It’s a hard way of living, but it ain’t killed this magnetic country singer just yet
On 21 March, Adia Victoria dropped her first single of 2022, “Ain’t Killed Me Yet,” and it’s the perfect summary of what most of us have been living through these past two pandemic-ridden years.
South-Carolina born singer, songwriter, and poet, Victoria is based in Nashville, and known for her “gothic blues” musical style, and haunting lyrics.
She is also currently on tour, named after that recent single.
Victoria has been creating and putting out her own music since 2016, with her first single titled “Stuck in the South,” described by Rolling Stone as “PJ Harvey covering Loretta Lynn at a haunted debutante ball.”
She released her third studio album in September 2021, titled A Southern Gothic.
Inspired by a line of Lucille Clifton’s poem won’t you celebrate with me, “Ain’t Killed Me Yet” is a Rock’n’Roll track with lyrics conveying what it’s like to flirt with death and come out victorious every time. Of what it’s like to be speeding to one’s doom, for whatever reason, but never actually arriving to that set destination. The heavy beat of the drums, the fast-paced guitar riff are all evocative of a high-speed car chase, truly setting the tone that Victoria means to establish — and that is exactly what started the writing process in the first place.
“There was little to celebrate in life the Spring of 2020 but living itself,” says Victoria. “With the live music industry shuttered to a close I was forced to find a new way to live. I took a job at Amazon to pay the bills and on the way to the warehouse for a red-eye 10 hour shift I considered my dilemma. Racing through empty streets at 2 am, trying to keep to steps ahead of a virus I couldn’t make sense of, life was lived in barest of immediacy–one breath to the next. That Spring I would end every journal entry with “Life ain’t killed me yet.”
She describes “Ain’t Killed Me Yet” as “blues existentialism pared down to its bones. It is the irreverent celebration of those who meet life on their own terms. When the future is uncertain, the immediacy of the pleasures and vagrancies of the now is all that matters.”
She wrote “Ain’t Killed Me Yet” when she was behind the wheel, on the way to work in a warehouse where death was a real possibility. “The blues anchored me in the now so that I could not only survive but I could give the finger, and blow smoke in the face of my fear and anxiety,” she says.
Stream “Ain’t Killed Me Yet” on all platforms, and make sure to follow the artist’s socials for more updates, and shows near you.
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