Browsing Tag

sad pop

Markomallow is introspectively ethereal in her latest single, Alien

Posted on 15 December 2023

Markomallow’s latest single, Alien, is a masterful blend of emotional depth and musical innovation, marking a significant milestone in her evolving artistic journey. The song opens with a hauntingly beautiful piano score, setting a Christmas-adjacent mood that transcends the festive season. It’s a melody that lingers, reminiscent of a winter’s tale, yet universal in its appeal. Markomallow’s vocal performance is nothing short of spectacular, seamlessly transitioning from the introspective tones of Lucy Dacus to powerhouse belting, reminiscent of Lady Gaga. This vocal dynamism not only showcases her range but also the emotional intensity she brings to her music.

Lyrically, Alien delves into the theme of alienation, a sentiment many can relate to during the holiday season when expectations of joy and transformation often clash with reality. Markomallow’s introspective songwriting shines here, as she explores the dissonance between how others perceive us and our internal transformations. The track is a poignant reflection on identity and the loneliness of feeling misunderstood or unseen.

Markomallow, drawing inspiration from icons like Lady Gaga, Christina Aguilera, and Taylor Swift, infuses her music with a unique blend of colours and textures. Alien is a perfect example of her ability to combine different genres into a cohesive and captivating whole. Her dedication to exploring themes of anxiety, self-criticism, and perfectionism in her songwriting makes her music not only relatable but also deeply healing.

Alien was officially released on December 8th; stream it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Bree Gregory cut right to the emotional core with her orchestral ballad, See You Soon

Posted on 22 September 2023

The Adelaide singer-songwriter Bree Gregory captured the bitter-sweetness of impassioned goodbyes and the beauty of uninhibited vulnerability with her latest orchestrally arranged piano pop ballad, See You Soon, which strips the sonorous production right back to her vocals, piano keys and a string quartet.

Between the cutting crescendos and the steady strides in her dynamic vocal register that carries the same sense of beguile as Adele, See You Soon cuts you right to the emotional core.

Moving away from her RnB soul sound, which saw her peak at number 4 in the top 10 AMRAP charts with her single, Waiting, was a bold move, but discernibly, her talents lend themselves efficaciously well to more than one genre. We can’t wait to see where this Billboard & Grammy-worthy exposition of viscerally warm raw emotion takes her. Even greater successes are surely in the pipeline.

See You Soon will debut on September 22; stream it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

MASSIVESAD became the cinematically sad poster boy of melodic ennui with his latest art pop release, Balance

Posted on 7 July 2023

The cinematically sad poster boy of melodic ennui, MASSIVESAD, will mainline himself into your melancholic veins with his alt bedroom pop deep-cut, Balance. If you know all too well how it feels for your world to be knocked out of kilter as the scales perpetually turn against you, the catharsis you will find and the compassion you will feel will be visceral.

Emanating disorientating dissonance from his e-piano before the flourishing crescendo of a finish was the perfect way to ensure the instrumentals matched the bitter-sweet vocal lines and lyricality, which paints MASSIVESAD as an existentially amorous diehard romantic at heart. From LANY energy in the main body and the arcane touches of Bjork towards the outro, Balance will undoubtedly remain one of the most artful singles that have slipped into my ear canal in recent years.

Stream Balance from July 7th on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Jad Saad chases the relationship ‘High’ in his latest indie-pop single

Posted on 3 September 2022

Singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Jad Saad penned the ultimate post-breakup single, ‘High’, which mournfully revels in the highs that affection can take us to.

The intimate indie pop track chases the highs that a now otherwise preoccupied paramour shared while the guitars bring a kaleidoscope of colour in their melodies. The production may be minimalist, but High finds full-bodied resonance in spite of the stripped-back instrumental arrangement; Jad Saad’s vulnerable vocals, which run under the perfect touch of autotune are more than enough to flood the sad boi summer anthem.

The demo of High is now available to stream on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Alex Krisi comes in as an evocative heavyweight in her ethereal knockout indie pop ballad, Mama Please

Posted on 24 April 2022

‘Mama Please’ is just one of the sorrowfully seminal latest releases from the up-and-coming indie singer songwriter Alex Kristi who tapped deep into the sense of innate guilt that we all carry after witnessing parental suffering. Whether that be through the juvenile way that we push them away through the surge of youthful rebellion or the soul-crushing feeling of knowing that a parent is sharing your pain – for any given reason.

Sonically, Alex Kristi ensured that the piano score carried just as much tension and tenacity as the classically poised yet indie-tinged vocals as they run through the mournfully eloquent lyricism. In every conceivable way, Mama Please is an ethereal knockout. Even more so with the gospel-Esque outro.

Mama Please will be available to stream from April 22nd. You can check it out for yourselves via SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Lex Gibbon – All I Do (Is Cry): The Only Viral Pop Newcomer You Need on Your 2022 Playlists

Posted on 28 March 2022

All I Do (Is Cry) is the latest bruisingly candid pop track to infuse emotional realism on the airwaves from the UK pop singer-songwriter Lex Gibbon.

Seventeen years old may be young to start a pop career, but age is irrelevant in the presence of her emotional intelligence and unflinchingly fearless honesty. She’s a viral sensation on platforms, such as TikTok, has featured on BBC Introducing and ITV and even made strides in the fashion industry as the first curve teen model to walk at London, Paris, New York and LA fashion weeks. Perhaps more impressively, she’s fresh from a UK school tour that promoted her single, Dear Hater and advocated for mental health, positive body image and against bullying.

After being bullied from a young age, Lex carries the same outlier introspection as Camus and Bukowski. The main difference is her ability to craft rhythmically arrestive hooks around her pensive admissions. I don’t say this lightly, but Lex Gibbon evidently has what it takes to be a bigger aurally talented supermodel of the world than Ru Paul. Get her on your radar.

All I Do is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

LA Luminary Pop Singer-Songwriter Mariah Counts Has Released Her Haunting Single, Nothing

Posted on 3 August 2021

Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Mariah Counts has brought her hauntingly connectable presence to the airwaves once more with her latest single, Nothing. The softly downtempo contemporary electropop ballad is dark in an unexpectedly tender way that will leave you utterly mesmerised from start to finish.

With ethereal effects laced around the acoustic melodies and trip-hop beats, the progressive instrumentals take you for an evocatively tumultuous ride while Mariah Counts’ true-to-voice vocals expressing relatable hollowness that love can cause to linger.

It is easy to see how so many have been left enraptured by the luminary artist who has exactly what it takes to define the future of pop. Counts truly proved how out of trend plastic pop facades are with Nothing. With a 250k-strong fan base, it is only a matter of time before she sheds her up and coming status.

Nothing is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Leire –  The hauntingly delicate “Box Of Chesterfield”

Posted on 15 August 2020
https://vimeo.com/438661602/7002c753e9

They told us smoking wasn’t cool; judging by Leire’s ‘Box Of Chesterfield’, ‘they’ were seriously wrong. This is a beautiful, haunting tale of anxiety, of existing rather than living, surviving whilst drowning; it’s a personal song, the sparse electronic music echoing behind Leire’s husky, plaintive vocal.

There’s a touch of Sia in the delivery, but the hushed verses give way to an emotive, soaring chorus which allows Leire to properly showcase her vocal talent. And that’s some serious talent, having already taken Leire from busking in Leicester Square to sharing stages with the likes of Tom Walker, Jake Bugg, and Rag’n’Bone Man,

‘Box Of Chesterfield’ is a slow-burn (no pun intended) beauty; Leire’s debut EP, telling ‘the truth about society’ and released later this year, can’t come soon enough. In the meantime, you can hear ‘Box Of Chesterfield’ here.

Review by Alex Holmes

Singer Songwriter KISA has made a sedately moody Indie debut with the single “Hurting”

Posted on 12 May 2020
https://open.spotify.com/track/7513SwefUkdZDCcyDo0lmu

Up and coming Singer-Songwriter KISA has made an evocative debut with her sedately moody Indie Pop single “Hurting”.

If you could imagine the perfect balance between Amy Winehouse’s Neo-Soul style and the stylistic contemporary appeal from tracks such as Ocean Eyes by Billie Eilish, you’ll get a good idea of what is in store if you hit play on Hurting.

The connectable resonant lyrics, the accessibility and warmth despite the melancholy and the gentle instrumental deftness of Hurting makes it a debut that you definitely won’t want to miss out on. If you can get to the outro after the downtempo soundscape has pulled in nuanced ethereally haunting guitar notes with dry eyes, your soul has probably seen better days

You can check out KISA’s single Hurting for yourselves by heading over to Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Alternative R&B artist Mulini hits sombre tones with new release MANIC

Posted on 4 May 2020

UK-based R&B songwriter Mulini has released his new track MANIC from his debut EP ‘Night Time’. 

It’s a strong, sombre performance with Mulini’s working-class-James-Blake-style vocals rising out of an airy synthy soundscape. His dark-sky, windy pop is well-written, and well produced, with MANIC showcasing a fair bit of potential from the alt-R&B artist on here. It has that right amount of moany-crooning throughout, and a strong choice for that listening indoors and staring out the window vibe. 

The standout is most notably his vibrato performance – it skillfully wavers through the first verse and coalesces into a chorus with an almost-unintended catchiness to it that helped give this track multiple listens. MANIC is well worth one of those listens for fans of this kind of sombre, melancholic sad-pop. 

https://www.mulinimusic.com