Ava Valianti is a 15-year-old singer-songwriter who has been gracing our pages for over a year now. Her exceptional compositions defy her young age and her latest, Buttercups, is the strongest example of that yet.

By Graeme Smith

Buttercups is a delicate and intimate number that sees Valianti’s charismatic vocals paired with subtle strummed strings. Things get dreamy in the chorus thanks to gentle harmonies and lyrics that are full of love. From there, the track builds with a folk pop lushness and a certain sense of nostalgia. ““Aren’t you my buttercup, my buttercup baby,” she sings, bringing to mind the innocence of childhood games.

The arrangement gets lively at the halfway point, setting up a big, cinematic finish in which the vocals get pleading and the lyrics arrive at a dark yet cathartic conclusion.

“Buttercups is a song that encapsulates the experience of love, loss, and searching for purpose,” says Valianti, “It’s a song that’s centred around memories that are hard to let go of – the cinnamon smell, the creaky doors, the buttercups – and how even when things are complicated, those memories remind me why I cared in the first place. This is one of my favourite songs I’ve ever created, I truly had so much fun making it, and I hope that comes across when you listen!”

We’ve been covering the work of Newbury, USA-based Ava Valianti since 2024, discovering her a year after her 2023 debut, bubble wrap. The deeply personal January got her on our radar and since then we’ve covered her singles, Wishing Well, Laugh Track and Distant. Each have shown a different side to her sound, but I can see how this one is her favourite. Its dynamism adds a whole extra element to her acoustic pop.

The young artist is carrying the mantle for contemporaries like Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo and Renee Rapp and it’s not too much of a stretch to mention her name in their company. She could be leading the way in the future. At her age, the world is at her feet.

A debut EP is set for release this fall and it’s going to interesting to see how her music plays over a multi-track collection. It could well be a defining moment for her career.

You can keep up with Ava Valianti via her website, and by following her on Spotify, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and Bandcamp, where her music is available to buy digitally.

Buttercups is out now and you can give it a listen below.