Today, artist-songwriter Alana Springsteen returns with “note to self” — a soul-searching new song that reckons with the pain of her early years and lights her way toward a brighter future. Accompanied by an official music video filmed in her hometown of Pungo, Virginia, “note to self” marks the start of Springsteen’s most emotionally revealing chapter yet. Go here to listen to “note to self” now, and check out the video here.
Written by Springsteen, Trannie Anderson, and Mark Trussell, “note to self” is one of the first new songs from Springsteen since the arrival of her acclaimed debut album TWENTY SOMETHING — a three-part powerhouse that offered an up-close look at the emotional whirlwind of life in her early 20s. Equal parts autobiography and outpouring, “note to self” finds the 25-year-old musician rising to an even more daring level of honesty as she digs deep into her personal history and slowly starts to heal from old wounds.
“The day I wrote ‘note to self,’ I had just come home from a really intense therapy session where I not-so-carefully unpacked all of this. I remember sitting on my couch with my guitar, staring into space, trying to “pull myself together” enough to write. Nothing came. I felt numb. It’s the numbness that helped me realize that the “pulling myself together” was preventing me from seeing what was actually there. Maybe what I really needed was to give myself permission to fall apart,” shares Springsteen.
Produced by Trussell and Springsteen, “note to self” unfolds in moody guitar tones and sparse but potent beats as she addresses her childhood self with both tenderness and a fierce refusal to soften the truth (“And all along you played a role / You never asked for / Feeling everybody’s fears / But what choice did you have? / Your parents were fighting / Your younger brothers were crying / And you were soldiering hiding / In your bedroom trying / To keep it locked up inside”). At the chorus, Springsteen acknowledges her longtime tendency to abandon her own needs for the sake of keeping the peace, then delivers a word of loving reassurance (“I know you had to get us through some hell / You couldn’t put a name to what you felt / ’Cause you’d never hurt like that before / But you ain’t alone anymore no / I got you now”). After building to a searingly raw catharsis at the bridge, “note to self” closes out on a moment of self-reclamation, echoing the quiet confidence of someone who’s beginning to fully believe in herself.
To create the “note to self” video, Springsteen headed back to Pungo and revisited the places that raised her, including the beach where she often found sanctuary in her formative years. Co-directed by Jonah George and Springsteen, and edited by Matt Zervos, the deeply affecting visual weaves in home-movie footage from her childhood, including clips of Springsteen reciting psalms and strumming her guitar as a little girl. With its continual back-and-forth between her younger and present-day selves, the result is a powerful portrayal of the way our earliest experiences can leave lifelong imprints on who we become.
After releasing TWENTY SOMETHING in 2023, Springsteen earned praise from the likes of NPR Music (whose All Songs Considered hailed the title track one of “The Best Songs of 2023”) and American Songwriter (who stated that “Springsteen’s music has struck a chord with listeners from every corner of the globe, giving a pathway to those seeking connection, solace, and understanding”). With its standouts including the GOLD-certified “goodbye looks good on you (feat. Mitchell Tenpenny),” the album soon led to her first U.S. headline run, whose many highlights include her SOLD-OUT debut headline show at Nashville’s Exit/In. Over the past two years, she’s released Alana Springsteen: Live from the Ryman and Alana Springsteen: Live from NPR’s Tiny Desk, scored her first No. 1 hit with “Hot Honey” (a Country-Dance collaboration with multi-platinum superstar DJ/producer Tiësto), made her debut at Stagecoach in 2025, and taken the stage at arenas across the country as support for Keith Urban’s HIGH AND ALIVE WORLD TOUR. More new music from Springsteen is on the way soon.
