Browsing Tag

London Pop

Alex de León counts the ‘Minutes & Hours’ in her compellingly tender piano pop narrative of lost time

Posted on 10 November 2022

London-based Mexican singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer, Alex de León has released her captivatingly tender single, Minutes & Hours. The instrumentally minimalist single captures the ephemeral nature of time, where the sands that are always pouring can leave the best of us behind.

Anyone with a proclivity towards burnout will resonate with the lyric, “I wish I could stop and smell the flowers, but all I see are minutes and hours”. It pulls you into the depth of this intimately vulnerable single which blossoms to the tune of the gentle neo-classic piano keys and her soft Tori Amos-Esque vocal harmonies.

Alex de León’s single Minutes & Hours was officially released ahead of her upcoming debut EP of the same title. Stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Maella brings the house down in her sultry alt-pop earworm, Tudu Tudu Tu

Posted on 10 October 2022

Prague-born, London-based Alt-Pop artist and producer, Maella brought a smorgasbord of Eastern European flavour to her latest single, Tudu Tudu Tu, which merges juxtaposing nostalgic sonic textures to allow a new wave of retro to crash across the 90s dance percussion and seductive bass.

It is as cinematic as any Tarantino cult hit, and a poignant exposition on a chapter of her life that closed the book on difficult breakups, unfulfilling romances, and the claustrophobia of lockdowns. If Shiny Toy Guns wrote Seven Nation Army, the earworm wouldn’t be a million miles away from the electrically serpentine rhythms that will leave you dying to come back for more. Empowerment never sounded sweeter.

Tudu Tudu Tu, which is part of the Slow Burn EP, is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Sharnelle McLean has released her artfully emboldening soul-pop single, Little Girl

Posted on 17 April 2022

One of the most artistic soulstresses of her generation, Sharnelle McLean, is back on uplifting form in her consolingly resounding latest single, Little Girl. Instead of just leaning into one genre, the inexplicably talented London-based singer-songwriter, composer and producer melded RnB, poetry, gospel, pop, hip hop and orchestral sounds under the influence of Hans Zimmer’s style to achieve her achingly stunning sonic palette.

The lyrical quality of the single easily rests on a par with the aural alchemy that spills around McLean’s organically vibrant vocal timbre. Whether you’re 13 or 59, Little Girl should be on everyone’s playlists for the way that it reminds you to speak to your inner child and make sure that she’s getting all of the mental sanctity she deserves.

Little Girl is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Future bass goes pop in Andrea’s latest single, All I Want

Posted on 17 March 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlC34Gd1QIk

The London-based singer-songwriter and producer, Andrea, has staked her biggest claim in the UK pop industry to date with the release of her funk-dipped bass-swathed hit, All I Want, which was co-produced by the Grammy-award-winning Andre Lindal.

Even without the club remix, All I Want is a guaranteed floor-filler. You can practically feel the hedonism building around the drops and crescendos, which make Andrea’s latest single addictive from the first hit.

As if Andrea’s effortlessly arrestive vocals and synth-carved hooks weren’t enough, even more admiration can be found within the 20-year-old artist’s MO as a 100% independent artist. She’s currently studying production in London, which leaves her completely autonomous in the male-dominated industry that takes up 96% of the room. She’s following in the footsteps of the icons that paved the way and making room for even more aspiring artists. Just as Courtney Love compelled girls to pick up a guitar in the 90s, Andrea is making a just as revolutionary act in the world of pop production.

You can meet your new perennial pop earworm by heading over to YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

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

West London singer-songwriter and producer Kai Justine released the ultimate break-up playlist staple with Don’t Worry.

Posted on 12 March 2022

In her latest single, Don’t Worry, the West London singer, songwriter and producer Kai Justine proved that she has got exactly what it takes to be the next alt-pop icon.

The moody yet energetic beats may not be a sonic signature that you’re familiar with. Yet, with the RnB pop vocals super-charging the self-produced mix with emboldening soul, it is all too easy to get in the dancey groove with Don’t Worry. The chorus of “don’t worry about me, I ain’t thinking about you” bites into the liberation that sparks when a toxic dynamic finally becomes obsolete.

Destiny’s Child, Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey are three muses that inspired Kai to tap into her talent; even though that influence rings through in Don’t Worry, it doesn’t override Kai’s autonomy. She is definitely one to watch.

Don’t Worry was officially released on February 25th. It is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Zofia Alaya dropped the temperature in her latest alt-indie single, COLD

Posted on 4 March 2022

London’s ethereal alt-indie-rock songstress, Zofia Alaya, is set to drop the temperature with her latest single, COLD, which paints with chillier tonal textures to reflect the cold nature of the human experience.

It is one of the hardest life lessons to realise how cold, calculated, self-involved and downright narcissistic a significant proportion of humanity truly is. For anyone that is already schooled in that regard, COLD is a stunning reminder that, even if that behaviour is prolific, it’s still fundamentally wrong.

The deeply compassionate single has all the experimentalism of The Mars Volta paired with Zofia Alaya’s vulnerably moody vocal timbre. It is nothing short of arrestive – especially in the presence of the poppy hooks that make an addictive earworm out of COLD.

COLD will officially release across all major platforms from March 4th, 2022.

Check out Zofia Alaya via Facebook, Instagram and SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Melancholic Pop Meets Nordic Soul in Maren Davidsen’s Sophomore Single, Back to You

Posted on 1 March 2022

After garnering over 50k streams on Spotify with her 2021 debut single, Damage Done, the London-based Norwegian singer-songwriter, Maren Davidsen, has returned to the airwaves with her equally as phenomenal indie-pop sophomore single, Back to You.

Any fans of Big Thief, Daughter, and London Grammar will quickly come to be consumed by the toxic tale of love that is narrated through the melancholic-pop-meets-Nordic-soul arrangement and Davidsen’s vocal vulnerability.

The hypnotically harrowing yet hooky all the same single lays bare on the subject of heartbreak following an equally as soul-crushing relationship. For anyone that is still carrying buried relationship trauma, Back to You will hit bruisingly hard.

If you’re as hooked as we are, you’ll want the singer-songwriter and guitarist on your radar for the release of her debut 5-track EP, which will hit the airwaves this summer.

Back to You is now available to stream on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Abi Mia shares her infectious optimism in her latest single, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop.

Posted on 22 December 2021

The London-based breakthrough alt-pop artist Abi Mia ended 2021 with the ultimate up-vibe bop, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop. With the funk in the melodies and the fire in her vocals, the resilience in the 90s influenced triumph of a track is infectious from the first hit. And if we’re all being honest with ourselves, that’s exactly what we need right now.

In the verses and pre-choruses, she extends compassion and understanding to anyone feeling the apathy before proving how sweet it is to throw pessimism by the wayside and embrace a brighter perspective in the choruses. If you’re looking for a definitive definition of a perennial pop earworm, just hit play.

Can’t Stop Won’t Stop is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Dance-pop goes dark in FHUR’s single, We Just Wanna Have Fun.

Posted on 12 November 2021

London-based artist FHUR’s dark electro-pop hit, We Just Wanna Have Fun, is melancholic enough to serve as the antithesis to the fairly cringe-inducing Girls Just Want to Have Fun. Anyone whose mentality manual setting isn’t banal joy will appreciate the way that the darkwave synth-pop hit makes satisfaction seem like a celestial force in our apathy-imparting world.

Since her debut, FHUR has become an unignorable name in London’s alt-electronica scene, and it is unlikely that her notoriety will end there. Her sultry vocals have haunted venues such as Hoxton Underbelly and Amersham Arms. For any fans of this single, there’s plenty more in the pipeline as FHUR’s debut EP is due for release in early 2022.

We Just Wanna Have Fun is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast