melancholy to it as well as she stared out at front rows of expressionless and sluggish faces. This experience fueled what could be Wallice's best work to date, a six-minute gambit that moves from tender ballad to defiant rock anthem. She considers all the terrible things she or anyone might say about her art, a Radiohead rip-off, too innocent and determined. Yet despite these criticisms, she moves forward anyway, roaring to whoever listens over howling guitar lines, "Gonna get what I deserve / I'm still the opener."

Though Wallice has been writing songs since she was a preteen, playing cello and releasing them for almost as long, her career took shape during the last four years, when a series of singles and EPs suggested her as a new chronicler of early adulthood struggles and delights. Now, the push and pull between expectation and actuality is set to come to life on this upcoming ultra-dynamic and charged 14-song debut, promising a bold and expansive debut album from an artist ready to make her move.

Listen to "Heaven Has To Happen" and "The Jester" below: