Browsing Tag

dark pop

Maya Yenn shows us inside the distressing mentality of our overly busy humanity with ‘Better Luck Next Time’

Posted on 23 June 2022

After her astonishing single from March 2022 called ‘How Much Sadness Can You Swallow?‘, Maya Yenn shows us inside that aircraft that is sinking but finds one flyer lost inside a vortex that can’t save him with, ‘Better Luck Next Time‘.

Maya Yenn is a classy UK-based alternative dark-pop/Electro-pop singer-songwriter and music producer who blends in sweet textures of gloriously beautiful RnB.

”Written from the perspective of a young man who has prioritised his career above everything else, so much so, he’s still trying to get a report out while his plane is going down.” ~ Maya Yenn

Guiding us calmly into the airwaves above with her innovative beats, Maya Yenn is rather fantastic on a single that shows us that scary mentality that should shudder into the core of us all. With a genuine story that many have felt before or experienced in a relationship, this is a striking song sung with passion, that should show us that no job is worth your life.

”Maya grew up in rural Staffordshire before moving to London, having previously supported artists such as Dan Croll and Stealing Sheep as a teenager. She moved back to her parents’ Staffordshire home at the beginning of the pandemic and has continued to write and produce music from her childhood home.” ~ Maya Yenn

‘Better Luck Next Time‘ from UK-based Alt-pop/Electro-pop singer-songwriter and music producer Maya Yenn is a clear picture that carefully examines humankind’s self-destructive behaviour that is ultimately worrying for us all. Pondering on why so many decide to give their priceless souls away for relative peanuts, this is a fine track that shall have us all thinking deeper than before.

With her classy vocals that send us a light of truth like a superhero, you will feel like reaching out to those close ones who have perhaps taken things a bit too far for their own health to handle.

Listen up to this fascinating single on Spotify and see more on her IG page.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

Shayla Hamady – LMWYC V2 featuring KnovaT27: horror trap pop has never been hotter

Posted on 25 March 2022

With a music video that could rival American Horror Story and the way that Shayla Hamady entwines horror with moody trap melody, her latest release, LMWYC V2, featuring KnovaT27, is a work of scintillating multi-media art.

The sultry timbre of her dark pop vocals brings a transfixing edge to the track that gets even sharper when KnovaT27 brings his cutting rap bars to break up the accordance that lingers after Shayla Hamady’s ultra-vivid lyricism, which plays with dark themes and romanticism. We didn’t need the Detroit born and raised artist’s bio to tell us that she’s inspired by Eilish. Yet, Hamady still came into her authentic own in LMWYC which stands as a testament to her commitment to expressive art.

The official music video for LMWYC is available to stream on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Berlin’s Raluca brought depth to dance-pop in her latest single, Could I

Posted on 24 March 2022

In the Berlin-based singer-songwriter Raluca’s latest single, Could I, nothing is black and white; melancholy melds with euphoria in the zeal of the orchestrally scored EDM pop progressions.

As the lyricism tackles the vulnerability that comes hand in hand with affection, the 80s and 90s-inspired beats veer through the unpredictable Avant-Garde hooks. It isn’t your average earworm, but with the depth of the lyricism paralleling the intensity of the experimentalism, Could I isn’t a dance hit that is easily forgotten.

Vocally, Raluca made no attempt to hide behind pop archetypes. Instead, she confidently ran with her own distinctively electrifying vocal lines that make Could I. Even at this early stage in her career, Raluca is proving to be one to watch.

Could I is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Marcel Schechter has released his decadently dark pop single, Circle.

Posted on 24 March 2022

Ahead of the release of his third album, Circle, the German artist and sound engineer, Marcel Schechter, has released the title single. it intriguingly sets the euphonically pensive tone and welcomes new listeners to Schecter’s bold arrangement style that effortlessly resonates as artfully distinctive without needing to veer into the Avant-Garde territory.

With hints of Echo and the Bunnymen and New Order in the melancholic cascading progressions, and the plaintively dynamic vocals atop the mash of dark, fluid aural alchemy, this moody yet intrinsically hopeful single doesn’t fail to hit the evocative spot.

The single also features the revered artists Ben Jud (bass), Jan-Philipp Wiesmann (drums), Thomas Langer (guitar) and Andreas Pohr (lead vocals).

The single, Circle, is now available to stream on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Excellent UK dark-pop Tizane urges us to break free from the worrying thoughts that can consume us on ‘in the dark’

Posted on 21 March 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RACEWWaAIOQ

Released from her indie label Burning Girl Records, Tizane is in inspired form with a sincere message that should encourage many to reach their dreams and get away from anything negative with her latest brilliant release, ‘in the dark‘.

Tizane is a 20-years-old South-East London, UK-based indie dark-pop solo singer-songwriter who performs with an honest style that has you in awe of her gorgeous melodies.

“Anyone who suffers from anxiety will tell you how crippling it can be. “In The Dark is about pushing through it all; doing instead of thinking.” ~ Tizane

Showing us why she is one of the most respected artists in London right now, Tizane is sensationally immaculate here with a single that will surely help so many to follow their goals and to block out those thoughts that serve no purpose but to lock you inside. Her calm aura is radiantly captivating and you feel like this is someone genuine and naturally caring, in a cold world that can harshly freeze you out for no reason.

”In this ‘grim’ little Fairy Story our Dark Queen has been captured by a giant woodland ogre. Like so many others before him, the unsuspecting monster is soon seduced by Tizane’s mesmerising music and in the fine tradition of Beauty and The Beast he becomes enthralled.” ~ Tizane

‘in the dark‘ from South-East London, UK-based indie dark-pop solo singer-songwriter Tizane. shows us into a place that so many people hide away from and throw away the key at times. It’s a world that is scary and can destroy all the light that is inside your bright soul, as our hearts are suddenly warmer from such a beautiful vocal performance and well-made animated video.

The world can be intimidating and the wastelands barren, if you let yourself into that alleyway that will snap you up forever. Listening to enlightening music like this and putting your heart into the sun again, will only make you smile as you deserve.

See this honest single come to life on YouTube and see more via the IG.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

R†o has released his morbidly addictive dark art-pop single, The Wolf & The Deer

Posted on 15 March 2022
https://open.spotify.com/track/5A0XcNqZpxumjkVzg85l2p?si=47408d18be5e45e9

After a dark chamber pop-style piano prelude, R†o’s life-affirmingly cathartic single, The Wolf & The Deer, starts to unravel as a beguiling electronic-folk-meets-art-pop reminder of every living thing’s mortality. If that comes across as morbid, it says more about your perception of life than it does about this exploratively provoking release.

The single was loosely mused by the death of the London-based alternative artist’s great-grandfather. It serves as a meta ode to his family, by using the wolf as a parable for death and the deer as a metaphor for life. Dark and edgy doesn’t often come hand in hand with spirituality. Naturally, we’re obsessed with R†o and his stunningly layered harmonies and his ability to bring beauty to the macabre. We can’t wait to hear what follows.

The Wolf & The Deer was officially released on March 11th. It is now available to stream on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Scarlett Angel brought in the future of pop with her dark and stormy track, C u L8r, featuring Zēo

Posted on 3 March 2022
Scarlett Angel

The Melbourne-based singer-songwriter rapper, Scarlett Angel, has everything it takes to define the future of pop – if her latest single, C u L8r, featuring Zēo, is anything to go by.

With her sweet future-pop-meets-bubble-gum-pop vocals spilling into the dark and moody instrumentals, which start with shoegazey dream pop vibes before transgressing into a stormy pop trap track, the choruses in C u L8r will stick to your synapses like superglue. Whether you want them to or not.

Lyrically, C u L8r is just as emboldening as Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off, Avril Lavigne’s Complicated, and You Oughta Know by Alanis Morissette. But make no mistake, Scarlett Angel is creating her own empowering pop signature sound.

Check out Scarlett Angel via SoundCloud and Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

VITA has dropped one of the most ensnaringly Avant-Garde debuts of the year with BADBADBAD.

Posted on 28 February 2022

With her debut single, BADBADBAD., the icon in the making VITA is pushing alternative attitude and avant-garde textures into the mainstream, which is all a part of her mission to break society’s boundaries, and encourage her listeners to do the same.

If you could imagine the fierce feminine ferocity of Peaches paired with the earworm appeal of Rihanna and the extreme multidimensional artistry of SKYND, you will be able to get an idea of what the Sydney-hailing artist delivered in her arrestingly promising debut.

If the sonic gravitas isn’t enough to leave you enraptured, her determination to carry the power of her ancestry in her rebellious modern sound will be more than efficacious. Vita was named after her great aunt who died in the Holocaust; once you register the sheer juggernaut power in BADBADBAD. with that in mind, it is enough to leave you with goosebumps.

BADBADBAD. is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Demure dream-pop royalty, speakeazie has released her debut album, Prohibition Hippie

Posted on 25 February 2022

The Minneapolis-based alt dream-pop artist that is never short of mesmeric material, speakeazie, has released her highly anticipated debut album, Prohibition Hippie, featuring the standout single, Disintegrate, which spins an engrossing narrative tale of a young girl losing control. Anyone that has ever felt their mask of sanity slip will undoubtedly want to delve into this compassionately orchestrated single.

Disintegrate shares a tonal palette with Echo and the Bunnymen’s earlier material. But with the instrumentals distorted via the wobbly tape delay effect, the bedroom pop single takes an authentically demure form.

speakeazie’s vocals parallel the evocative power of Florence Welch while keeping in line with the contemporary moody indie-pop vocal trend. By that we mean they are alchemic leagues ahead. Also written into Disintegrate’s mix is speakeazie’s influence of dreamy retro aesthetics and the 1920s. It is inarguably one of the most distinctive releases that we have heard so far this year.

speakeazie’s debut album is now available to stream on Spotify. Or you can check out the video on YouTube. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Lily Slate – The Devil Made Me Do It; prepare your hedonistic pop playlists

Posted on 25 February 2022

‘The Devil Made Me Do It’ is the sinfully sweet dark electro-pop anthem from the born audiophile and luminary artist Lily Slate. The ultimate hedonists’ anthem unravels to ensnaring synths, polyrhythmic guitars, filthy electric guitar licks and swathes of deep sub-bass. While Slate’s sultry vocal magnetism draws you into the track that reminds you how good it feels to surrender to inhibition.

The Californian artist draws inspiration from the obscure and iconic. Bowie, Eno, and Mercury all became a massive part of the artist’s sphere of influence. Yet, when it comes to his sound, the composer, multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter notably followed his own lasciviously iniquitous edge.

The Devil Made Me Do It features on Slate’s debut album, ii, which is due for release on 22/02/2022.

The Devil Made Me Do It is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast