Reviews
Lilia Asha Turns Inner Disorientation Into Sound on “My Morbid Reverie”
For Lilia Asha, songwriting begins where ordinary conversation stops. The emerging alternative-pop artist, originally from Leamington Spa and now closely connected to Shanghai’s creative community, uses music to articulate feelings that are difficult to explain directly. On her new single, My Morbid Reverie, that impulse becomes a study in emotional disorientation, shaped by intimate vocals, distorted production and a final moment of unexpected calm.
Released on 28 August 2026, the track marks one of the most personal stages in Asha’s developing catalogue. She wrote it entirely in one sitting during a difficult period, when she felt disconnected from herself and from the world around her. The song moves through the sensation of being caught inside one’s own mind, suspended between reality and imagination while mourning an earlier version of oneself.
The writing is direct, but the production gives those emotions room to become unstable. Developed with Starcle Music in Shanghai, My Morbid Reverie begins from a place of vocal closeness before gradually moving into a more atmospheric and distorted sound. The arrangement does not simply accompany the lyrics. It follows their psychological movement, suggesting a mind becoming less certain of where it ends and the world begins.
That shift is most pronounced towards the end of the song. After the track’s growing intensity, the production gives way to birdsong. The transition is almost disorienting in its softness. Rather than resolving the emotional tension, it leaves the listener suspended between the imagined world of the song and something recognisably real.
Asha names Phoebe Bridgers and Conan Gray among the artists who have influenced her approach, particularly their ability to write about vulnerability without making it feel over-polished. That influence can be heard less as imitation than as a permission to remain emotionally exposed. My Morbid Reverie does not attempt to tidy up its subject matter or offer an easy conclusion. Its strength lies in the way it allows confusion, grief and self-observation to coexist.
The track was recorded and developed with Starcle Music in Shanghai, where Asha lives and writes much of her music. The city has become an important part of her artistic development, connecting her songwriting with a wider creative community. The final mix and mastering were completed in Sydney, adding another international element to a release that was shaped across several locations but remains closely tied to Asha’s own writing.
Music is only one part of the world she is building. Asha is also developing a visual language around her songs through professional photography, lyric artwork, behind-the-scenes storytelling, live performance and short-form content. Her work increasingly treats each release as part of a wider artistic identity, rather than as an isolated track.
That approach will continue through her upcoming live plans in Shanghai. Asha is scheduled to appear at Starcle Music’s annual Halloween band show and is preparing a major solo concert on 5 December 2026. The performance is expected to include at least ten original songs, including unreleased material, alongside an exhibition of artwork inspired by her lyrics. The event will also introduce her first artist merchandise.
Approaching her 15th birthday, Asha is still at an early point in her career, but My Morbid Reverie suggests a clear interest in making emotionally difficult material central to her work. The song is not built around spectacle. It is built around the distance between what can be felt and what can be said, then turns that distance into sound.
By the time the birdsong arrives, the track has already travelled through a fractured inner landscape. What remains is not a neat resolution, but a question about where the reverie ends and reality returns. That uncertainty is precisely what gives My Morbid Reverie its identity.