Nashville-based pop/country artist and songwriter Arianna Pappas has released a brand new breakup ballad, “Seasons.”
Pappas began working on this song back in college, where she took an audio production course. One of the assignments involved writing lyrics to an instrumental track, while her classmate handled recording and mixing it. The original track was created by Pappas’s production professor at the time, Dave Tough. She later collaborated with Julia Morey and Joseph (J4) Wandass to finish writing it. “Seasons” was produced by Brandon Wiggers.
“Seasons” is the recent Winner of American Songwriter Magazine’s 2024 Autumn Leaves Lyric Promo Contest. Pappas received the opportunity to interview with the magazine and to be featured on their social media platforms. The song also received an Honourable Mention in American Songwriter‘s 2025 Session One Lyric Contest, which landed Pappas and her co-writers a shoutout in their March/April print issue.
Pappas’s favourite season is Fall, which is creatively reflected in the calming and cinematic production consisting of piano, strings, drums and Pappas’s soothing vocals.
I had a lovely conversation with Pappas about the single, where she expressed, “I have always seen fall as a very romantic and cinematic season. My collaborators and I really tried to achieve that feeling with this song by crafting poetic, storyteller lyrics and a dreamy instrumental ambience.”
The song opens with piano and Pappas’s emotional and dynamic vocals. During the chorus there is a warm blossoming of strings, enhancing the Fall feel. Drums are then added towards the end of the first chorus and continue into the second verse. The drums sound like waves falling and rising. I also love the intimate moment after the bridge where it is just piano and vocals building up to a crescendo in the final chorus, the climax of the song, as the other instruments return. This is one of my favourite moments in Pappas’s vocal arrangement, expressing the bittersweet message of this song.
Lyrically, “Seasons” discusses the ups and downs of a relationship. Pappas reflects, “‘Seasons’ touches on the complexities of a relationship and how quickly things can change, just like the seasons. It describes how fragile love is.” This is conveyed in lyrics such as, “I told myself that love could never fade, but maybe we were both just too afraid.”
My favourite lyric is the opening line, as Pappas references Fall: ”We were two hearts colliding, as the autumn colours paint the city streets.”
Pappas is a storyteller both in the lyrics and production of her music. Listeners can check out her other singles, which include “Space,” “Every Mile,” and “Daddy’s Dime.”
Watch my interview with Arianna Pappas from earlier this year here.