- Words Isabelle Cassidy
Taylor Castro demonstrates her range of talents with the release of ‘Girl, Afraid’, a new album that lays out her vulnerabilities alongside distinctive vocal prowess.
Florida-born and Atlanta-based, Taylor Castro counts song writing, screenwriting and acting as just a few skills under her belt. The multi-talented creative has already gathered tens of millions of streams, but 2021 has brought with it the release of her independent full-length album, ‘Girl, Afraid’. Castro considers herself “a storyteller, first and foremost”, and the single, “Avoiding Me” is an upbeat anthem that highlights this storytelling, alongside her vocal abilities and an undeniable hook.
Castro started her songwriting journey as early as five years old, recording on GarageBand by the start of secondary school and taking part in local musical theatre productions to satisfy her love for performance. She starred in cult films as she got older, before a shift to writing in collaboration with producers Will Perez-Feria, Rudy Pérez and Kyng David Baha. Castro’s debut single “I Got You” amassed over 2 million YouTube views, followed closely by “Don’t Know What To Say” that reached another 1.8. Along the way, she began to infuse her deep passion for literature into her song writing. The expansive concept that later became ‘Girl, Afraid’ is inspired by Shakespeare’s Hamlet, telling the story of Ophelia in Taylor’s own terms.
As well as her literary inspirations, the new album intimately details her struggles with OCD. Taylor describes the tracks as “a story about escaping whatever prison we use for protection and endeavouring out into the unknown”. For her, it is “quite messy, quite lovely, and often drowned by unsolicited rain. Nonetheless, it is mine and I am opening the gates.” If this release’s variety, honesty and vulnerability are anything to go by, we can’t wait to see what’s next.