Raw yet timeless songwriting, a voice that recalls Adele and precocious wisdom power the London singer-songwriter’s debut album. “This whole album is about my fear of impermanence and the feeling of being temporary,” SIENNA SPIRO tells Apple Music. “I wanted a 10-track album, and I wanted each song to explore a new part of the experience of a visitor, and what that feels like.” Across Visitor, then, SPIRO examines being a guest in someone else’s life (the feeling of just-out-of-reach love powers plenty of the songs here), being disconnected from who you are (“Pure”), an age-gap relationship (“He’s Not My Baby, I’m His”) and, finally, acceptance that things can be beautiful, even if they do end (the jazzy “Mono No Aware”). The album, she adds, is about “knowing how fragile relationships are and knowing how fragile your identity is to people”. Visitor arrives in the wake of her 2025 breakout song “Die on This Hill” and its 2026 follow-up “The Visitor”, plus support slots with Sam Smith and Teddy Swims, and a song on The Devil Wears Prada 2 soundtrack (that track, “Material Lover”, is on this deluxe edition, which also features two reworks, her take on the jazz standard “Autumn Leaves” and 2024’s “MAYBE.”). It’s an album of sculptural, classic-feeling songs powered by her smoky, statuesque vocals, songwriting that feels like it comes direct from a cracked-open heart and melodies that deliver a tonne of emotional impact. “When I was younger, I had this innate sadness that I really didn’t understand,” says SPIRO. “I used songwriting as a way to release what I was feeling. And I think melody is a very underrated aspect of songwriting because it’s not words and it’s not things that you can express. The way singing feels is very cathartic; it is very therapeutic.” Read on as SPIRO talks us through some standout tracks on her debut album. “Great Expectation” “I was living in New York for a month and a bit, opening for Sam [Smith] in October [2025], and I was talking to this guy who was a lot older than me—he was not a very nice guy, it turns out. And he was telling me, ‘I’m going to come visit you. It’s going to be great.’ And if someone gives me an inch, I’ll turn it into a mile. I was very infatuated by him. I would walk down the stairs of the apartment and imagine he was outside, and then for five minutes down the road, every single morning, I’d play out exactly what I thought would happen if he was there. It was so weird and delusional, and I came back into myself and thought, ‘I feel a bit weird. Why did I just do that?’ It’s about this story, but it’s very much applicable to the world and the way we hope the people that we put in power—in our heads, or in power in the world—will do some good. And they don’t.” “Die on This Hill” “The song is about passion and care and being stubborn and showing up for people—it’s not necessarily just romantic love. I’ve seen people relate to it about an absent parent or friendship. ‘Die on this hill’ is a phrase people say that I’ve heard throughout my life. It’s always something I wanted to write. I was trying to play ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and couldn’t do it and I did this. So it was a mistake that turned into something quite nice. It was a really important song for me to write—I’ve been made to feel quite small and bad for being very loud and stubborn and sticking around for the things I believe in.” “The Visitor” “I applied the term ‘the visitor’ to myself and really related to it. I knew I was making a project called Visitor, and I knew there needed to be a song called ‘The Visitor’ on it. And then I did this nine times and tried to get it right. It took me ages because I didn’t want to miss out any part of it. It’s kind of what people call their thesis. It explains my experience of what being a visitor feels like: you know you’re temporary. It’s a horrible feeling.” “Mono No Aware” “I think this is the best song I’ve ever made. Musically, it’s my first true, straight jazz song. I grew up singing jazz and listening to jazz, and I think it’s really hard to make a classic jazz song without doing something that hasn’t been done before. ‘Mono no aware’ is a Japanese phrase that means the gentle sadness of knowing everything beautiful is temporary, and we should love it more because it won’t last. Growing up, I was scared of entering things that I knew would end and which I would have to try and keep going—so I just stopped. When I found this phrase, it allowed me to look at things differently, let things be as they are and allow experiences to matter without trying to make them permanent. I’m grateful to have this song and grateful to have been able to write it.”