Alana Springsteen Opens Her Most Personal Chapter Yet With ‘note to self’

by | Feb 19, 2026

Artist-songwriter Alana Springsteen has returned with note to self, a soul-searching new single that confronts the pain of her early years while pointing firmly toward healing and self-belief. Accompanied by an official music video filmed in her hometown of Pungo, Virginia, the track signals the beginning of Springsteen’s most emotionally revealing era to date.

Alana Springsteen

Alana Springsteen (Bill Reynolds)
Alana Springsteen (Bill Reynolds)

Written by Springsteen alongside Trannie Anderson and Mark Trussell, note to self is among the first new material to emerge since the arrival of her acclaimed debut album TWENTY SOMETHING. The ambitious three-part project captured the emotional whirlwind of life in her early twenties, and now, at 25, Springsteen pushes her honesty even further — revisiting formative experiences and reckoning with long-buried 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,” Springsteen shares. “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 realise 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.”

Co-produced by Springsteen and Trussell, the track unfolds through moody guitar textures and sparse yet powerful beats. Addressing her childhood self with both compassion and unflinching clarity, Springsteen explores her tendency to sideline her own needs in the pursuit of harmony. The chorus delivers a tender reassurance, while the bridge builds toward a raw, cathartic release. By the song’s close, there’s a quiet but unmistakable sense of reclamation — the sound of an artist beginning to fully trust her own voice.

Alana Springsteen @ The Long Road Festival 2025

Alana Springsteen @ The Long Road Festival 2025  (Henry Finnegan / @finneganfoto)
Alana Springsteen @ The Long Road Festival 2025 (Henry Finnegan / @finneganfoto)

Since breaking through with TWENTY SOMETHING, which includes the Gold-certified goodbye looks good on you (feat. Mitchell Tenpenny), Springsteen has continued to expand her reach. Her crossover collaboration with Tiësto on Hot Honey marked her first career No. 1, and she has surpassed 400 million global streams. She has also taken her music to iconic stages including the Grand Ole Opry, further cementing her status as one of country music’s most compelling young voices.

With note to self, Springsteen steps into a new phase defined not just by confession, but by growth — an artist bravely tracing the path from self-doubt to self-acceptance.

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