Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Ella Collier took the stage at the Moroccan Lounge last week to celebrate the release of her Second Arrow EP, out now via Saint Rogue Records. Packed into the intimate venue was a lively crowd comprised of family, friends, and fans who’ve supported the burgeoning artist since she released her debut single, “Talk,” back in 2019. The audience was primed to watch Collier burn it down after openers KTJ & Carly and Ryan Mitchell — and she was all too happy to oblige.
The night revolved mainly around Collier’s performance of singles and unreleased songs off Second Arrow. Yet that didn’t stop her from sprinkling in some favorites from her Mood Swings EP, flaunting her dualities on the princess hype track “Cinderella” and the explosively frenetic “Chaos.”
Ultimately, the evening’s tone would be defined by the open-hearted candor that flows from Collier whenever she finds herself in front of a microphone. Between songs, she spoke earnestly about the reasons she started making music in the first place: to articulate and navigate her own emotions and personal experiences and help others do the same.
In many ways, the EP embodies much of what makes her music so evocatively alluring. On songs “Like a Lady” and “I Think I Might,” she agitates temptingly dark impulses with spellbinding swagger. The sentiment was quite contagious amongst the Moroccan Lounge audience, who ate up her sonic bravado with just as much enthusiasm.
For “Upgrade,” she rallied them around the track’s furious exasperation over a lover that’s become far too toxic to hold onto, while the resounding bass drops of “Hold Please” punctuated Collier’s commitment to her own growth.
But as she quickly pointed out near the end of the night, the songs across Second Arrow represent a complicated dichotomy of cause and effect. On the one hand, it’s easy and liberating to revel in the ardency of anger and retaliation.
On the other, it’s not always healthy to react so rashly. The EP’s title track embraces that sentiment with incisive clarity. It reveals the poignant introspections at the heart of her music, with Collier emerging from her set not just as a potent supplier of thrillingly cathartic pop but as a fiercely transfixing performer.
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