Alicia Toner’s latest single is a soaring tune, with an emphasis on her vocal prowess. Appropriately, the song provides an anthem for those trying to find their own voice. “Have It All” is Toner speaking up for the sake of her gender — now more than ever, since she’s got even more at stake.
“This song is for anyone who can’t use their voice,” says Toner, “whether it’s out of fear or because the system has told you to be quiet, this is for you.”
Loaded with metaphor, “Have It All” was written during 2018, just as the #MeToo movement was ramping up — a time when a laundry list of accusations was being levelled against countless men in positions of power and seemingly reinforced by the actions of a wayward Commander-in-Chief and his supporters. It wasn’t a bright time for anyone, but least of all the people regularly subjected to it.
“We may be crashing, but the sky won’t fall / If it does I want to have it all / Thunder doesn’t know how fast we fall / We can have it all, we can have it all,” sings Toner, layering on the metaphor in the chorus. But, as she points out, the original intent of the song was that women “can be women AND speak our truth. Without being tossed aside. A lofty goal.”
“‘Thunder’ represents the patriarchy. I won’t explain it more than that as I want people to interpret it themselves,” explains Toner. “The meaning of this song has changed for me as the focus of current events shifts. It started from a place of anger and frustration, a real ‘f@!k you’ to the power, and now is much more hopeful and playing the long game.”
The long game seems to involve waiting out the clock on some outdated social norms. Over the course of the last year, Toner had a daughter — an act that, in context, seems inherently optimistic.
“Gotta be hopeful or there’s no hope for her,” says Toner.
“Have It All” is the first single to be released from Alicia Toner’s upcoming album, Joan, which is expected to drop sometime in June 2021.