Browsing Tag

Jazz Pop

‘Through with You’ by JAZ4ERA Is Retro Jazz-Pop with Heartbreak Given Cinematic Space

Posted on 4 July 2026

Forlorn frustration fuses itself to the demure grace of JAZ4ERA’s jazz-tinged retro ballad, Through with You; the ultimate single for those who find themselves with love to hold for someone who it hurts to have close. The minimalist instrumentals, led by sparse trickling keys, give the heartbroken reverie in JAZ4ERA’s voice a seemingly infinite amount of space to breathe.

As the single progresses, stripped-back guitars and gentle percussion allow the melody to blossom into a rich haze of affection and alienation. Her vocal presence is where the release truly glows; classically trained from the age of eight before continually gravitating back towards jazz, JAZ4ERA sings with a rare command of softness, letting her phrasing carry emotional weight without forcing the feeling into melodrama.

It is a score that would sound right at home in one of the greatest feats of silver screen cinema, yet there is nothing archaic about the way JAZ4ERA gives the dreamy, etherealism, which is currently riddled into pop trends, a timeless touch.

The track feels like the natural first signal from an artist sharpening her jazz musicianship before beginning at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in September. With her TikTok audience growing and her serious music-making only just beginning, Through with You already suggests an artist with the poise to make heartbreak feel elegantly devastating.

Through with You is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Alice Black brought soul to the forefront in her tender jazz pop cut, ‘This Love is Here to Stay’

Posted on 6 December 2025

When Alice Black released This Love is Here to Stay, a new jazz pop supreme arrived on the scene. Glowing with nostalgic warmth, the release carries the cathartic melodiousness of easy listening, but there’s enough swank in the arrangement to ensure that you remain locked into the voracious sepia-toned vignette, which showcases Alice Black as one of the great contemporary chanteuses. In the vein of her influences, she always puts soul at the epicentre of her sound; there’s no pretence, just an artist who knows exactly how to connect with an audience looking to revel in resolving embers of the heart.

With each of her releases, Alice Black settles into her phrasing with an elegance earned through decades of performing the Great American Songbook across the UK jazz and big band scenes. From singing alongside the likes of Matthew Ford and Jez Unwin in the Nick Ross Orchestra, to guesting with the John Miller Big Band and Len Phillips Swing Orchestra, her voice has carried across polished stages and smoky lounges alike. Now, she’s bringing that same depth to her own catalogue, backed by her roots in piano, saxophone, and songwriting.

This Love is Here to Stay doesn’t try to reinvent anything—it simply reminds you how good it feels when a voice with soul knows exactly what it wants to say.

This Love is Here to Stay is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergas

Renon turned pop into a dark art with her trip-hop tinged triumph, ‘Priotities’

Posted on 1 November 2025

That intrinsically affecting mesmerism that locks you into the aura of Massive Attack and Portishead has been reincarnated within Renon’s seminal LP, ‘(WAY) TOO FAR’. The closing single, Priorities, alchemises pop into a dark art. With Trip-hop-heavy verses and sticky-sweet choruses, where the playful ingenuity of Renon shines through to a blinding degree, and a descent into glitched-out industrial-tinged alt-electronica to serve as the outro, there are few tracks that will give you more uninhibited talent to devour.

Anyone who grew up devouring the pop charts in the 00s will recognise a few Y2K elements thrown into the mix around her ethereally magnetic pop harmonies, but Renon dressed them up almost beyond recognition; they’re donning the guise of her soul as she explores all the ways we sacrifice ourselves by stretching too thin, often for the benefit of others. As a promise to herself, Priorities resounds with resonance.

As a trained jazz musician turned popstar, the Montreal-based artist has cultivated a sound soaked in gothic flair, camp theatrics, and synth-heavy arrangements stitched together with jazzy inflections and razor-sharp vocal control. After stealing attention on stages across London, Toronto, and Montreal, including two acclaimed Osheaga sets, she’s fully owning her rise with her concept LP that spirals from party-girl euphoria into bleak confession. Across her growing discography, there’s no mask, only mythmaking.

Priorities is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Jazz-pop sax lines meet soul-stirring serenity in DANIELA’s The Sun is Shining

Posted on 20 October 2025

DANIELA is a ray of resolving RnB revelation in her latest single, The Sun is Shining. Following the cinematic prelude capturing the momentum of city life, she invites listeners into the luxe ambience of her soulful presence. With jazz pop textures blossoming in crescendos around her sweeter-than-any-sugar-rush vocals, the release finds a myriad of ways to evoke emotion. From the sheer catharsis that breathes through her feather-light vocal delivery, to the sublimity of the filmic strings, to the voracious energy of the sax lines, The Sun is Shining is a reminder that there’s always the choice of turning away from the chaos and tuning into something a little more on their frequency.

The Italian-born, London-based singer-songwriter draws on neo-soul, jazz, pop and classic Italian songwriting to create her signature nostalgia-rich contemporary sound. After years of making waves on the UK live circuit, from Trisha’s in Soho to jazz festivals in Brighton and the Emirates, her work has been praised across the board, from Jazz FM to EARMILK to ElectroSwingThing. Her storytelling is always steeped in personal truths, which is why her discography cuts so close to the bone, whether she’s singing of romantic disillusionment or hard-won empowerment. The Sun is Shining is a soft-spoken yet sonically bold affirmation that her career trajectory is only heading one way.

The Sun is Shining is now available on all major streaming platforms via this link. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Stephen Mugford Created a Jazz-Tinged Feat of Aural Cinema with Easy to Love (Live)

Posted on 6 October 2025

Starting as a diaphanously warm acoustic pop score, with nothing but guitar strings and a voice that could have saved the Titanic because everything in its presence melts, the latest release, the live recording of Easy to Love by Stephen Mugford, chameleonically shifts into a jazz-tinged feat of aural cinema. It moves far beyond the usual capacity of synaesthesia, filling listeners with the adoration that first sparked the creation of this lounge-lit, soul-swathed revelation. The track leaves no uncertainty that within reality, there’s no truer pleasure or meaning than love; it’s enough to cut through the hollow churn of dopamine chasing and push us towards a sweeter, more conscious way of living.

The live version carries a rare kind of intimacy that only simplicity can allow. Without studio gloss, Mugford’s performance feels raw yet refined, heartfelt yet never overstated. His voice drifts over the fingerpicked chords with an ease that speaks to experience and sincerity; it’s an unguarded capture of an artist steeped in honesty. Guided by the melodic storytelling of Paul McCartney, the warmth of Willie Nelson, and the breezy optimism of Jason Mraz, Mugford reaffirms that tenderness doesn’t need theatrics to hit hard.

A rising singer-songwriter with a poet’s sense of timing and tone, Mugford first introduced Easy to Love on his jazz-centred debut album Palooza Beach in 2024. The live rendition strips everything back to the marrow, exposing where the song first took root — in real affection and vulnerability.

Easy to Love is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Annabel Hailey Rode the Swell of Nordic Pop Poetics in Another Wave to Ride

Posted on 29 September 2025

The chanteuse of soul-steeped, classically cultivated pop, Annabel Hailey, became a conduit of unflinching resilience in her latest single, Another Wave to Ride. The bluesy guitar licks run like tributaries through the piano-led, nostalgia-soaked arrangement, each note kindling a fire that lingers long after the last chord fades. Hailey has little interest in chasing transient trends; her craft is rooted in timeless formulas that have kept us afloat for generations, and in her hands, those traditions take on new light, turning a reflective ballad into one that pulls you in from the first breath.

Born in Finland and now based in Amsterdam, Hailey has long been a figure of creative discipline, first training as a dancer and musician before spending time in the finance world. Since returning to her artistic roots, she has immersed herself in storytelling-led Nordic pop, drawing from jazz and folk textures to create soundscapes that hold memory and emotion in perfect tension.

Her latest single, which she wrote, produced, and recorded with guitarist Ziv Shalev, pianist and bassist Isamu McGregor, drummer Oskar Häggdahl, and background vocalist Riitta Keränen, is the mark of an artist who’s in full control of her narrative.

Another Wave to Ride is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Frances Madden Gave Nostalgia New Wings with Soul-Soaked Indie Pop in ‘Next Flight Home’

Posted on 25 September 2025

Next Flight Home is metaphorically enough to set your soul in motion towards the object of your emotional gravity. Nestled within the radio-ready indie-pop production is the seraphic bliss of 60s and 70s nostalgia; a kaleidoscope of languid haze spills through every progression, carrying the soft charm of a coffee house soundtrack, nuanced drippings of funk, and the spirit of a country gospel sermon. Hovering above the genre-fluid tableau of aural emotion are Frances Madden’s dusky harmonies that make you forget you’re listening to a contemporary track instead of an LP crackling on a vintage turntable. Sublime doesn’t even come close to cutting it when describing Madden’s imprint on the airwaves.

Sydney-based Frances Madden has made a name for herself by fusing jazz, soul, and pop into lush sonic daydreams. Her music has earned acclaim across Australian radio, and her previous releases have racked up impressive streaming numbers while drawing comparisons to the golden era of jazz-influenced pop.

Backed by a world-class band and a penchant for smoky, narrative-driven lyricism, she’s one of the few modern artists who can make nostalgia feel brand new without losing her pulse on the present moment. Next Flight Home is a testament to that ability, stitching together sepia-tinged romance with playful retro textures to create a track that feels timeless but refreshingly unpretentious.

Next Flight Home is now available on all major streaming platforms via this link. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Shani Weiss swayed vulnerability into vintage jazz-pop triumph with Feel Alright

Posted on 20 August 2025

Swanky, vivacious, and luminous with vocal charisma, Shani Weiss has delivered a single that could quite easily sway the world into world peace if her proclamation were given a stage large enough. Feel Alright shimmers with upbeat piano progressions, care-free ecstasy, and a vocal timbre that carries both ease and conviction. The track is an articulation of resilience set to vintage jazz-tinted pop, reminding listeners that even when life feels tangled, connection has the power to restore equilibrium.

Written during a turbulent period of loneliness and uncertainty, Feel Alright was born out of chaos but radiates gratitude. Weiss’ ability to translate vulnerability into a celebration of being seen ensures the single resonates beyond surface level. It’s a thank you to the people who arrive when you’re at your lowest, the ones who remind you of your worth when the world feels out of tune. The musicality mirrors that phoenix-esque emotional renewal, allowing the sentiment to expand beyond the personal into the universal.

Melbourne-based Weiss is already a celebrated voice in Australia’s indie scene. With previous singles All About Life and What’s Left earning international airplay, sold-out shows, and multiple awards, her ascent has been steady and striking. Alongside her recording career, she continues to champion local talent through her radio show, Indie Spotlight Melbourne. With her debut EP due later this year, Weiss has set herself up to carry her expressive light to bigger stages, allowing wider audience to swim in the serotonin that ebbs and flows in sonic sync with her harmonies.

Feel Alright is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

David Keenan Poured Smooth Soulful Swagger into His Aphrodisiac of a Jazzy Neo-Pop Single, ‘Amelioration’

Posted on 27 June 2025

With a generous pour of soul-swathed Irish charm, David Keenan unveiled a pop serenade smoother than velvet with his latest single, Amelioration. Keenan’s vocals glide with smoky sensuality layered in jazz-tinted swagger that breathes effortless class into the neo-pop vibes. It’s a honeyed sonic spell, dripping debonair energy like candle wax, cascading every note into a lush, vivid landscape where passion beds down.

The Irish crooner doesn’t merely flirt with jazzy stylings; he owns them outright. Each lyrical line rolls off his tongue like the vocal style was made for him, delivering poetic introspection laced with the wry wisdom of someone who’s lived more lives than one. This tune isn’t here for shallow thrills; it’s got depth, drenched in the kind of authenticity you can’t fake—euphoria threaded with candid reflections on relationships, substances, and morning-after clarity.

With upcoming headline shows at London’s Bush Hall and Dublin’s Ambassador Theatre this July, Keenan is clearly ready to make this his era, serenading us into submission one jazz-laden phrase at a time.

Amelioration is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify.
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Review by Amelia Vandergast

Kenneth Schafer and Nicki Gonzalez Accelerate into Psychedelic Pop Euphoria with Road Racer

Posted on 22 February 2025

Classical constraints don’t bind Kenneth Schafer—he shatters them with Road Racer, a track that launches pop into symphonic hyper speed. Featuring the electrifying vocals of Nicki Gonzalez, it’s a kaleidoscopic detour from material mundanity, a high-octane waltz through exhilarating time signatures and textures that never settle into predictability.

Picture the highway dissolving into a neon-lit utopia as you push the pedal to the floor—Schafer orchestrates that exact sensation with every note. Despite being leagues apart from his formal classical training, there’s no mistaking the deft hand of a cultivated sonic architect.

Currently based in Baton Rouge and pursuing his Master’s at LSU after studying at Oberlin Conservatory under Elizabeth Ogonek, Jesse Jones, and Michael Frazier, Schafer has spent years absorbing everything from Impressionist and Baroque composition to Latin, jazz, and African rhythms. That broad spectrum of influence crackles through Road Racer, a song that turns pop into something wildly unpredictable without losing an ounce of accessibility.

With a solo marimba sonata in the works and Road Racer leading his foray into pop, Schafer proves his ability to navigate both the concert hall and the dancefloor. And if Road Racer is any indication of where he’s steering next, it’s going to be a ride worth taking.

Stream Road Racer on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast