Wake Up, Baby! is a modern reinterpretation of the traditional Sicilian serenata “E Vui Durmiti Ancora,” translated into English and reimagined through the lens of 1960s American pop (think Roy Orbison or The Ronettes). Traditionally sung by a man, the serenata was a ritualized form of courtship—a love song performed beneath a beloved’s window in hopes of waking her and convincing her to say "yes" to marriage. E Vui Durmiti Ancora is a centuries old song that tells the story of a devoted admirer pleading for his beloved to wake up and acknowledge his love for her. However, the song carries an undercurrent of uncertainty: Is she truly asleep, or is she just…not that into him?
In Wake Up, Baby!, I reclaim this tradition from a female perspective, flipping the gender dynamic and reinterpreting the serenata as a ballad of longing. The song draws parallels between past and present, connecting the experience of waiting beneath a window to the modern frustration of being, as my generation would say—“left on read.”