New Music & Video Release - alayna releases Set Her Free & new single 'Tiny Spaces' - 13th February 2026
Credit - Marlan Prabahar
Artist Name - alayna
Release Name - Tiny Spaces
Release Date - 13th January 2026
Genre - Pop Music, R&B, Soul Music
Label - Nettwerk Music
Critically acclaimed New Zealand singer and songwriter alayna has released her exquisite sophomore album, SET HER FREE.
Written across Aotearoa, Australia, USA and Bali, SET HER FREE is an album that explores love in its many forms. This beautifully crafted collection of 13 tracks instantly immerses its listener in an ocean of emotive pop, soul and R&B. It has illustrious arrangements with strings, grooves that hook and, of course, alayna’s always impressive vocals.
“I spent a year writing my way through this concept of love,” says alayna, “realising how extraordinary love is and how deeply the women around me love, I went through my own reflections and liberation within the making of it.”
alayna reflects that the concept of love felt like the most definitive step in her artistry, emerging in the wake of her 2023 debut album SELF PORTRAIT OF A WOMAN UNRAVELLING - a record that demanded an enormous emotional investment.
“It was an incredibly intense process,” she says. “It felt like one long therapy session. There was so much emotional excavation involved in trying to understand myself.”
With SET HER FREE, alayna says she was able to turn around from the inward perspective and look back out. “I was able to reflect on how deeply I had been loved the whole time, how sincerely I had loved and still had so much learning to do. I love what I learned in the making of this, of all the hands that lovingly helped me put it together. I'm no expert at anything, but I feel a bit closer to understanding love now. I feel like I know myself as an artist even more too.”
Having earned over 85 million streams across her work, placing her in the top 3% of artists worldwide in streaming volume, SET HER FREE is sure to gain alayna further recognition. SET HER FREE includes previously released singles (2025-26) - ‘Mother’s Mother’, which pays tribute to the matriarchy; the intimate ‘But It’s Lonely’; powerful soul and R&B anthem ‘Softly’; heartfelt ballad ‘Hold Me’; and recently released ‘Animal’ - which alayna describes as being a fun and creative exploration.
New tracks on the album include ‘I See You’ - which was written to the artist’s best friend; ‘Braveheart’ - an 'accidental' song that came up in a studio session which alayna says felt like her body wrote to a part of herself that needed to be loved; and the exciting new album single ‘Tiny Spaces’ - a feel-good, summery anthem celebrating love in all forms.
“‘Tiny Spaces’ feels like the sunset of the album,” says alayna, “a triumphant celebration of the love that exists within all of us and encapsulates the album as a whole. I wanted this album to go on journeys within journeys - of self-love, romantic love, and love in womanhood, and celebrate the capacity of the heart of a woman. ‘Tiny Spaces’ feels like the true setting free, of understanding love a bit better, and realising I'm completely held in it. This understanding helps me love better - myself, in relationships, in family. Past, present and future.”
Collaborating with various celebrated producers and songwriters, alayna says that her intention with this album was to expand her own artistry, and find her place in the songwriting room. She worked with producers and songwriters Chelsea Warner (Australia), Micah Premnath (LA), Ryan Linvill (LA) Emma Rosen (LA/Bali), Zaire Koalo (LA), Trevor Brown (LA), Oak Felder (Bali) Serban Cazan (Bali) Coleridge Tillman (Bali), VRON (LA), Chelsea Lena (LA) and Ben Malone (NZ) - who she wrote the majority of the album with, including the album's moving title track.
“‘Set Her Free’ was the first song to come out of our first session together,” says alayna. “I didn't quite understand what it meant, and still don't, but I finished the album and realised that SET HER FREE was the title. It was the answer to every question I made with each song.”
The album was mixed by Simon Gooding and mastered by Joe Laporta from Sterling Sound.
To further celebrate the album's release, alayna is hosting an immersive gallery experience on February 14th (9am - 12pm) at Common Space Studios in Auckland. Inviting listeners to step inside the world of SET HER FREE with each song aligned with a piece of art created by alayna. Guests are invited to experience the album in full, within a curated gallery environment - encouraging slow, intentional listening, emotional presence, and connection.
Fans and vinyl lovers will also delight in hearing that the album is being pressed by Holiday Records, and that alayna is planning a SET HER FREE tour in August - with shows in Rotorua, Wellington and Auckland!
LISTEN TO ‘SET HER FREE’
SET HER FREE - album tracklisting:
Love Of My Life
I See You
But It’s Lonely
Hold Me
Softly
Braveheart
Animal
Small Things
Love You More
Mother’s Mother
Tiny Spaces
On Your Way Home
Set Her Free