Ava Renn strikes with her electrified debut, Lightning Child
Lightning Child isn’t just the title of Ava Renn’s upcoming album, it’s the energy she’s bringing into her rock debut. Her first single, “See What I’ve Seen,” released August 15, announces her arrival with the weight of a storm rolling in. Her voice starts as a grumble of thunder, then builds into a lightning strike that splits the track open. The instrumentation—percussion and guitars—stays subdued in the opening moments, giving her lyrics room to press forward.
All this sets the stage for Lightning Child, her full-length record out November 14. Renn describes her release as “pure alignment with purpose.” Years of writing and self-discovery led to this record, one she calls both a mourning and a rebirth.
THE FIRST STRIKE
With so much power behind this emotional storm, we asked Renn how she decided which track to release first. Originally, Renn thought she’d lead with “Dog Eyes.” But after a conversation with her dad, she knew “See What I’ve Seen” was the truest first step. “It’s one of the most raw on the album,” she says. “A vessel for my mourning, a cry of release…to tell my future child to rest in me, to not walk where I have walked.”
When “See What I’ve Seen” went live a couple weeks ago, Renn was in Wimberley, Texas on a songwriting trip. “My producer’s wife made us mimosas. We prayed over the art and toasted to all of the beautiful parts of this ride,” she recalls. “It was great to be around the people I love during the drop.”
Renn describes her debut single as “a vessel for my mourning, a cry of release…to tell my future child to rest in me, to not walk where I have walked.”
Photo Credit: Carlie Tise
HUES OF REBIRTH
Ava Renn’s art doesn’t just give life to heavy words—she paints her music in colors. RØKKR got a sneak peek at Lightning Child’s concept artwork, centered around the color teal. It makes us think of the collision of ocean and storm front: a shade that feels weighty yet alive, buzzing with rain and static, ready to break open.
And Renn isn’t stopping there. She already has a second album in development, one she describes as “dark purple”—a grittier body of work that promises to blend pop-rock urgency with jagged techno edges.
Her most powerful inspiration with color comes from the West Texas desert skies. She recalls writing “Dog Eyes” while sitting in the sand, her producer riffing beside her, shaping what she now calls “a transformative art piece.”
FROM SPARKS TO STAGES
Renn writes daily, but the process shifts. Alone, she moves through chords on guitar or piano, or experiments with synths until she finds magic. With her producer, they start with titles and let the emotion of the moment dictate direction. “It feels like a channeling,” she says.
Every track on Lightning Child is already recorded, mixed, and mastered. Two more singles will before November’s release.
Photo Credit: Devinn Pierre
Every track on Lightning Child is already recorded, mixed, and mastered. Two more singles will precede the full drop: “None the Wiser” in September and “Dog Eyes” in late October, before November’s release.
For Renn, the stage is as visual as the studio. “The same way I imagine and create music video concepts, I have a plethora of stage concepts I WILL execute soon,” she says.
STAYING GROUNDED
Renn’s dream tour lineup cuts across eras and genres: Yungblud, PJ Harvey, The Kills, Julia Wolf, Chris Cornell, Jeff Beck, Spiritbox, and Layne Staley. And dream destinations are Sacramento, Berlin, Lisbon, and Rio de Janeiro—along with festival stages like Sonic Temple, Aftershock, ACL, and Barcelona Rock Fest.
In the year ahead, Renn hopes to have toured a dozen or so cities and be well into the launch of her second album
Photo Credit: Carlie Tise
Behind that intensity are quirks that keep her grounded. She runs to clear her head. She collects puppets. She listens to Bach. Far from contradictions, these rituals are the strange fuel that balances her storm—keeping her centered even as she writes toward her second album, already complete in draft form with demos in motion.
WHAT’S NEXT
In the year ahead, Renn hopes to have toured a dozen or so cities and be well into the launch of her second album. For now, she’s focused on ushering Lightning Child into the world. “I am grateful and excited for every part of this process,” she says.
If her debut single is thunder, then Lightning Child is the strike—and RØKKR will be chasing that storm wherever it leads!
Photo Credit: Carlie Tise
