Olive Skin from Tiana Hudson is a candid and bare discussion of recovery and growth on the emotional front. The vocals tell us about Tiana’s recovery from hurt and break-up and on into eventual hardening-up on herself. The piece becomes so engrossing just because she talks so frankly and directly—she’s not looking to surround herself in metaphor or blow over the reality. The line feels chopped from a personal hour and so the listener gets the very clear impression of intimacy.

Tiana starts invoking the experience of being over the top and let down. Here’s the innocence lost, as she’s talking about being so young and innocent. That vulnerability is strength—she’s appealing for our sympathy and bare all just how much she’s lived through all of it. But just as much strength is the capacity to change the tone. Instead of be miserable and stuck in the pain, she’s the commander of the autonomy. She’s not wearing the rose-tinted glasses regarding all being well, but she’s asserting the reality of the fact she’s found the strength in the isolation.

Being “too good” and still being capable of hurting suggests rich emotional life. It’s not a yes or no—Tiana also professesses the cure isn’t clean or easy. There’s outrage but it’s notsenseless. It’s candid and direct, particularly coming from her and looking directly in the face of the person who elicited her balladicness but wronged her. After all of it, she sets the tough line and picks herself over the past.

What strikes me most is the way Tiana uses her language to reclaim her story. The words aren’t afirmative tale—those words are liberative. The breakup anthem about healing and being able to move on even as it burns and the way Tiana makes that possible and being so exposed makes it so relatable and impactful.