Christina Louise, with opener Caroline Vain, performs “Half-Smoked Cigarettes” during her release show at Révéler at 7 p.m. on Jan. 19. Earlier in the month, she will play a free show at Virago Spirits from 5 to 7 p.m. on Jan. 10. (Photo by Miranda Jean)
Singer-songwriter Christina von Claparède-Crola, a Richmond-based artist who performs under the name Christina Louise, is delving into her musical influences with her latest single, “Half-Smoked Cigarettes.” With inspirations ranging from Amy Winehouse and Norah Jones to The Black Keys and Fleetwood Mac, Louise has a hard time putting her music into one genre, but says it’s infused with “dark Americana, blues rock and soul.”
Her new single drops this month, less than two years after the release of her debut track, “Crash.” Louise will mark the occasion with a Jan. 19 release show at Révéler, headlining the venue for the first time. However, it’s not her first time taking the stage there; she performed as part of an artists’ showcase last summer. “That was already a huge deal for me,” she says. “Révéler is my favorite venue in Richmond. I absolutely love them. ... I’m ecstatic to be able to bring my own show to life there.”
The performance comes on the heels of a busy 2025 Richmond gig schedule for the up-and-comer. She celebrated her 30th birthday with a show at Hardywood Park Craft Brewery in March, which also marked her first outing backed by a full band. She was joined on stage by local musicians Billy Bacci, Chip Hale and Will Hicks. All three later helped bring “Half-Smoked Cigarettes” to life, with Hale and Hicks planning to play the release show. Hale produced and mixed the song, which was initially written in January 2025 and then recorded at his in-home studio during the summer and fall.
Inspired by an ashtray of half-smoked cigarettes on her balcony, Louise says she found a double meaning in the imagery. “It was about feeling used, discarded, mistreated, not valued. [Like] you haven’t even finished a whole cigarette, and you’re already over me,” she explains, adding with a laugh, “I recently realized that a lot of my songs are tinged with a little bit of anger — [songwriting] is definitely my coping mechanism.”
The single reflects the evolution of Louise’s sound, as she taps into what spurred her to make music in the first place. “It has that dark moodiness, but it has the soul, that bluesy tone and this folksy Americana vibe to it,” she says. “I think it’s one of the best songs I’ve ever written, and that’s why I’m so excited to get it out and continue to lean into this genre and style.”
A native of Floyd, Virginia, Louise has lived in Richmond since 2017, scoring her first gig at Urban Farmhouse in downtown RVA where she worked as a barista in early 2018. She wrote her first single, “Crash,” around the same time. It dropped in 2024, and as of December 2025, had nearly 3,500 streams on Spotify.
Since that first performance, her voice and guitar have been a frequent presence in the city’s music scene. “I feel like the first real group of people to welcome me into Richmond was the music community,” she says, adding that it has remained an inspiration. Virginia native and guitarist Justin Golden was one of her first friends in Richmond and convinced her to record “Crash.” With more originals in the chamber, Louise hopes to put out a longer form of recording in the future. “Going forward, big picture, I would love to release an EP,” she says. “I’m sitting on a lot of songs right now that I’m really proud of, that I would love to share with the world.”
