Most debut records from young artists are over-produced to the point of exhaustion, but Aaria and her band take a much more organic route on Feel the Light. It is a project that values space and real instrumentation over studio gimmicks. I spent the most time with “Sunshine Up High,” my favorite track on the set. Instead of a wall of synthesizers, you get a crisp, piano-driven rhythm. There is a genuine charm in the way the lyrics move from a literal observation of lions, tigers, and bears to a simple, soaring hook about trees swaying and oceans flowing. It’s not trying to be a complex, moody metaphor. It’s just a bright, well-recorded piece of music that sounds exactly like what it is. A young artist finding a voice in the natural world. It stands out because it sounds real, and in this industry, that’s a rare find.
Aaria isn’t just some kid who happens to sing well. She’s also a pianist and a chess champion, and you can hear that specific kind of disciplined, strategic thinking in how these songs are put together. She’s been writing her own material since she was five years old, and by the time she hit eleven, she had enough focused energy to put together a full-length album where she wrote half the songs herself. Most adults in this business struggle to get five original tracks through a production cycle, let alone a pre-teen splitting her time between the different vibes of Moorestown, Montreal, and Los Angeles.
The decision to form Band Wildlife back in 2021 was a smart move. Instead of just being a solo pianist, Aaria surrounded herself with a real band. Percussion, guitars, and electronic layers that fill out the sound without burying her lead. When you listen to the work they did at Planet Studios in Montreal, you can tell they were looking for a sound. The album has a high-end, professional sheen that you usually only get from veterans. It is a serious musical effort that happens to be fronted by someone young enough to still remember what true innocence feels like.
Aaria’s piano work is the engine for the whole album. On a track like Presto, you get to hear the technical side of her playing without any vocal distractions. It’s fast, precise, and shows a level of finger strength and agility that most people don’t develop until they’ve spent twenty years in a conservatory. Then you have Gems & Jewels, which shifts the focus back to her songwriting and her perspective on life. She isn’t writing about typical pop-star nonsense. She’s writing about family being the real treasure. It’s a grounded perspective that’s earned because she’s been working at this for more than half her life already.
The cover choices on Feel the Light also tell you a lot about where her head is at. Tackling Hallelujah is a massive risk for anyone, but Aaria didn’t just sing the notes. She re-worked it into a call for global unity, mixing in Eastern and Western languages and belief systems. It’s a heavy lift for an eleven-year-old to try and bridge cultures through a Leonard Cohen song, but she pulls it off because she actually has something to say about the planet. This ties back into the “Wildlife” name, she’s focused on nature and sustainability. A genuine mission rather than a marketing angle.
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Ponies in Denver, which has already racked up over 300,000 views, is the track that really anchors her identity as a songwriter. It’s about not letting go of your childhood dreams even as the world gets more complicated. It’s a song for individuality, and her piano-driven production keeps the emotional stakes high. The fact that she’s also a chess champion makes sense when you hear the structure of a song like this. There’s a logic to how it builds, how the vocals layer, and how the message is delivered. She’s thinking three moves ahead of most of her peers.
Recording in a place like Planet Studios gave these tracks the room they needed to breathe. You can hear the quality in the vocal takes and the way the piano sits in the mix. Whether she’s performing in Canada, the US, or India, Aaria has been headlining shows since she was seven, and that stage experience shows up in the recording. There’s a confidence in her delivery that you can’t fake in a booth. She knows how to lead a band, and she knows how to command a track. The production credits on the album, often listing her as a writer and lead producer on the piano and vocals, confirm that she is the one steering this ship.
Aaria and Band Wildlife produced a high-quality, professional album that is authentic to the artist’s age while showing the technical skill of a seasoned pro. There are no shortcuts on Feel the Light. There’s no reliance on tired tropes or manufactured drama. It’s just a collection of well-written, well-performed songs from a musician who is clearly just getting started.
Feel the Light is a solid, impressive piece of work, and Aaria is the real deal.
