JADED

Alessa Bennardo harmonizes college life with a career in music 

by Phoebe Miller

Photo by Jack O'Sullivan

The 6-year-old girl tapped her iPad, fiddling with the GarageBand app to record lyrics she wrote and, with the help of her dad, looping them into short songs. Soon after, at her elementary school’s spring concert, she would sing one of the first pieces she ever wrote and composed, about ‘springtime.’

Now a junior at BU, Alessa Bennardo is an advertising major with a minor in business, but is more well-known for her career as a songwriter. Bennardo, under the stage name ‘Lessa,’ has released seven songs on various music platforms since 2023, with her debut album released on April 4.

“It just kind of comes naturally,” Bennardo said. “I feel like when I'm writing, I get, like, possessed, and it kind of just happens.”

Bennardo’s most recent single, ‘Jaded,’ was released on Feb. 28, 2025, and highlighted a crossroads within relationships and love.

“It's like the conflict between your head and your heart,” Bennardo said, “where like your heart is scared to feel something, but your brain is going crazy. Like that internal conflict.”

As a self-described pop-rock musician, Bennardo said she turns to her emotions and inner musings as inspiration for her songs.

“I think it kind of culminates,” she said of her new album, “a story of, I guess, my experiences with people and love and life so far.”

The album, which contains seven pieces, constitutes a blend of songs from different points throughout her songwriting career.

“Some of the songs I literally started producing, like, end of freshman year of college, I think,” she said, “and we just kind of would go back to them, or I’d rewrite it and we’d fix it.”

Her deep devotion to music, she said, has only grown stronger with time.

“As I get older, I've just been focusing on the things that I’m passionate about, and really make me feel alive …,” she said. “You have to kind of be all-in if you want to do something. And, I mean, people can just do it more casually, but I feel like, being honest, I've definitely passed the casuals.”

In addition to songwriting and music production, Bennardo is president of the Music Business Club at BU, where like-minded students gather to learn the ins and outs of the music industry.

“We pick artists that we feature every semester and kind of help them grow their platform and their music,” Bennardo said. “And it’s just a way for people to network, people have formed so many bands in the club.”

With plans to graduate a year early, Bennardo hopes to move to New York City post-grad to continue to pursue a career in music, whether that be as a songwriter, or working for a label.

“I’m definitely planning on pursuing music … So I think I’m kind of doing like, both things in tandem,” she said, “because I just love the music industry, and I love music, and I just want to be involved in every way possible.” 

To listen to some of her music, … plug?