Photo credit: Alysse Gafkjen

“I don’t care how you treat me
I love you completely
Through the dog days
I’m yours anyway
I was begging and pleading
And you just laid there sleeping
And I prayed to fly away
I woke up in LA again today.”

Caught between mundane realities and greener pastures, Jesse Lynn Madera’s latest single, “Woke Up In LA,” is a tender slice of Americana which serves as “a testament to resilience and the persistence of love, even through ‘the dog days.’

Inspired by her early days of living in Los Angeles after re-locating from New York City, Madera paints a picture of love’s imperfections; the ways that our wounds show up when we try to love someone, the damage caused by words both said and unsaid, and the resolve to find a way forward despite it all.

“It’s the most me-sounding stuff I’ve put out yet,” Madera said. “It’s the artist’s job to reflect the truth, to hopefully help the listener feel seen and understood through having the courage to try to understand ourselves.”

It is in those attempts to find understanding that we uncover the truth about what’s best for us. Over time, we learn not to seek perfection from life, and we realize that the escapes we seek — to a simpler life in Montana, or anywhere else — offer only temporary relief from the underlying narratives that shape us as individuals.

The song’s official music video — curated and edited by Madera — is a live-action scrapbook of her story so far, intermingling heartwarming clips from early childhood to snapshots of her present-day reality. It’s an opportunity for the West Virginia native to lean all the way in, as she accepts and expresses all parts of what makes her human.

“I feel less protective of my experiences now,” Madera said. “I have so many tales to tell and I want to claim my story.”