24 OctOber 3 - 9, 2024 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents or two to get it all down.” She marked the video’s release last month at a special party at Bold Stroke Stu- dios, celebrating a new life for the song. Another song, “Victory Song,” became a full-circle moment this year upon its release in February. Anáis wrote the song in 2012, after a mini-tour across the U.S. At 19 years old, she was approached by a label that wanted to sign her, but after connecting with a family friend who was also an attor- ney, Anáis learned that this deal would’ve screwed her over in the end. Texas Dreamin’ “I felt so crushed after that,” Anáis says. “I was like, ‘Damn, like, there go my dreams, essentially.’ “The song is not super specific to that situation, but it’s more about my decision to keep going, even though I hit a road- block. And me having a good support sys- tem around me, which was, at the time, my family … it’s a reminder for me to keep going and keep writing my own victory song.” Anáis is working on what she describes as a “micro album” — a collection of songs inspired by a dream, in which the Adieu Anáis character was born. It was a dream she had when she was dating someone who “was just not good for [her]” and realized she felt she had lost parts of herself. In the dream, Anáis found herself in the middle of a forest after her now-ex had refused to pick her up and take her home. In the forest, she finds a cave, which led her to where she needed to be. “There was music, dancing, and lights,” Anáis remembers, “and everyone was having a good time. There was a symphony, and there was an orchestra, and all of this beauti- ful music.” Elsewhere in the dream, the conductor of the fictitious orchestra approached Anáis, asking what she would like to hear. She asked to hear a piece by Ernest Chausson, who is one of her favorite French romantic- era composers. “Then the conductor was like, ‘Adieu Anáis,’” she says, “and then I had to finish the rest of my miserable journey to this guy’s place. But I woke up and I’m like, ‘Holy shit. What am I doing?’ I don’t want to give away who I am.” When she’s not making her music or drawing up storyboards to visualize her folkloric dreams, Anáis teaches voice les- sons to the next generation of musicians. Having grown up in a school in which the district’s budget didn’t fund the arts — and where there were no choir programs — Anáis believes it is important to instill a love of vocal performing arts in young people. “What is the most rewarding is the men- torship that I get to have with my students, like being on a support system outside of their family, telling them, ‘Hey, you can do this, I believe in you,’ even if they don’t end up being musicians or singers,’” says Anáis. “It’s just about having that experience of working with a voice coach who cares about them, and wants them to try new things, and not be afraid to fail.” B-sides from p23 ENTER TO WIN TICKETS!
