Pac Ave Records has released featured artist Issadora Ava’s new EP entitled No One Belongs Here More Than You. Featuring four original songs, written by Issadora and collaboratively produced with the student sound engineers at University of the Pacific, the EP evokes the sounds of other well-regarded indie stars such as Clairo or Mitski. Issadora Ava is a third year Music Industry Studies major, studying the business of music in class, while she writes, records and performs her original music on and off campus.
Ava is a singer-songwriter who started composing her own songs at the age of nine. Fast forward to college, she is a hardworking musician in the studio making her visions a reality. Her debut EP, You Don’t Live Here Anymore, dropped in summer 2019. She wrote, performed and recorded that project in her bedroom. It became a stepping stone to the more polished sound heard on No One Belongs Here More Than You. This latest EP features Ava’s own brand of indie-pop, with highly relatable lyrics, a relaxing vibe and an ethereal quality which appeals to the younger demographic. She’s an outspoken advocate for the LGBTQ community, and her songs often address the struggles faced by those who identify as such. Posting on Instagram after a recent concert Issadora said,
I write songs about girls. And that’s okay. To put all of myself into my art makes me feel very vulnerable… I continue to put all of myself into my art and speak out for those who can’t.”
No One Belongs Here More Than You released on February 28th to Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music Unlimited and all other major music platforms. A line of Issadora Ava merch (including buttons, stickers, signed posters and t-shirts) became available for pre-order starting February 10th and will be for sale throughout the rest of the year through Pac Ave’s Instagram and Facebook pages. The official release show took place on February 27th in the UOP Lair. The bill also included Pac Ave artists, Jelani Brown (Pac Ave’s 2019 featured artist), Pac Ave alum Darien Fields, and rising Pac Ave performers Evan Frisbie and Filho.
As a preview to the new release, Issadora Ava premiered the music video for “NYE (New Year’s Eve)” on YouTube, appropriately on December 31, 2019. “NYE” tells the story of young adult emotion, seeing your ex at a party with someone else and all the feelings that were produced as a result. It details heartbreak and the powerful flashbacks caused by old memories. Those moments of growing up are the kinds of feelings that Issadora draws upon to write her songs.
It’s important to recognize this music video wasn’t a coming out story,” she commented. “The gender never mattered, it’s a story about love between two individuals.”
Showing her skills on both sides of the camera, she starred in and directed the four and a half minute video. No One Belongs Here More Than You is the seventh project released by University of the Pacific’s student-run record label Pac Ave Records since 2012.
Ava’s EP will join other earlier projects such as Darien Field’s Feel Good EP (2013), San Joaquin-region sampler, Soul Finesse (2015), benefit album Rose Gold: Songs for Sonoma (2017) and Jelani’s First Impression EP, Pac Ave’s very first hip hop release (2019).