Deep dives into the world of the sophomore album by alayna Set Her Free
Tender Hearts Club:
Deep Cuts
IN CONVERSATION WITH LAILA BEN-BRAHIM OF WESTALL ROAD
Meet Westall Road - the creative production duo from Auckland, New Zealand, made up of Laila Ben-Brahim and Marlan Prabahar.
Known for their emotive storytelling and atmospheric visual worlds, they’ve been the quiet force shaping the creative direction behind Alayna’s upcoming album set her free, out february 13th, 2026.
In this Deep Cut, we spoke with laila about the latest single from the album, Softly - its spirit, its sisterhood, and the love that moves beyond romance.
softly
Treatment by WEstall Road
We first see Alayna alone. We get a sense of her environment, tenderness and vulnerability but wrapped by the elements and mother nature which ultimately feed her strength in the moments of solitude (alone on the rock / Sky and wind weaving around her).
Through the first verse and and first chorus, we see a yearning from Alayna for connection to something or someone and through these moments we see glimpses that she isn't alone by teasing close ups from the women around her.
Alayna’s role here isn’t to act or play a character, we needed to give her the space and moments for her to perform and quietly communicate the deep meaning in the most sincere way for herself.
The second verse is when Alayna's vulnerability is strongly realised through performance, and by stepping into a new feel (the blue dress). She walks towards and reaches out but not far enough until we see mother nature and the full reveal of the sisterhood come to life around her (rock formations, sun, wind, power poses).
This is the first time we see the sisterhood standing by Alayna and we see her in a more confident and majestic light.
All of the performance moments up to this point, allow the viewer/listener to build that connection with the song and dive into the journey with Alayna right to the end.
Through the last third of the song, the pace picks up, the energy increases and the climax of the song is met in full power between cinematic shots of the sisterhood and Alayna.
We see Alayna's dress changing more as she's part of this community and we see circular camera movements that fuel the symbolism of spirals, circles and ripples.
The song closes back on stillness, quietness and the decoration of Mother Nature at night over Alayna while she takes it all in and embraces the feminine energy of the world around her and what's within herself.
The final moment serves as a strong reminder that even in the moments alone, Alayna never is.
Creative Vision & Conceptual World
When you first read or heard Softly, what emotion or image sparked the world you built?
Laila: We immediately understood that Softly captures the quiet recognition, from a woman’s perspective, that no single person can be everything for us and the powerful realisation of the fullness we seek in love may already be present in the women who walk beside us.
How did you approach creating a visual language for something as intangible as sisterhood?
Laila: We wanted to communicate this by balancing the edge of literalism with symbolism, allowing deeper thinkers and feelers to connect with the interpretive energy woven throughout. Through a series of distinct settings and the presence of different women, we hoped to collectively symbolise a love that is chosen, steady and emotionally restorative.
“Softly captures the quiet recognition, from a woman’s perspective, that no single person can be everything for us
and the powerful realisation of the fullness we seek in love may already be present in the women who walk beside us.”
Artistry, Symbolism & Feminine Energy
There’s a quiet power in the way the women move - how did you find that balance between stillness and strength?
Laila: It was important for us to find the balance of connecting pivotal moments of Softly to the symbols and visual cues hinted across the other visuals and also creating a work that held its own space and emotional rhythm. Every video for Set Her Free carries a piece of Alayna’s evolution and Softly is where we found that evolution to hold for a moment on grace.
“They never fully occupy the frame for long because we wanted their presence to be symbolic of the women who hold us when we forget how to hold ourselves, or the women who uplift us.”
“They exist as both memory and mirror and their subtlety is intentional, powerful and without spectacle.”
What visual metaphors were most important to you when crafting this story?
Laila: Alayna’s performance truly sits at the centre of it all. The visuals don’t tell a linear story but instead bring to life a series of conceptual visual metaphors with Alayna as both the observer and the vessel. We didn’t want Alayna to act or portray a character but we wanted it to be about embodying her message and allowing her body, presence and voice to translate the emotion as the world around her showed up to support.
The sisterhood is shown sparingly in glimpses and gestures. A hand, a passing touch, a confident gaze. They never fully occupy the frame for long because we wanted their presence to be symbolic of the women who hold us when we forget how to hold ourselves, or the women who uplift us. They exist as both memory and mirror and their subtlety is intentional, powerful and without spectacle.
Nature too is not just a setting - it is a character. Like sisterhood, it offers a consistent presence: it does not rush or rescue, but it holds, it grounds and it runs free. It’s the silent witness to transformation, reminding us that feminine power exists in many forms or is an extension of ourselves.
Ripples & Spirals truly are the symbolic throughline of Set Her Free. They appear throughout the body of work - sometimes overtly and sometimes hidden in form or movement. They’ve taken different shape and portrayals across previous music videos but in Softly we wanted to carry this through the camera movement and how the viewer is the spiral as we view alayna while orbiting her, or the sisterhood creating this invisible thread of energy. Even the landscape carries these marks with spiral imprints on the sand or rocks so that we could symbolically suggest the regeneration, unity and the unending rhythm of womanhood.
Softly is ultimately less about what we see and more about what we feel. It’s a meditation on connection, love and the gentle power that comes when women remember and return to each other.
“Softly is ultimately less about what we see and more about what we feel.
It’s a meditation on connection, love and the gentle power that comes when women remember and return to each other.”
Connection & Emotion
How did you want the viewer to feel after watching Softly?
Laila: We wanted the viewer to leave with a sense of quiet recognition that love in its truest form isn’t always loud or all-consuming. The truth we hoped to capture is that connection doesn’t need to declare itself to be powerful and it can live in tenderness and presence.
What truth about love or connection do you hope people recognise in these visuals?
Laila: We wanted the visuals to hold the duality of being deeply personal yet universally resonant. We build that balance by keeping the camera close to Alayna in moments of introspection, then letting it breathe and expand outwards when we see more visual context in the wider shots as if the natural world itself were exhaling alongside Alayna.
How did you direct the emotional pacing, the “breathing” of the video, to mirror the song?
Laila: We wanted the video to feel like it was breathing with the song and so we kept the pace meditative without losing its energy. As the song progresses, the cuts move quicker to build on the intensity but we didn’t want it to lose the essence and synergy with Alayna and her performance and role in it.
“The truth we hoped to capture is that connection doesn’t need to declare itself to be powerful and it can live in tenderness and presence.”
Process, Collaboration & Spirit
What conversations between us shaped the emotional core of this video?
Laila: We had many conversations with Alayna and team to really ensure that we understood the meaning and power of the song and the settings that would be the canvas for its truth. Ultimately, there’s a feeling we heard in the music and production but also a beautiful message we interpreted lyrically. We coupled this feeling with the key symbols that Alayna felt would truly represent this and together created an introspective visual to carry the messaging.
What does this project reveal about your own creative language or values as directors?
Laila: It was one part to visualise and imagine how the finished product would look but it’s also important for us to go into any shoot day with a little room for flexibility. For this particular shoot, Mother Nature was the final collaborator on bringing Softly to life. The weather, tides, terrain, and access all contributed to the final product. It really taught us to lean in to what the external forces were saying and to let it be the guide for where to be and how to respectfully show up. In trusting the process we were able to pivot from initial plans and still leave with a beautiful visual to hold this story.
“Mother Nature was the final collaborator on bringing Softly to life. The weather, tides, terrain, and access all contributed to the final product.”
“It really taught us to lean in to what the external forces were saying and to let it be the guide for where to be and how to respectfully show up.”
Reflective / World-Building
Why did you feel called to tell this story?
Laila: In a world that so often centres romantic love, Softly felt like an opportunity to reframe what a love story can be. The love of one's self and sisterhood is often the ‘extra’ or supporting character but rarely the main story. The irony in that, is that it’s probably the most universal form of love there is. At least half the world could relate to Softly in some way, whether it’s a mother’s love, a sister’s love, a friend or mentor, etc. There’s always someone who’s offered that safeness and the kind of love that steadies us in our hardest moments, even if we don’t realise it in the moment.
What would you say this video teaches us?
Laila: I think Softly teaches us something about how women love, hold and heal and it’s not dramatic but it’s deeply transformative. In Softly we see that each woman in the video represents her own unique element and if you think deeper about that, we can liken it to a quality, a character trait or superpower. My hope is that Softly expands how people see love and connect to even their most quiet heroes but to also recognise ourselves in that role for someone else.
“The love of one's self and sisterhood is often the ‘extra’ or supporting character but rarely the main story.
The irony in that, is that it’s probably the most universal form of love there is.”
“My hope is that Softly expands how people see love and connect to even their most quiet heroes,
but to also recognise ourselves in that role for someone else. ”
Tender Hearts Club: Deep Cuts - A conversation with Laila Ben-Brahim from Westall Road.
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watch the official music video for softly - produced, directed
& filmed by westall road
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Set Her Free
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Created by Westall Road
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alayna’s sophomore album set to release on February 13th, 2026
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