Texas-born singer and songwriter Alaina Castillo came to fame through YouTube after uploading videos of her singing to the platform in 2017. Her hushed, gentle tones saw her amassing thousand of views, before she dropped her debut EP, Antisocial Butterly, last year, and embarked on her first tour, with dates around the USA.

There was plenty to love about that release, but it was the arrival of her second EP Voicenotes earlier this year that really signalled Castillo’s talent and creative ability. Essentially built around a series of private voice memos recorded on her smartphone, the release was packed full of mesmerising and intimate moments, and made plenty of people sit up and take note. That she recorded and released a version in English and another in Spanish was also mightily impressive.

Whether you’re listening to Antisocial Butterfly, Voicenotes, or her new Christmas single Wishlist, the first thing that strikes you about Castillo is how beautiful her voice is. Immediately soft and warm, it almost masks the sultry lyrics she packs into Wishlist (“This holiday no time to waste / Lips on my body and hands on my waist / Down on my knees no time to tease / Do what you wanna do to me I’m all that you need / You take the lead / I’m staying open for Christmas / I want you to stay in with me / Stay in with me”).

Writing on her official Facebook page, Alaina recently said: “I LOVE U GUYS WITH ALL OF MY HEART AND JUST WANNA BE CHEESY N SHI FOR A SECOND. This past year has been fucked uppppp with all the crazy s**t I’ve been able to do and experience and learning to do it as ALAINA as possible has been hard as hell in my head but fun and easy when I FINALLY connect the dots because you guys are right there to support me and have been since I started on Youtube a few years ago.

“Never ever ever gonna forget that and will always feel so lucky to be able to make music and SHARE IT.”

Watch the official video for Wishlist here

Author: Joe Sharratt

Joe Sharratt is a writer and journalist based in the UK covering music, literature, sport, and travel.