Alaina May Releases Acoustic Single "Tourniquet," Meditates on Letting Go

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The song draws from May's reflections on her first year in New York and her creative partnership with TOLEDO.

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Brooklyn-based singer and songwriter Alaina May has released her new single, ' Tourniquet ,' a tender and aching meditation on the uneasy process of letting go. Following ' The Dog ' and ' Casual ,' which have amassed more than 500,000 cumulative streams, ' Tourniquet ' pushes deeper into the emotional terrain of May's songwriting.

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Carried by gently unfolding acoustic instrumentation and May's tender vocal, ' Tourniquet ' lives in the tension between longing and acceptance. The song emerged from May's reflections on her first year in New York, when she found herself caught between trying to move on from a relationship and still wanting it back.

For May, the song's title became a metaphor for finally tying off a connection she knew she couldn't continue to pursue. In one of the final lines she wrote, ' tourniquet the arm you held,' she found an image that encapsulated everything at the heart of the song: the painful but necessary act of letting go.

'This is truly one of my favorite songs I've ever written,' she says. 'Writing it felt so immediate and honest. It was one of those rare moments as a writer when you sort of enter a high and everything spills out onto the page. I hope those listening love it as much as I do.'

Originally from a small, conservative suburb outside Milwaukee, Wisconsin, May was raised in the Christian church and spent much of her early life conforming to a version of herself shaped by those surroundings. It wasn't until she left for college in Boston that she began to shed those expectations, stepping into her identity as a queer woman and embracing a more authentic sense of self. That push and pull between expectation and self-discovery continues to shape her music.

That evolution sits at the core of her songwriting. A deeply sensitive and introspective writer, May leans into emotional intensity, embracing what it means to feel deeply in both her inner world and her relationships with others. Her songs trace the quiet, often unspoken shifts of identity alongside the complexities of human connection and the lasting imprint of loving, losing, and finding her footing within it all.

Since relocating to New York in 2025, May has been refining her artistic vision through an ongoing creative partnership with TOLEDO. What began as a chance direct message has evolved into a fruitful collaboration, helping shape a new chapter of music that feels both deeply personal and sonically expansive.

Photo Credit: Hannah Zimmerman

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_Originally reported by [BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwmusic/article/Alaina-May-Shares-New-Single-Tourniquet-20260918)._