Story / Luna Bacce
Photo / Anna Henderson
Artwork / Josefine Cardoni
After stepping away from the spotlight to refine her sound at NYU’s Clive Davis Institute and finding perspective abroad, Anabella Paige returns with “That’s The Point, a restless, genre-blurring single that marks a complete creative rebirth.
There is a particular kind of nerve it takes to step away from something just as it starts to work. A few years ago, Anabella Paige was releasing music as a teenager, figuring out her sound in public and feeling every bit of the pressure that comes with it. Then she went quiet. On October 30th, she returns with “That’s The Point,” a single that sounds less like a comeback and more like an introduction to the artist she was always circling toward.
AB, as friends call her, spent the years in between at NYU’s Clive Davis Institute, where she treated the studio as a laboratory instead of a launchpad.
“I spent two years at Clive, which really helped me gain a better understanding of my relationship to music,” she shares. “I let myself make a lot of different things without putting pressure on myself to release anything immediately, and through that I really learned what excited me the most.”
That freedom shows. “That’s The Point” sits somewhere between indie pop and classic singer-songwriter, with a modern, internet-native streak running through it. There are subtle hyperpop textures, glitchy little flourishes, and production details that feel built for a generation raised with a dozen tabs open.
The track was produced by Jack MG (Natalie Jane, Skizzy Mars), mixed by Justin Hergett (Ashe, Hozier, Finneas), and mastered by Alan Douches (LCD Soundsystem, Fleetwood Mac). That is a serious lineup for a re-entry, and the result is polished without losing its restless edge.
Asked whether the new music builds on her earlier releases or starts over, she doesn’t hesitate. “It feels like a fresh start. Of course, everything I create is a result of what I learned from what came before, but it feels much more representative of my current self than anything else.”
The biggest shift, though, is internal. Where her high school self wanted every song to land perfectly, today’s AB has made peace with letting go.
“I got to a place where I thought, I want to put these songs out into the world, and no matter how they’re received I am happy with what I created,” Anabella says. “That’s a complete mindset shift from when I was in high school.”
Distance has helped too, and here we mean the literal kind. AB is currently living abroad, and the physical space between her and the place where these songs were born has quieted the urge to keep tinkering. “Interestingly enough, I think it has given me a healthy distance from the songs I’ve written,” she explains. “Instead of being in a state of constantly wanting to tweak and adjust things, listening to them while being in a different country from where I wrote them has just made me want to release them more.”
Any songwriter who has rewritten a bridge for the fortieth time at 3 AM will understand how freeing that is. It also explains why “That’s The Point” feels so sure of itself. It’s a song that has been allowed to be finished.
For AB, the goal isn’t a hook you hum and forget. She wants a song you step inside. “I hope people really feel pulled into the song’s atmosphere when listening to it,” she says. “The structure of the songs, the push and pull, the restlessness, the adrenaline. I hope people can feel it as much as I did when writing and recording.”
That push and pull is the heartbeat of the track. It builds tension and then releases it, and it never quite sits still, much like its maker these past few years.
And she has no plans to disappear again. Looking ahead, AB is focused on momentum. “Keep putting music out, keep making music, and really hone in on the visuals for my project as well,” she says. “I am really excited about building a world with my work.”
If “That’s The Point” is the front door to that world, consider us already halfway down the hall. Mark your calendars for October 30th, and maybe book that flight abroad while you’re at it. Apparently, it does wonders for the creative process.
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