UraelB (aka Urael Blackshear) is rapidly marking his name as one of California’s most interesting emerging rap talents.
Following on from the release of his ‘UraelB (Unplugged)’ EP (listen here), the promising Inglewood musician returns today with a new single called ‘Moonlight’.
Featuring none other than acclaimed rapper Mick Jenkins, the track showcases a chilled and melodic style of hip hop that feels dreamy and hazy in tone, while the vocals deliver thoughtful and introspective lyricism.
“Each verse cuts into a deep train of thought for both artists but is glued together by a succinct and potent chorus that sticks.”
With support from respected outlets like Hype Magazine already under his belt, UraelB is one American artist to keep on your radars this year.
Rising West-London singer and songwriter Xadi unveils one of the most powerful songs of the week.
By blending elements of indie and rock with alternative R&B, ‘sodium lights’ demonstrates the artist’s versatility beautifully.
The track was written as a way of portraying some of the hardships of living in London, as he explains:
“The second single from my upcoming project ‘Black Rock’. I had never heard someone singing about the darker side of growing up in London on an indie/ rock instrumental and wanted to discuss some of the grittier aspects of my upbringing through a different lens.”
Xadi currently commands more than 85k monthly listeners on Spotify, and has amassed over five million career streams to date. He’s also picked up support from prominent social media accounts like Charli D’Amelio and Kim Kardashian’s ‘SKIMS’.
Alice Merton is one of those artists who always keeps you on your toes. As a talent who consistently pushes the boundaries of pop, you never quite know what to expect… But whatever she does release is always guaranteed to be brilliant.
‘Charlie Brown’ is the musician’s latest offering, and serves as a powerful reminder to keep pushing ourselves, and to not settle for less than what we wish for.
‘Charlie Brown’ is a wake-up call to get back into the driver’s seat of your life. It’s a hymn to keep going – no matter how big the obstacles may be. Stop settling for the apparent security of everyday life, but fight for what is important to you. Thus, the song’s message is not only addressed to Charlie. All of us could do with leaving our comfort zone sometimes, try things and to stand up for our dreams.
To date, Merton’s music has amassed more than a billion cumulative streams. She’s also toured all around the world, performed on primetime shows internationally, and shared stages with outfits as prominent as Bastille.
English singer-songwriter Reuben Medlin continues to impress with the unveiling of his newest single, ‘Pretty Miracle’.
In a sign of his ever-growing popularity, the song has already picked up a placement on Spotify’s New Music Friday UK today, and looks set to become one of his biggest releases yet.
The track marks a new chapter in Medlin’s career, as it was his first time collaborating with other songwriters in its creation. Elaborating further on the lyricism, he says:
“‘Pretty Miracle’ is a song that delves into yearning for miracles, be it love or life altering experiences while capturing the sense of invisibility in everyday life.”
Reuben will debut his live show tomorrow at The Plough in Shalbourne (more info can be found here). If you’re around the area then be sure to check this kid out – we predict amazing things for him.
“I’m really looking forward to taking my music onto a live stage now and super excited about the first show on June 17th, it’s near my hometown so there will be a lot of friends there and will more than likely turn into one big party!”
Swedish pop artist Noak Hellsing is becoming a regular name on these Alfitude pages, and for good reason.
The 20-year old emerging talent returns today with yet another impressive new single, called ‘Die Without Letting You Know’.
The track was lyrically inspired by Noak’s struggles with committing to a relationship, and showcases a style of sound that is beautifully melodic and sincere in tone.
“‘Die Without Letting You Know’ is a song that is very close to my heart. It’s an honest song, maybe the most honest I’ve released so far, which makes it all the more exciting, but also scarier. The song is produced by Jacob Werner and written by me, Jacob Werner, and Benjamin Roustaing.”
The song follows on from Noak’s summer anthem ‘When The Shadows Go Home‘ (listen here), and serves as taster to artist’s upcoming ‘YESTERYEAR’ EP.
Essex rockers The Trusted are back today with one of their biggest releases yet.
‘Doomsday’ is as bold and epic as its title implies. Through its arresting mix of indie, pop and rock, the song addresses the notion of ‘everything falling apart’. As lead singer Tom Cunningham explains:
“It’s a loud rocket-fuelled cry for help; a psychological apocalypse. We’re living in a world on the on the brink of war and collapse, yet ‘Doomsday’ is a song about a more personal Armageddon. We all have our own, in-built doomsday clocks and sometimes, our minds can reach a breaking point.”
The Trusted have solidified their status as one of the UK’s most prominent emerging pop-rock groups – garnering acclaim from heavyweight tastemakers as noted as BBC 6 Music, Earmilk and American Songwriter.
You can catch the band performing live at Chinnerys (Southend-on-Sea) on the 4th August – tickets can be found here.
Hailing from the northern city of Newcastle are rising five-piece outfit Palma Louca. If you’ve yet to experience this group’s work, then today’s release of ‘Better Late Than Never’ is the perfect introduction.
Sonically raw and lyrically vivid, the track showcases an immersive indie production that mirrors a range of emotions – from the euphoric highs, to the sombre lows.
“‘Better Late Than Never’ is a melting pot of emotions that range from doubt and despair to the feeling of pure exhilaration.”
To date, Palma Louca‘s music has amassed more than 100k career streams on Spotify alone. The group have also found support from outlets like BBC Introducing, Last Day Deaf and When The Horn Blows.
The band will perform at Newcastle’s Head Of Steam on the 17th June (tomorrow!) – tickets can be found here.
Acclaimed American alt-pop outfit darkDARK (aka Chris James & Genevieve Vincent) are back with an impressive new single that is both sonically and lyrically powerful.
‘Cult’ is lifted from the duo’s forthcoming ‘Ghost Complex’ concept album, and delivers an atmospheric sound that feels dark and mysterious. The production mirrors the intensity of the lyricism, which addresses the emergence of ‘cult personalities’ within society.
“Delving into the depths of a thought-provoking theme, the song explores the disturbing rise of the cult of personality in our increasingly image-driven world. It sheds light on the deceptive nature of appearances, unmasking the profound emptiness that can lie behind a manipulative individual’s facade.”
To date, darkDARK’s original work has been played more than 500k times on Spotify, while their remix of Nina Simone’s ‘New World Coming’mustered more than 1.2 million streams alone. The duo’s music has also been praised by outlets as prominent as NOISEY and NPR.
It’s a special day for Norwegian-British group amilost, who have just unveiled their debut EP, entitled ‘Introspective Souvenirs’ (listen here).
Among the collection of beautifully written tracks on the record is new single ‘Maybe It’s You’, which explores our inner strengths – and how they can help us overcome life’s challenges.
Through its distinct approach to indie-pop, the song presents listeners with an energising and invigorating sonic experience.
The trio describe their new EP as ‘an inner journey and the emotional souvenirs we pick up along the way. It’s a collection of songs centred around four themes: anxiety, love, escapism and aspiration.”
We first featured amilost back in May with their stunning Parallax Orchestra collaboration, ‘The Good Kind of Love‘ (listen here).
amilost is the London-based musical collaborative project of musicians Sigrid Zeiner-Gundersen, Ross Craib and Charlie Fowler.
One of America’s most promising rock newcomers this year is Seattle-raised starlet Tiger La Flor.
‘shut up and kiss me!’ is taken from the artist’s forthcoming ‘see me in hell’ debut EP, and treats listeners to a rousing and anthemic fusion of alternative rock, grunge and indie-pop. The track is loud, confident, and refreshingly bold in tone, and is sure to become one of biggest rock bops this summer.
Tiger La Flor is no stranger to the limelight. Aside from appearances on national shows as prominent as Love Island USA, this talent also maintains a significant presence on social media (with more than 225k followers across platforms).
To date, Tiger’s music has been featured by outlets as prominent as Spin Magazine, Earmilk and Ones to Watch.
Regular readers might experience some deja vu with this post, as we had already featured rising Canadian musician Prince Josh (aka Josh McIntyre) earlier in the year.
Back then, we wrote about a stunning single he’d just released, called‘The Glory (Reprise)’. Today the artist is back with a new edit of the song, which showcases a more downtempo and mellow style of sound.
She was in love
With a faded, temporary time
Holding it all with her fingers In between the lines
It was enough
It was more you could feel inside
And now she’s turning you down
The track further proves McIntyre’s natural flair for crafting exceptional pieces of atmospheric music, and offers us a glimpse into the artist’s forthcoming ‘Moth’ album (out 25th August).
If this is your first experience with Prince Josh, then be sure to check out his 2020 debut ‘The Joy’here.
If you’re suffering from the midweek blues then this new release from Australian outfit The Moving Stills will surely raise your spirits.
‘Westside’ is joyful piece of music that is inspired by all the positive and wonderful things that come across us in life. With its uplifting fusion of indie and alternative pop, this song deserves to be on everyone’s summer playlists this year.
“‘Westside’ is about celebrating the positive aspects of life, so we wanted it to be a feel good upbeat track. It’s also about being able to slow down without feeling guilty about taking a break. It came after a holiday in WA and also reflects on all the time we have spent on the East Coast, playing shows and hanging out with the people that matter. It’s been a great year and we’re feeling optimistic about what’s coming ahead.” – Tommy, The Moving Stills
The track serves as a taster to the band’s upcoming sophomore album, which will be out later this year. In the meantime, you can catch the band on tour across Australia from next month – tickets here.
Emerging London artist Finn Foxell is back today with his first solo single of the year… and boy, has it been worth the wait.
Produced by Clipz (aka Redlight), ‘TYSON’ is a bold track that confidently blends elements of UK hip hop with punk and drum’n’bass together, resulting in a refreshingly raw and arresting sound.
Foxell’s momentum has grown significantly over the last year. The artist currently commands more than 300k monthly listeners on Spotify, while his songs have been streamed more than 25 million times to date.
Finn plays Glastonbury’s Lonely Hearts Club – Silver Hayes Stage on the 24th June – details here.
One of Canada’s biggest pop exports in recent years has been four-piece outfit Valley. With more than 630 million career streams to date, this group have firmly established themselves as international superstars.
New single ‘Have A Good Summer (Without Me)’ presents listeners with a shimmering fusion of pop and indie, while the lyrics reflect on a unique kind of heartache that can only happen at this time of the year.
“The summer in our minds is a romanticised version of life. Love and its adventures are heightened with the heat and the water and the sunshine. The blow of losing someone before those precious few months of the year is devastating to say the least. ‘Have A Good Summer (Without Me)’ is loving them so much, you will let them go.” – Karah James, Valley
Valley will commence a tour that goes through North America, Asia and Australia from next week, starting in New York on the 22nd June. The band’s new record, ‘Lost In Translation’ is released the following day. You can preorder the album and check out tour dates here.
Emerging from Australia is independent singer and songwriter Amy Pollock, who unveils a beautiful new single today called ‘Sparklebrain’.
Produced by Hayden Calnin, the track focuses on the struggles associated with trying to overcome mental health issues. And while the lyrics are hard-hitting and powerfully raw, the song’s production showcases a sound that feels sombre and dreamy – ultimately creating a perfect sonic juxtaposition that is highly emotive to experience.
To date, Pollock has amassed thousands of career streams from the release of just a handful of singles, and has had her songs featured on several prominent Spotify playlists, as well as on tastemaker outlets like Lefuturewave.
Rising German talent Pablo Brooks continues to impress us through the release of his new single, ‘Boys Don’t Cry’. If you’re in the mood for a catchy slice of indie-pop, then you won’t find a song as brilliant as this one today.
Taken from the artist’s upcoming ‘‘Pleaser’ EP (out on 7th July, pre-order here), the track serves as a ‘coming of age’ piece of music, and lyrically focuses on the concept relationships – with your friends, your lovers, and also yourselves. Explaining further, Pablo says:
“‘Boy Don’t Cry’ is a song about toxic relationships, as well as toxic masculinity. I wrote this one after getting out of a very toxic, manipulative relationship with someone. Basically this person was continually gaslighting me into thinking I was being ego-centric and I was very much falling for this. I think we get caught up really easily in attaching ourselves to people only because they temporarily fulfil some fantasy we put inside out head. This song really goes in depth about the co-dependency in toxic relationships, especially the one that I was in — knowing that the behaviour of the other person is having a negative impact on you, but not being able to leave, because the thrill of unstable love feels so intoxicating, almost like some crazy drug. I really liked playing with the concept of the whole ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ saying, because it’s obviously a really problematic statement in itself, forcing young boys to be scared of vulnerability and to bottle up their emotions. But thought it would be a funny thing to shout at someone who treated you like shit, because they were projecting all their insecurities onto you — kind of saying ‘You don’t get to play the victim here’. As a queer man, I try very hard to open myself up to other people and share my experiences authentically, but obviously I’m also someone who is influenced by the values that young boys are exposed to and I am obviously not exempt from toxic masculinity, which is something I struggle with a lot. So the ‘Boy Don’t Cry’ exclamation is also directed to myself in a way. It’s my subconscious telling me not to be vulnerable with someone and that emotions are a sign of weakness. Which is utter bullshit, but it’s very hard to fight this. There’s a line in the song (‘Save me from the things I want’), that made me let out a huge sigh of relief, when I wrote it. It felt like saying everything I’ve been wanting to say for a long time. The only person who can save me from the things I want is myself and that’s a freeing realisation, but it’s not an easy one.”
While still early in his career, Brooks has already performed all across Europe for his ever-growing fanbase. There’s no doubt in our minds that this kid will become Germany’s next pop export.
Californian artist She Is Jules (aka Julianna Pollifrone) continues her quest for global pop dominance with the release of her new single ‘Body Language’.
In what could be described as one of Pollifrone’s most personal songs to date, the track addresses the musician’s struggles with body image. Through it’s powerfully honest lyricism, Julianna hopes that the song can help others who share those similar issues.
It’s been quite the year for this Bay Area talent. Aside from currently amassing more than 300k monthly listeners on Spotify (and being featured on countless editorial playlists like Fresh Finds and New Music Friday India), She Is Jules was also recently duetted by Julia Michaels on TikTok (watch here).
LA-based musician Hunter Daily unveils a stunning new collaboration that features her very own sister Tyson, called ‘Age of Depression’.
Released alongside Hunter’s much-anticipated debut EP ‘Die in LA’ (out now), the song showcases a beautifully melodic indie-pop production that is both emotive and charming in tone. Elaborating further on the track’s creation, Hunter says:
“‘Age of Depression’ is a song I wrote with my sister in the middle of the pandemic. It was pouring rain and freezing out, and we felt like the world was ending… it was a really tough time for us both. We had recorded a bunch of songs over the course of that year, and since then, we have both gone our separate ways in our careers. This is the only song that will come out with my sister and I singing together, but because this song is really special to us and helped us see the light in a really dark time, we decided to put the song out in dedication to that time and to help give hope to those that need it… the best is yet to come!”
Hunter’s momentum has been on a steady rise in recent months. With more than a million cumulative streams to date, and support from heavyweight tastemakers like Fashionably Early and Lefuturewave, this is one artist to keep on your radars.
Brother-sister duo Durry are back with one of the biggest indie-rock anthems of the week!
‘Coming of Age’ presents itself as a modern-day take on Dolly Parton’s ‘9-5’, and highlights the thoughts and feelings that many of us might experience while at work.
“Inspired by 2022’s ‘great resignation’ and by both of us being able to quit our day jobs to pursue music full time, ‘Coming of Age’ is about seeing the reality of a dead end corporate job, and taking your future into your own hands. Maybe part of growing up is realising the life you were told to strive for just isn’t worth the life you lose to get it.”
Aside from their huge presence and fanbase all across social media, Durry are also picking up support from outlets as noted as BBC Radio 1, Rolling Stone and Louder.
Durry play London’s Oslo Hackney on the 21st September, and will also tour the USA from November – tickets can be found here. The band’s upcoming album, ‘Suburban Legend’ is available for preorder here.
It wouldn’t be a normal weekend here at Alfitude without sharing some premium dance music, and this time it’s the turn of Scottish DJ and producer KC Lights, and his new Låpsley collaboration, ‘Better Times’.
With its shimmering mix of disco, soulful house and pop, the song is likely to become one of the key summer anthems of the year. Elaborating on the track’s production, KC explains:
“The idea for ‘Better Times’ manifested while I was on the train to London to meet Låpsley for a writing session. I wanted a sound that felt warm and familiar but also new and exciting. Almost immediately, Låpsley & I knew that we had a creative connection. A few hours later, we had written the track. We just knew the nostalgic vibe and sound felt so right. For me, ‘Better Times’ is about letting go of anything weighing you down in life and looking ahead optimistically. Looking ahead into summer, I think this song will be a big moment in my sets.” – KC Lights
As one of the world’s most popular dance producers, KC Lights commands more than 1.4 million monthly listeners on Spotify, while his catalogue of releases have so far amassed 80 million streams.
