Each Measure Feature: Tess Posner

FEATURE

Tess Posner’s new synthy piano ballad “Grey to Gold” is an empathetic nudge of encouragement for anyone struggling through a dark moment in their life. Sprinkled atop a gentle arrangement, the lyrics of this tune speak plainly to the listener. 

“The darkness was my home, but in that darkness was a seed, of something yet to come,” Posner reveals. She goes on, “cause in the place where I lost my soul, I learned to turn the grey to gold.” She delivers her message as someone who has been there (and back) and yearns to teach other’s what she’s learned.

Alongside her work as a dark pop singer-songwriter, Tess Posner also has training in various healing modalities and a background in activism. Themes of self reflection, healing, and harnessing one’s inner power are common across her catalog. Her 2023 EP Alchemy was a collaboration with multi-platinum award winning producer Rob Wells (Ariana Grande, Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber) and co-writers Amy Kuney (placements on Netflix, HBO, NBC), Kylie Rothfield (NBC, E!, ABC, MTV), and Ni/Co (Placements on CW, VH1, NBC, BET, and FREEFORM). 

Tess says Alchemy, “represents that process of transmuting painful parts of our past and feelings into a kind of ‘gold’ that fuels meaning and healing.”

From the start of “Grey to Gold”, there is a fragility to Posner’s vocals—something wavering in her voice which suggests the weight of the feelings that gave way to this song. Even after the dramatic emotional build of the bridge, Posner refrains her chorus in the most wispy head voice yet and it’s then you understand why. The delicacy of her singing, reflects the delicate state in which she found her power and, after all, the directive in this song is to embrace that experience.  

KEEP UP WITH TESS POSNER BELOW: