In a musical landscape where coming-of-age stories are often romanticized and wrapped in glittery nostalgia, young adult fiction, the debut album by alternative pop artist a_shes, dares to tell a different kind of story — one steeped in uncertainty, late-blooming emotions, and the quiet grief of growing up. Released on November 24, 2023, this ten-track album is more than a playlist; it’s a diary entry, a scrapbook, a long-overdue exhale from someone who didn’t get the cinema-perfect teenhood they were promised.
a_shes — a Malaysian-Bornean artist now based in the UK — draws listeners into his introspective universe through a mix of synthy, confessional melodies and themes that will resonate with anyone who has ever felt like adulthood arrived before they were ready for it. There’s vulnerability here, but also triumph — not the kind made for big movie montages, but the quieter kind: waking up, showing up, trying again.
The album opens with “autumn city”, a shimmering prologue that sets the scene. Over light keys and atmospheric textures, he sings, “Over the ocean, into the city for the first time,/ Touring on the cusp of starting a new life.” It feels like arriving in a place you dreamed about your whole life, only to find it’s lonelier than expected.
Next comes “party politics,” a punchier track that brings energy without losing lyrical depth. It’s part dancefloor anthem, part internal monologue — a reminder that even the best nights out can come with their own quiet emotional undercurrents. Spoken-word pre-choruses add a narrative quality, inviting us to live the memory with him.
But it’s “movies & music” that stands as the emotional centerpiece of the record. Written in response to the universal loss of adolescence during the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s a haunting ode to time that slipped away. “I’m eighteen until I’m twenty-nine,” he sings — a line that captures the emotional stasis many felt when milestones blurred and coming-of-age became a memory instead of a moment. The track, produced by London-based Palestinian artist Imad Salhi, floats between nostalgic synth pads and a grounding acoustic guitar, merging the emotional with the sonic.
The theme of navigating young adulthood continues in “jet streams,” one of the album’s more melancholic entries. “It’s a song I wrote about being lost in the big city and coming to terms with adult loneliness,” he explains. You can feel that sentiment in every note — the dissonance between childhood dreams and grown-up realities, and the hollow space in between.
Closing track “glory days” brings it all together. A breakup song — not with a person, but with childhood itself — it hits hard. “Breakup songs mourning your childhood innocence,” as a_shes describes it, rarely land with such clarity. It’s the kind of track that feels like the end of a really good book: satisfying, but slightly devastating.
If you’re someone who came of age during the Tumblr-fueled indie boom of the early 2010s, young adult fiction will feel like coming home. Sonically, a_shes draws influence from artists like Lorde, Troye Sivan, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Rina Sawayama. But he never sounds like a copy — instead, he brings his own flavor: smoother, softer, and laced with a very specific kind of wistfulness.
The lowercase stylings in the track titles mirror the music’s quiet humility. The production — originally born on an old Macbook’s Garageband — has blossomed into something polished but still intimate. You can feel the fingerprints of a DIY beginning, but also the care and attention that turned it into something professional.
This album doesn’t pretend to have all the answers. Instead, it holds space for confusion, nostalgia, anxiety, and hope — sometimes all at once. That honesty is what makes young adult fiction so compelling.
In a time when so many of us are still learning how to be adults, this album doesn’t just reflect the experience — it validates it. a_shes is building a bridge between youthful longing and adult resilience, making music for those of us who are still writing our own coming-of-age stories, even if we’re well past the age we thought it would happen.
young adult fiction is more than a debut — it’s a time capsule, a confession, a soundtrack for the in-between. With thoughtful lyrics, smooth vocals, and sonic landscapes that evoke both the past and the present, a_shes has crafted something deeply relatable and emotionally rich.
This is not background music — this is “walk home alone after a long day” music. It’s for those who grew up on dreams and had to figure out how to make peace with reality. It’s the kind of album that sneaks up on you — one song at a time — until suddenly, it’s your story too.
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