Petra Jarrar – spiral

Petra Jarrar does not just write about anxiety—she lets the listener experience it as it unfolds.

Her debut single, “spiral,” maps the anatomy of a thought as it slips from harmless to catastrophic.

Co-written and produced by All Made Up (Allee Futterer), whose credits include Findlay and has toured with Weyes Blood and Chappell Roan, the track echoes that descent in sound. It opens with fragile restraint before gradually unraveling into something immersive and disorienting, guided by shifting melodies rather than a conventional structure.

“spiral” explores themes of guilt, memory, and control. What begins as introspection tightens into self-blame, with fragmented questions reflecting a mind caught in an inescapable loop.

The song came to Petra during a late-night taxi ride from Connecticut to New York, following a destabilizing moment within her family. As familiar landscapes passed in the dark, memories began to shift and her sense of self-trust began to erode. This experience marked a turning point, leading her to step away from music to process intergenerational trauma and the grief of losing her father; a loss made more complex by her time as his caretaker. During this period, she entered a phase of deep self-confrontation that ultimately laid the foundation for her new artistic direction.

“spiral” serves as the first glimpse into Petra’s larger concept project, which explores grief not as a single moment, but as a prolonged and often unsettling process of growth.

Each song reflects shared emotional experiences, while the visuals open a window into this world. Drawing from her love of Victorian Gothic aesthetics, Petra references an era defined by ritualized expressions of grief and mourning. She incorporates these elements into her work, including tintype photography for her single artwork (photographed by Sophie Chalk), a historic wet plate process used to capture portraits of the departed, evoking permanence and memory.

The visualizer was filmed in a preserved Brooklyn warehouse, echoing the project’s Victorian influences. Within the first few seconds, Petra emerges from a bathtub as if resurfacing from the depths of her own mind. She is met by “the hands,” a persistent presence representing emotional forces that seek to control her, pulling her back into the cycle she is trying to escape.

“spiral” offers a powerful entry point into Petra’s emotionally complex artistic world, exploring both descent and awakening as the beginning of a deeper, more expansive creative journey.

Shaped in part by her childhood as a touring classical pianist, Petra Jarrar emerged early on the music scene as a commanding live performer, playing venues including Webster Hall, Mohawk Austin, and Hotel Café, with appearances at SXSW and performances across the UK and Japan.

#petrazjarrar