Music Review // ZZ Ward "Love Alive"

 

One thing I am definitely excited for in the year in music 2025 is the debut album from ZZ Ward, which is titled "Liberation" and will be out on March 14th.   This latest single, "Love Alive", is getting me even more hyped, as it should be.   The song has this distinct passion that comes with the blues sound of ZZ Ward, helping her to stand out amongst her peers and just overall being that type of artist you could hear on the radio and recognize right away.

The guitar riffs on this one feel like a slow burn as they cut through to the core.  There is clapping both at the beginning and the end, which just serves to further the point of the song.  Lines that stick with me about the music are: "I pray that we don't ever change / I hope our hearts still burn the same"   If the hearts are burning with the same intensity that this music projects as fire then I think the relationship will survive.

ZZ Ward asks the tough questions in "Love Alive", such as: "Nobody makes it any more, so darling how can we be sure?"   The fact is, love is very much taking a risk and no one can really ever be sure what the future holds.  You just have to take that chance and go on faith.  As the lyrics talk about change, we all change every day.  I don't want to be the same person I was ten years ago- I want to be better- so I think the idea of love is that you also have to be willing to accept that change and grow together.

A lot of people have this idea that generations ago, marriages lasted and these days everyone is getting divorced.  But back then divorce was also a bit taboo, so a lot of people stayed in unhealthy relationships.  Still, I think the message of this song is in the chorus: "What can we do to keep the love alive?"  This is something that needs to be worked at, that we need reminders of can change but still be okay.  And if we keep that same energy that ZZ Ward has on this song, then the relationship can make it.