On his new single “Another One Gone,” emerging artist Nicola takes a discerning look and a heart wide open to the shining light that is the mirage of the Los Angeles entertainment world. The song is a meditative, moody, and high-stakes anthem that captures what it’s like to dream in a city that has a way of forgetting names before the echo of your last performance dies down.
After almost two years of L.A. living, it’s evident that Nicola has absorbed more than just sunshine and city lights. “Another One Gone” is a sketchbook page crunched up into clear score, the kind of song you’d imagine playing to while staring out your rain-streaked window, wondering where all the blighted promises went. It’s a ballad for the fallen stars, but also for anyone who’s ever watched the game from the sidelines. The performers churn, but players vanish, and the worst part is that the band just moved too fast for you. The song fuses melancholic synths with Nicola’s warm vocals. There’s a subdued intensity in the production, nothing flashy, just everything purposefully done. Each note sounds like a sigh, each lyric like a faded postcard from someone who overstayed the party. That pacing allows for breathing room in which to contemplate, a period to sit, read through the lyrics, and feel the weight of what’s being discussed.
“Another One Gone” is, at its heart, a love letter too, not to the fame or the facade, but to the moment itself. Nicola doesn’t indulge in finger-pointing or wallow in cynicism. Instead, he captures life’s transitory poetry, the beauty of looking up to watch stars rise and fall, the bravery of remaining true to yourself in a universe that will sell authenticity for applause.