Rock and roll has always been about rebellion, but SAVARRE‘s 2020 single “Awake” rebels against something deeper than just your parents’ music collection. Shannon Denise Evans, the creative force behind the SAVARRE™ name, has delivered a track that’s equal parts spiritual awakening and sonic assault—and frankly, it’s about damn time.
Clocking in at just over three minutes, “Awake” doesn’t waste a single second. The production is crisp without being sterile, polished without losing that essential edge that separates real rock from corporate rock. You can tell this wasn’t some rushed studio job—every guitar lick, every vocal layer has been placed with surgical precision. The mix lets Shannon’s voice soar over the instrumentation without drowning out the killer rhythm section that drives this beast forward.
And what a voice it is. Shannon Evans can wail, no question about it. But more importantly, she knows when not to. The restraint she shows in the verses makes the explosive chorus hit like a freight train. When she asks “Do you believe in a better place?” you actually stop to think about it instead of just nodding along. That’s the mark of a real songwriter right there.
Speaking of songwriting, “Awake” reads like poetry set to power chords. Evans isn’t just throwing around rock clichés—she’s wrestling with heavy concepts about consciousness, conformity, and what it means to really live instead of just exist. Lines like “You’re a dead man walking into the fire” could sound pretentious in the wrong hands, but Shannon delivers them with such conviction that you buy every word. The recurring theme of being “burned awake” becomes less metaphor and more manifesto by the song’s end.
The section—where Shannon repeatedly hammers home “Tell me are you awake?“—transforms from question to challenge to battle cry. It’s the kind of moment that separates good songs from great ones. SAVARRE is building something real. Their track “Scars” has racked up over 35,000 streams on Spotify alone, proving there’s an audience hungry for music with actual substance.
Most bands would take these themes and water them down for mass consumption. Not SAVARRE. Evans presents awakening as something painful, necessary, and ongoing. She’s not selling you a product—she’s offering a mirror, and what you see might not be pretty.
Production-wise, this sounds like a major label release without the major label compromises. Every element sits perfectly in the mix, from the subtle keyboard textures to the way the vocals cut through the densest sections. It’s professional work that enhances rather than sanitizes the raw emotion at the song’s core.
Shannon Evans splits her time between LA and New York, putting her at the center of two of America’s most important music scenes. “Awake” sounds like it could have emerged from either coast—it’s got that West Coast polish with East Coast attitude. More importantly, it sounds timeless in a way that most contemporary rock doesn’t manage.
If you’re tired of rock music that says nothing while saying it loudly, SAVARRE offers something different. “Awake” is rock music for people who still believe rock music can change minds, not just move bodies. Check them out on Instagram @savarreofficial or Facebook @SavarreOfficial. Better yet, hit up savarre.com and dive deep into what this artist is really about.