Ada Lea—the moniker of Montreal-based musician Alexandra Levy—releases “copycat,” the first single from her new EP, the end is a wave. Following last year’s epic, 16-track opus, when i paint my masterpiece, “copycat” is a reflection on friendship, comparison, and proximity set to a dance beat. Levy speaks on the new track: “On Friendship: In 2020, I’d just finished reading The Neapolitan Quartet. Lila and Lenu’s relationship felt like some of the close and maybe slightly unhealthy friendships in my life at the time. In the case of the quartet, Lenu is defined by Lila, her Brilliant Friend. Lenu is preoccupied by what Lila is doing, thinking… whom she’s loving. Lenu mythologizes her, and in so doing diminishes herself and her work. Through the four books we come to feel that Lila is truly special and Lenu is just orbiting her. Everything seems a result of some proximity to Lila. Lila was always the source, never Lenu alone. But toward the end of the quartet, there’s a shift in Lenu as she reflects back on her life with Lila. So I wrote the “copycat” song about that moment.” the end is a wave is an experimentation of sorts: “For this EP, I wanted to combine songs that were cut from when i paint my masterpiece, as well as the ones I’d recorded a million years ago when I was just a child. It was to test their fragility. How would they behave next to the other? The old and the new? The brave and the haunted? The impression and the finely sculpted. I also decided to mix three of the songs myself (was it a mistake? you tell me…I says). I’ve been thinking of the kind of artist I’d like to be, and how I’d like to see all artists treated. I am most at home when I am creating and performing, it is what I was born to do. These worlds are opposites. 12th house and 6th, 4th & 10th, the story goes on. I can imagine a future where artists are supported by UBI and they do what they want. A kind of welfare for the serious artists that are not afraid to play. It serves the betterment of society to support artists this way. I know there are others out there, like me, that feel little purpose in their life when they’re not working toward making things. But it’s also near to impossible to make things when you are fighting to protect your energy at every turn, feeling burnt out.” Release Date: August 12th, 2026