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Entries We Love: Allison Mahal, 'Autopilot'

Hometown: Nashville, Tenn.

Pairs well with: A long drive on wooded backroads

Allison Mahal's soothing vocals are a bittersweet contrast to the melancholy of her song "Autopilot." The song is a woeful reminiscence of a former version of ones' self — "Feel myself on autopilot / Can you hijack my mind for a minute / Take the wheel cause, I'm not looking at it / I wanna go down," she sings. Mahal's singing effortlessly floats between conviction-filled belting and softness. As she strums simple chords on her guitar inside Nashville, Tenn.'s celebrated Grimey's music shop, you can't help but feel comforted despite the sobering lyrics. In the same way Taylor Swift's "All Too Well" is sad in the best way, "Autopilot" makes Mahal's discontent feel like the slight sting of a crisp autumn wind: chilling, but welcomed.

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Taylor Jennings-Brown
Taylor Jennings-Brown is a 2021-2022 Kroc Fellow. She is a thoughtful writer from Durham, North Carolina and is a spring 2021 graduate from the University of South Carolina, where she received her bachelor's degree in mass communications and anthropology.