Vocalist Aléa Lorén radiates a healing energy brought about by her own restorative journey and infuses powerful conviction into her neo soul artistry. She describes her music as “soul, R&B, jazz, conscious, reflective, inspirational slaps.” Her live performances both empower audiences and inspire them to dance.

Born into a musical family in Portland, Oregon, music captivated Aléa as a young girl. She sang her first solo when she grabbed the church mic and sang on key before she was even two years old. With a father who was a minister of music and mother who sang and studied music at Howard, it’s no surprise her brothers Alvin (keyboard) and AJ (drums) also pursued music and now play in her band.

As a teen, Aléa sang in the choir at Thomas Jefferson High School, a highly regarded arts magnet school. She also fell in love with gospel music and consistently sang in church service. Life did not go according to plan though. Her beloved grandmother passed away when Aléa was sixteen, prompting her to write a song that would be the last she’d write for several years. She married young, started a family, ran a daycare, and grew apart from people she was close to. “It was a hard time” she admits, “and singing in church was my therapy at that point.”

While she still draws from her gospel roots (and influences like Karen Clark Sheard of the Clark Sisters), Aléa’s next musical chapter would weave together broader musical influences. Listening to female vocalists Erykah Badu, Beyoncé, Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone, Jazmine Sullivan, India Arie, and Fantasia helped Aléa to find her own voice. She is also experienced in the theater, having performed Showboat with Portland Opera in 2015, Rent with Portland Center Stage in 2022, and Black Nativity with PassinArt annually for the last several years.

With the urging of her brothers and the encouragement of some of Portland’s most highly regarded soul musicians, Aléa put a band together and debuted in 2022 under the name Church Girl at one of the Pacific Northwest’s premier jazz clubs, The 1905. “We sold out,” she recalls. “There were people standing outside dancing, and I just said, ‘I did it.’ I was like, ‘Let's do it again.’” With the band now officially launched, bassist Ian Lindsay and guitarist Keenan Dorn became key members. They continued performing at The 1905 and established a residency at the Alberta Street Pub in Portland. Aléa also sang at tribute concerts for Chaka Khan, Brandy, and Mary J. Blige and sang background vocals for saxophonist Eldon T Jones at a sold-out 2024 Portland Jazz Festival concert at The Old Church Concert Hall.

To write and record her first single, Aléa collaborated with Farnell Newton who composed and produced what would become “The Self-Love Anthem” (released April 2024). He sent her the music, and three days later, she responded to him with lyrics. “It was like breathing life into it,” Aléa reflects. The cover photo of herself as a young girl emphasizes the song’s perspective of, “Dear Me, You’re the love of my life,” and she notes the theme is “loving me in ways that other people might not even have the capacity to.” This process of self-reflection led her to shed the Church Girl moniker and go by Aléa Lorén.

With her eyes set on the future, Aléa pauses to recognize how far she’s already come. “I have the crowd’s trust because I'm authentic, and I'm talking about things you can't talk about at church. Somebody told me, ‘Oh, I can just hear the hurt and the pain in your voice when you're singing. You're a great performer.’ And I think it’s an outlet. It's not really a performance.”

Aléa is currently preparing to release her first music video and is writing new lyrics to release her first EP, which her fans expect to be as vulnerable and life-giving as “The Self-Love Anthem” and her live performances. Aléa aspires to sing for new audiences, gifting them with the empowering healing of her music.