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Today, Kingston, NY via Charleston, South Carolina folk singer-songwriter Ginger Winn grapples with anxiety on "Escape" out everywhere now and tries to out-run her thoughts through a wintery, vast forest in the official music video. Winn's sophomore album Freeze Frame is due out June 13. Tonight, the artist and musician/producer A.J. Yorio (Michael Marcagi) will play live at Colony in Woodstock, NY with tickets on sale now here.
"Escape," out today, sees Winn surrender to herself–it's a heartfelt plea for self-acceptance and an acknowledgement that one must fully face their fears to overcome them. On the meaning of the track, Winn says, "It’s about running—and trying to escape your own mind and thoughts, which is very hard to do. There’s a double meaning when I say ‘except me / accept me.’ Not only does the song mean ‘there’s nothing to fear except the fear of me,’ but it’s also a plea—as you hear the vocals crying out, ‘accept me.’ Social anxiety in an empty space like the woods is an eerie, indescribable, nonsensical feeling as real as the trees themselves.”
Atwood Magazine, who debuted the single, says, "Brutally honest and achingly raw, “Escape” is a song of reckoning and release – an intimate confessional and a vulnerable, cathartic confrontation with Winn’s inner world: The weight, the pain, the hope, and the healing. It’s about facing our fear head-on, making space within ourselves for it, and finding the strength to move forward – together."
Watch "Escape" (Official Music Video)
The accompanying music video directed by frequent collaborator Brooklyn Zeh and set at Kaaterskill Falls in the Catskills Mountains, shows Winn joined by a Wolfdog as she roams through the quiet trees and flowing waterfalls. The dog represents Winn's ever-present anxiety, and happens to be the very dog breed her late father owned.
On the symbolism in the video, Winn shares,"The dog is anxiety, and the dark side of our mind that we can’t escape. It follows you even when you’re not looking, and you don’t want to see it. Not only does it represent anxiety, but it also represents my dad, who always had a Wolfdog." The dog allowed Winn to have a final, parting moment with her father–something that felt destined. Winn continues, "Shooting this video and making friends with this dog was very healing—almost like I got to tell my dad goodbye and have one last moment with him."
Atwood Magazine adds, "Winn granted herself moments of closure and connection throughout her song and its music video, and now, together, they stand as a testament to the everlasting bonds we form between the living and the dead – and to the evolving relationship we continue forge with ourselves in the wake of loss, grief, and change."
The forthcoming LP, Freeze Frame, produced and engineered by A.J. Yorio, sees Winn tackle the complexities of heavy topics like suicide, grief and anxiety. Recorded during a record snow storm in Cincinnati at Yorio's home studio after globally touring with Michael Marcagi, the album came together naturally and the pair found their stride. Yorio reflects, "I had barely learned how to keep time on the drum kit, let alone learn how to record them correctly, when Matt Baione (Ginger’s co-writer) reached out and asked if I would want to get in the studio first-thing 2025 and make a record. My second son had just been born eight weeks earlier. When Ginger came in January we got snowed in for more than a week with record-breaking-flakes here in Cincinnati. Sharing my home and family with Ginger amidst the epic snowstorm felt like living in a really intriguing Netflix series. It was an utter blast."
The 14 tracks thoughtfully walk through the stages of grief and hold the intricacies of Winn's layered emotions as she processes deep loss and discovers a new kind of acceptance–of herself and of her circumstances. “'Freeze Frame' is the most emotional project I’ve ever made. It holds my new grief, my longing, and all the tiny moments that pulled me through. I experienced the sudden passing of my father two months before final production and recording vocals, and it was so healing to put all those emotions into something so beautiful.”
Born and raised in South Carolina, Ginger Winn has been singing and songwriting since age nine. In 2022, Winn began producing music for others online, and in 2024, shared her wistful debut album, STOP-MOTION, produced by David Baron (The Lumineers, Noah Kahan, Shawn Mendes). Atwood Magazine wrote the LP is "sweet, stirring, and sun-kissed..an intimate and honest snapshot of the full spectrum of emotion and experience, introducing a budding artist with a heart of gold and the voice to match." Now, with new hardships and life experiences that color her forthcoming second project, Winn begins to artistically explore and present new parts of herself as she moves through the darkness and weight of grief like never before.
"Escape," the cathartic ode to self-acceptance by Ginger Winn is out now ahead of her raw, brave sophomore LP, Freeze Frame, out on June 13. Tonight, Winn and producer/musician A.J. Yorio will play live in Woodstock at Colony with tickets on sale now here. Keep up with Ginger Winn on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube for much more from the rising musician.
Listen: "Not You"
Listen: "Freezing"
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