ALANA BELLE
A Woman After Our Own Hearts
by Patricia Vaccarino
Singer, Songwriter, Filmmaker Alana Belle was featured on the cover of our February 2018 Magazine. Much has happened since 2018. Her work The New Romantic: A Mood Film was released in September 2020 at the Northwest Film Forum Film Festival. In November she partnered with Lululemon and did a screening in their store.
On February 13, 2020 she sang at the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) to the largest audience she has ever performed before. The occasion for the celebration at SAM was the Madaraka Festival 2020 that is produced by Simon Okelo of One Vibe Africa. Her music was selected from her debut album, The New Romantic, which was released in full the next day, Valentine’s Day 2020.
We had the opportunity to interview Alana to learn what is now new in her life. After working on a film and an album for five years, both projects magically came to fruition even in the midst of a raging pandemic. Alana described the experience of seeing her film on the big screen for the first time. “I prayed to be present in the moment and it took my breath away to see it.”
Alana Belle, who is from Seattle, Washington, began writing and singing songs at the age of six. As she grew older, she realized that writing and singing songs was the purest way for her to communicate her emotions, her vulnerability, and her sensitivity. She said, “Music is my oneness with God—I’m just a vessel bringing this gift into the world.”