Browsing Tag

Piano Pop

Childhood Tramua Charged the Debut Single, ‘I won’t talk back’ by the Alt-Pop Icon in the Making, riyuli

Posted on 31 March 2026

Riyuli lit a fire under art pop with her debut single, I won’t talk back. The piano-led prelude teases a classical piano pop ballad, but riyuli uses her chameleonic talents to shift pace seamlessly, bringing crunched guitar chords into the haunting candour of the release.

On the surface, it may register as heartbroken scorn in the wake of a breakup, but I won’t talk back tears into a far more visceral wound, the attempt to find your feet independently after growing up under the tyranny of controlling parents, following the degradation of relentless character assassinations that cut so close to the bone they become part of us. Musing on how it may have been better if she had never been born is a brutal lyrical line, and one that will hit hard for anyone who has ever felt like a burden inside the familial bond. The synthesis of classical pop, electronica, rock, and the vulnerability on show makes I won’t talk back a release that will either break or heal your heart.

Toronto-based riyuli, a self-taught singer with a background in classical piano and performance, already has early radio support behind her, but this track speaks loudest on its own terms, raw, bruised, and dead certain of what it needs to say.

I won’t talk back is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Trees Grow Both Ways: TINY MESS stitched philosophy into the seams of art-pop minimalism

Posted on 24 October 2025
TINY MESS

Classical training isn’t a prerequisite for crafting striking art-pop ballads, but TINY MESS proves that an opulent touch in melodic composition can bruise with beauty when each tone lands with such intimacy and intention. Her latest single, Trees Grow Both Ways, is a visceral reminder of what happens when vulnerability meets control. From the first piano note, there’s a smoky lounge quality to the atmosphere, yet the air never lingers long without movement. As the keys bleed into the softly deconstructed electronic layers and indie instrumentation, her harmonised vocal lines thread philosophies that are as delicate as they are perspective-shifting.

Given that the title alone reads like a line from a spoken word confessional, there’s no surprise in how much poetic weight the rest of the track carries. The song aches with the need to interrogate certainty, pulling at inner myths with gently inquisitive candour as a slow swell of self-inquiry.

Trees Grow Both Ways is the third glimpse of what to expect from her upcoming EP, “Silent Battles”, which promises to build on the rich stylistic evolution she began across her earlier releases. Born of French and Canadian roots, TINY MESS carries her classical origins from piano and flute into experimental indie-pop that dips into jazz, folk, and soul without losing its cohesiveness. Her emotional clarity and genre-fluid arrangements allow a rare strength to unfold in softness.

Trees Grow Both Ways is now available on all major streaming platforms. Find your preferred way to listen via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

‘Golden Days’ Revealed How Teona Zak’s Voice Turns Reflection into Contemporary Power Ballad Ecstasy

Posted on 21 August 2025

After the crescendo-arched gravitas in Teona Zak’s complete reinvention of the piano pop power ballad in Golden Days, the industry should be pacing in anticipation of how she will pour that same unflinching raw talent into her forthcoming single, Alive, before unveiling her debut EP, To Be Loved.

With a standing ovation-worthy vocal performance and a production style that marries contemporary stylings with classical pop timbres, Golden Days roots you in the heart and soul of the single, which alludes to how important it is to hold onto the moments and connections that matter, dig your nails in,  and savour every sensation that filters through the golden hue that surrounds the memories that will haunt you with sun-bleached warmth for years to come.

Each progression in Golden Days unveils a different facet of the visceral, from rose-tinted reflection that gnaws at your chest to the instrumental cascade in the middle eight, which makes you feel the transformative might of memory itself. Teona’s harmonies summon past, present, and future in one breath, as though melody alone can bend time. There’s nothing manufactured about the presence she commands; it is born of sheer instinct and talent, the sort that renders industry politics irrelevant when confronted with such authenticity.

Alive, arriving on September 9, promises to bring a new dimension to her repertoire by translating intimacy into song, priming audiences for the full immersion of To Be Loved. For now, Golden Days holds the air with its ache that is equal parts bittersweet and transcendent.

If she isn’t holding a Grammy 10 years from now, we might as well put the final nail in the sonic coffin and resign to the fact that nepotism reigns with the industry plants who could never command a presence so phenomenal.

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

Ami Leigh Bares Teeth and Wings in the Swankily Baroque Alt-Pop Redemption of ‘Downfall’

Posted on 26 July 2025

In her latest single, Ami Leigh proved once more that artistic evolution is her signature with Downfall, a swankily baroque piano pop anthem of redemption. The chamber strings and the hints of honkytonk reverberating through the instrumentation provide the perfect stage for her vocals, which carry infinite ethereal weight as she indirectly consoles anyone who has battled their way through narcissistic abuse and reclaimed their own mind.

Downfall unravels as the ultimate salve for anyone who has harnessed the shame that often lies in the wake of manipulation. In the span of four minutes, Ami Leigh absolves the agony and grief, using her own experience with narcissistic abuse to empower her fanbase. It’s a stunning celestial triumph that epitomises Leigh’s superlative talent, which may be chameleonic, but she’s always consistent with the visceral impact of her stunning sonic imprint on the alternative music circuit.

Across her career, Ami Leigh has repeatedly proven herself as a trailblazing force, earning accolades through her innovative sound and magnetic performances. Her 2020 debut EP, Dark Soul Light Heart, lit the spark, and with a string of acclaimed releases, live BBC North performances, and international recognition, she’s become an undeniable fixture in the UK alt scene.

Downfall is now available on all major streaming platforms, including YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Jordan Bryant Bared the Bones of Insecurity with Baroque Honkytonk Gospel in Hard to Love

Posted on 16 June 2025

From the title of Hard to Love alone, you know you’re going to be walking into heavy emotional territory; regardless of how much you brace yourself, the impact is seismic. In her latest release, Jordan Bryant lays bare the uncomfortable ache of self-awareness, letting her lyrical self-inquisition bloom into a feverish spectacle scored by a baroque honkytonk piano. The jaunt never lightens the load; it only makes the emotional weight more complex as the theatrical elements throw stark relief onto the confessional core of the song.

Bryant doesn’t deliver a cry for pity, she delivers a reckoning. Addressing an anonymous protagonist with a relentless stream of pointed questions, she captures the brutal ambiguity that swells when love is present but misfires against the sharp edges of inner turmoil. The track begins as a melancholic piano pop ballad before bleeding into alt-country rock and brushing against gospel tonality, but every shift in the sonic palette remains loyal to the underlying vulnerability.

Hailing from San Antonio, Bryant has already made her mark with her emotive presence and skill as a pianist, but Hard to Love is her most intimate excavation to date. Drawing from the stylings of Patty Griffin, Brandi Carlile, and Rufus Wainwright, she curates a performance for the self-aware and self-critical, offering resonance to those who flinch every time love tries to touch them.

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

– Review by Amelia Vandergast

Lisa Goldin Turned Fantasy into Feeling in the Epic Piano Pop Ballad ‘How Love Can Start’

Posted on 2 June 2025

With How Love Can Start, Lisa Goldin channels the kind of emotion that could shatter silence in a stadium or breathe warmth into a dark theatre. The South African-born, UAE-based artist knows exactly how to evoke emotion through the interplay of her piano progressions and the euphoric romanticism in her harmonies. There’s a magnitude in her vocal presence that carries the power of Broadway without tipping into the theatrical. Her delivery remains intimate, even when it feels monumental.

There’s something sentimentally spectral about the dreamy way she takes the phenomenon of love and portrays it as a liveable fantasy, one that we all have the potential to touch. This life may not be a fairytale, but within epic piano pop ballads such as How Love Can Start, we can briefly feel the blissfully safe emotion ebb and flow as we explore and appreciate the beauty and possibility of sparking new connections.

With a global presence spanning London, Ibiza, Dubai and beyond, Lisa Goldin has earned her place alongside international icons. Whether gracing stages with Ed Sheeran or fronting events from the Coca-Cola Arena to UEFA finals, her reach speaks volumes. But How Love Can Start shows that behind the accolades and airplay, her focus is firmly rooted in human emotion, delivered through music that was made to matter.

How Love Can Start is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Conner Eko’s Indie Pop-Rock Panache Swaggers Through Protest and Funk in ‘A Farewell to Arms’

Posted on 24 May 2025

Conner Eko’s latest single, A Farewell to Arms, strides into indie pop with a funk-wrapped arrangement that lands like a gauntlet. The earworm will swagger its way right into your psyche, bringing with it an exuberance that almost defies aural science, attesting to the Cali pop artist’s alchemic approach to bringing his art to life, and in the process of doing so, giving his listeners a lust for their own lives.

This is a protest track that doesn’t flinch as it pushes the limits of what pop can be. Eko’s production turns sharp observation into music that compels action. Serpentine guitar riffs inject rock’s intensity as the track progresses, and his chameleonic vocals drive home the defiance that pulses through every line. The jaunty piano pop opening gives way to a full-scale protestive rock opera, confronting the fucked up state of America and the twisted priorities that have shaped it. Amidst the blistering commentary, Eko allows a sliver of hope to cut through for anyone searching for a semblence of sanity in the chaos.

With two decades behind him as a songwriter, educator, and astrophysicist in Vallejo, California, Eko channels lived experience and hard-won perspective into his sound. After fronting Falling Andes and pursuing science, he returns with music that’s both immediate and urgent. International collaborations with musicians from Japan, Brazil, and Portugal bring added force, but the message remains Eko’s: unfiltered, unwavering, and impossible to ignore.

A Farewell to Arms is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Luke the Hater Played Through the Flames of His Ennui in the Pessimist’s Lament, ‘Coming Round’

Posted on 15 May 2025

The sardonically magnetic singer-songwriter, Luke the Hater, sat down at a piano as it blazes in the official music video for ‘Coming Round‘, playing through the fire that smokes his way through his world and colours it into a grey haze. With Beatles-esque choral harmonies breaking the clouds in the choruses between the lamenting prose in the verses and hints of Noah and the Whale here and there—especially when the female harmonies weave their way into the folksy, indie vignette of pessimism—there’s no escaping the appeal of Luke the Hater, who, despite his moniker and his demeanour as the ennui guy of indie folk, has a heart of melancholic gold.

Coming Round takes on life’s absurdities, neuroses, and flatlining hope with an honest gaze and some of the most nonchalantly poetic phrasing you’ll hear in the indie circuit this year. The vocal arrangements swing from acerbic to angelic in a heartbeat, all the while, Luke’s ever-growing band of misfits, locals, and loyalists bring euphony to the chaos.

Formed from the sonic fallout of Ventnor—a chemical spill from Steephill that washed up and stayed weird—Luke the Hater has taken his former antics in Fat Earthers and transformed them into something laced with more brass, more bleakness, and far more brutal self-reflection. The debut may be raw, but it’s so keenly aware of its own dishevelment, it charms with the authenticity of a regret-soaked voicemail at 3am.

Coming Round is now available to stream on all major platforms. For the full experience, stream the official music video on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast.

A Bed of Nails for a Teenage Crown – Tara Bleeds Through Her Debut Indie Pop Single, ‘Pain’

Posted on 14 April 2025

At the bitter-sweet age of 16, Tara has already mastered the art of balladry in her debut single, Pain. The Serbia-born, Sweden-raised singer-songwriter poured right from the pain in her soul, allowing it to transmute into haunting metaphors, ensuring they resound with maximum resonance as they articulate the frustration of hearing that your teenage years should be the best of your life, yet, you can’t escape the agony of them when depression, apathy, betrayal, uncertainty and heartbreak have you in a multifaceted chokehold.

With the production support of Tim Gosden, whose work cloaks the track in brooding textures, Pain sets the stage with aching progressions that echo the low-end dissonance of coming-of-age realism. Tara doesn’t posture; she gives voice to the unspoken realities of adolescence with the same conviction she uses to wrap her vibrato around each lyric. Her command of vocal expression carries the emotional weight without tipping into melodrama, grounding the track in raw authenticity.

Her cultural duality – growing up in Serbia before resettling in Sweden – doesn’t scream through the production, but it subtly informs her capacity to view the chaos of teenhood from an introspective, poetically jaded lens. Her tone is mature without shedding the fragility that makes her debut impossible to dismiss.

With a voice and instrumental blueprint exclusive to her, Tara’s success is fated in Pain.

Pain is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast.

Evelyn’s ‘The Woman I Used to Be’ Is A Pop Elegy in the Mirror of Memory

Posted on 13 April 2025

If you thought the title ‘The Woman I Used to Be’ was harrowing, just wait until you feel the sting of the minor piano keys and the evocative pull of Evelyn’s celestially raw vocal lines. in her latest single. With the ability to deliver the artful highs of Kate Bush alongside the reverberant depth of Adele, Evelyn provides an expansive, emotive range from her vocal performance alone.

When you factor in the crescendos and cinematic production behind ‘The Woman I Used to Be’, which poignantly mourns the loss of our authentic selves while urging us to reclaim that lost contentment, the track becomes an evocative reflection on emotional resilience. Life inevitably leaves scars, but Evelyn powerfully conveys that healing can be about moving closer to who you truly are, rather than retreating further away.

Evelyn, the Nottinghamshire-based singer-songwriter, spent years finding the courage to share her own music after initially performing timidly under her original stage name, Evelyn Pretty. From early covers of post-modern jukebox numbers to vintage classics, it was relentless perseverance that transformed her self-doubt into assured artistry. By early 2024, she committed fully to her instrument, learning piano from scratch, and emerging a year later with emotionally charged originals rooted firmly in piano-driven compositions.

‘The Woman I Used to Be’ isn’t merely relatable; it is profoundly affecting, capable of resonating with anyone who has felt the friction between past contentment and present uncertainty.

The Woman I Used to Be is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast