Ada Lea Takes On Bob Dylan
Ada Lea has dropped her boldest statement yet with “bob dylan’s 115th haircut” – the final preview from her upcoming album when i paint my masterpiece, out this Friday via Saddle Creek.
The Montreal-based musician (real name Alexandra Levy) isn’t playing it safe. Her new track tackles the ultimate comparison head-on, with lyrics that declare: “Bob Dylan couldn’t have written this song / Not even if he wanted to, not even just for fun.”
It’s a gutsy move that came from a moment of creative self-doubt. “Sometimes I get into these moods where I feel like there will always be a gap between what I want to say, and what I actually end up writing,” Levy explains.
She found herself comparing her work to Dylan’s – as you do when you’re feeling particularly masochistic about your art. But instead of wallowing, she flipped the script: “I had to reverse the thought ‘could he write one like me?'”
The album title playfully nods to a lesser-known Dylan track, which he described as “something that is so supreme and first-rate that you could never come back down from the mountain.” For Levy, it’s about finding that potential in the smallest moments – a brushstroke, a take, a flash of inspiration.
when i paint my masterpiece is a 16-track opus that marks a complete reset for the artist. After years of gruelling tours with minimal support, Levy stepped back to study painting and poetry, got a day job, and started teaching.
The result? Songs that feel alive with “poetic specificity and a wide-open heart.” It’s not chasing perfection – it’s comfortable being imperfect and human.
Levy kicks off her UK tour on 16th August at Leeds’ Brudenell Social Club, with dates running through to 21st August in London. The tour continues across North America through November, because apparently she’s ready to hit the road again.
Sometimes the best art comes from admitting you’ll never be Bob Dylan – then doing something he never could.