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Alexa LaMalfa

Review: "Shattered" - Jenna Kay


Jenna Kay Shattered Cover Art

When you look in a mirror it’s up to you to decide what you’re looking at. You’ll see a reflection staring back at you, but it’s either going to be the truth or an idealized version of yourself that you want to believe. The same concept goes for a relationship, it may not always be perfect, and it might just take a breakup to realize the authenticity behind the glass. “Shattered” by Jenna Kay portrays this phenomenon where she’s looking back on her previous relationship realizing things she’s never picked up on before and how it left her broken hearted. The song opens with “The hardest pill to swallow still loving you” which means it’s hard for Jenna to accept that she still has feelings for her ex. She follows by describing him as a hollow shell of man which gives us an insight of his personality: emotionally distant and insincere which makes her question “Was it ever really love?”. Building up to the chorus Jenna says he “took everything that I thought I knew” which could allude to her second guessing all the things she once believed were true about their relationship. The chorus “And left it shattered scattered pieces of my heart on the floor like they don’t matter after leaving me in the dark” could represent the potential causes for the end of the relationship like him neglecting her feelings or leaving without an explanation so she's left to question what went wrong.  


“Mirror mirror on the wall break the glass and watch it fall” could represent the famous quote “Mirror mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?” from Disney’s Snow White. In the movie, the evil queen’s mirror never lies and in this song the mirror could be a metaphor for the relationship where Jenna is finally discovering the truth behind it. The mirror falling and the glass breaking into tiny pieces could represent how the breakup left her “shattered”. The broken mirror could also be tied to the myth that a broken mirror brings seven years of bad luck where your soul is stuck in the mirror and you have to wait for an entirely new soul to break the curse. This could symbolize Jenna leaving her past self behind in the broken glass and moving on will break the curse (the heartbreak). The lyrics “Damaged, confused, hopelessly dealing with anxiety” describe how Jenna is coping with the breakup. She even says “I didn’t know that love could go this way” which shows that she wasn’t anticipating this kind of heartbreak and she didn’t even think it was possible. “I’ll never love the same” proves that this relationship has significantly changed her perspective on love and that in the end he’s the one to blame for it all. 




"Shattered” is the new break up anthem you’ve been searching for. Produced by Jaques Victor, “Shattered” has sad lyrical components but it’s contrasted by an upbeat mix giving it a pop-punk feel. As the song progresses the tempo builds and as a listener I feel like I’m getting angrier and angrier at her ex right along with her. There’s also a moment where her voice gets softer, sharing her vulnerability with us. The use of the drums is essential to the overall sound of the track. The few subliminal responses to the lyrics by Jenna that are buried in the mix give the track more dimension and character. Jenna sings with passion and power. By listening to her sing, you can hear the raw emotion and pain she felt, almost as if you're experiencing this break up right alongside her. The first half of the song is the initial heartbreak, and the second half is how Jenna is emotionally dealing with the pain, with both sections being separated by the chorus. 


Jenna Kay Roessler is a rising pop star from St. Louis, Missouri and has since moved to Nashville to pursue her music career. Roessler grew up interested in the arts, with previous aspirations to be on Broadway. She dedicated many years studying singing, dancing, and acting with an emphasis on classical and Broadway genres. Roessler is not your average pop singer. What sets her apart is how she integrates other genres, such as indie and pop-punk, into her sound. Roessler has released several singles such as “Can’t Be Friends”, “Forget I Exist”, and “Simulation” to name a few, and now has over ten thousand monthly listeners on Spotify. Roessler is set to release her debut EP “Icing On The Cake” this September. You should definitely give Jenna a follow so when she becomes a mega pop star, you can say you’ve been a fan since the beginning!




Written By Alexa LaMalfa



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