Heavily inspired by Brazilian-American sounds, Lily Lyon has built a solid fanbase with her music over the twelve years that she has been writing and performing.
Nostalgic new single ‘Pink Light’ is a power ballad that was inspired by the 80’s synth-pop scene, while also adding a country feel into the mix. The song tells listeners the story of not letting go – and the sweet twisted memories of rose-coloured glasses.
UK-based Lonely Gimmick is the alter ego of anonymous multi-instrumentalist Max Pow. With a refreshingly original approach to music-making, this talent seamlessly incorporates a multitude of genres to form sounds that feel timelessly classic yet eccentric in tone.
New single ‘Grumpy Days’ serves as an honest art piece about love and the early days of starting a life together with your significant other.
“‘Grumpy Days’ makes the grounded point that love is hard and building a life with someone takes work, tolerance and patience.”
Emerging from Iceland is singer-songwriter VALDIS. While only crafting sounds since 2020, this talent has already landed on the official radio charts in Iceland and featured on numerous Official Spotify Editorial playlists with her work.
‘Onto You’ is a relatable and empowering blend of RnB and dark pop that captures the excitement and danger that come with a new relationship.
🎵 Follow The Alfitude Scandinavia Sound Playlist
Born and raised in Los Angeles of half-Persian descent, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and All-American fencing champion Em Beihold crafts a pensive and powerful style of pop.
A short teaser on TikTok for new single ‘Numb Little Bug’ quickly generated a staggering 1.5 million views and 317k likes, solidifying this emerging talent as one to watch.
“I want my music to help people feel more included. A lot of my life, I felt excluded in school and from a lot of other things, so I’m trying to create a community and give everyone permission to be happier in your own skin.”
One of New York’s finest emerging indie outfits Meyru kick off the year by getting blunt with new single ‘Off White’.
Balancing an essence of nostalgia with a fresh perspective in composition and lyrics, the track cuts to the centre of what it means to be caught in a situation with no hope for return.
“’Off White’ is the brief moment in-between confrontation and rejecting the truth. Musically, everything came together for us on this track. Recorded in a single day, ‘Off White’ is fast, to the point and gut wrenchingly honest.”
Rising Canadian alt-pop singer-songwriter Vi is back today with an impressive single that showcases an edgier and darker side to this ever-evolving artist.
‘Dead To You’ is all about moving on from a toxic ex – to the point where they are completely dead to you.
“‘Dead to You’ isn’t like anything else you’ve heard from me before. I love that I get to show my range as an artist; I think that’s an important part of an artist’s evolution.”
To date, Vi’s career as seen her on stage opening for the likes of multi-platinum artist Bülow, and working with legendary producer Ryan Tedder. Growing over three million streams on Spotify alone, Vi has also found her music on flagship playlists like New Music Friday Canada & Fresh Finds: POP, It’s A Bop, SALT and RADAR Canada.
‘Keep Them Guessing’ is the final single to be released from New Zealand alt-rock outfit Tablefox‘s album, ‘Battles’.
Born across the struggles of the last two years, the song is perhaps Tablefox’s finest work – filled with a swagger that twists and builds into an epic symphony of sonic guitars, emotive trumpets and powerful vocals.
“‘Keep Them Guessing’ is a song about the different emotional masks we wear everyday. We use these masks to gain affection, sympathy, notoriety or infamy to name a few. Everyone uses these for good and bad reasons.” – Clinton Bell, Tablefox
‘Battles’ is out now.
After garnering millions of streams independently and receiving acclaim from the likes of Atwood Magazine, Canadian artist AVIV continues to impress the world with her unique take on indie-pop through her work with Photo Finish Records.
The Toronto-based singer, songwriter, and multi- instrumentalist is back today with her new single ‘You Feel Like Depression’, which goes deep into the many feelings of self-guilt, self-blame and an overall feeling of failure.
“If my song takes you somewhere emotional, there’s nothing better to me. Or, if it makes you answer a question you’ve had about your life, that would be amazing. My songs make me answer my own questions. When I release them, I hope they do the same thing for you.”
Los Angeles-based and Dallas-raised Madeline returns today with a perfected slice of melancholic pop in the form of new single ‘Y.T.D. (Year to Date)’.
“I was thinking about how one of my friends was at my birthday last year, and now, we aren’t talking. There’s nothing bad about it. It was just one of those things that happened. It’s interesting how it’s usually on your birthday that you start to think about how your relationships have changed, and the song dives into that idea.”
The single follows her debut EP ‘Don’t Put a Dog in Danger’ which was released December 2021, and marks her second collaboration with writer and producer Brandon Shoop (ELIO, Allison Ponthier and Chloe George).
Danish newcomer Agnes Rangel crafts an intensely unique and captivating blend of pop, jazz and trip hop. This 21-year old songwriter and musician releases her debut single ‘Blindsided’ today.
Her sound encapsulates complex human traits like infatuation and angry jealousy, all within an intimate space where honesty and feelings arise between herself and the listener.
“The song is about a beautiful friendship and how a one-sided love-euphoria can mess up everything. About how, what was meant to be a declaration of love between best friends, became a final, brutal quarrel and a recurring nightmare of total confusion and excruciating pain. I wrote ‘Blindsided’ in the middle of the night with all these emotions circulating around inside my body. I recorded it the morning after.”
Watch out for the upcoming EP, ‘Sexual Dependency’, which is expected to be released later this year.
“streets say you don’t need meds my momma say you just need prayer, but I need what they give you at the dentist. i don’t wanna feel no more.”
Emerging from Los Angeles are Italian outfit Parkshores. Through the fusing of influences like indie, K-Pop, trap and electronica into their pop sound, this trio create a sound that feels experimental and distinct in character.
Nostalgic release ‘Limousine’ is taken from the band’s upcoming debut EP, and perfectly encapsulates their unique approach to music-making.
“‘Limousine’ is a song that speaks about the multiple streams of thoughts you have when you are just done with college. The need of finding an occupation eventually as soon as possible, the indirect need of finding validation in your career with status objects like a car, a house, online presence, your outfit and more, but most importantly how people around you will influence your decisions that will put the foundation for your future career and what person you decide to be.”
Emerging from South London, Bad With Phones delivers an original sound that is arrestingly minimal at its core.
Experimental and refreshingly unconventional in character, his new release ‘Living & Surfing’ was written as a love letter to his favourite place, Berlin.
“‘Living & Surfing’ is a song about ‘couch life’ – my journey being out in my favourite city Berlin. Living off the bare minimum… Meeting friends that I’ll know for the rest of my life, having my heart broken, breaking hearts (Of course), eating falafel wraps every day, sleeping on park benches, being harassed by the police and last but most importantly sexy bass lines.”
Newly signed to Epitaph Records, sophie meiers unveil their single ‘collar’. Reminiscent of the grunge and lo-fi alt-rock sounds of the past, the track features a subtly distorted guitar that backs sophie’s uniquely haunting vocals.
“‘collar’ is a song about intoxication, indulgence, wanting, and euphoria. I wanted to embody the feeling of your heart racing, and the lulling warmth in between. It is about words hanging in the air, unspoken and magnetic, filling space with blood orange light. It’s rare for me to write a song that feels so overwhelmingly happy and glowy.”
If there’s one song this week that has the power to take your mind to another world, it’s this new release from Parisian house producer Darius.
Featuring Californian musician and vocalist Kadhja Bonet, ‘NOTHING TO ME’ begins in a dreamy fashion that builds up to a powerful climax, before slowly falling back to the sound of an enchanted harp.
BOKN are an emerging outfit hailing from Hoboken in New Jersey. Already gaining momentum, the duo’s single ‘WON’T BE LONG’ was recently featured on NBA 2K21.
Now they’re back with the equally catchy release of ‘DRESSED IN LOVE’. Citing their major influences as Michael Jackson and blink-182, these chaps seamlessly fuse elements of pop with hip hop to create sounds that will stay in your head all day!
One of the UK’s brightest newcomers returns with a sound that perfectly serves nostalgic soulful tones with a modern edge.
“‘So Sorry’ is a song I wrote about my toxic traits in a relationship. I got super vulnerable and honest on this track and I hadn’t yet written a song about how difficult I can be when I’m with someone. I feel like a lot of other people are going to be able to relate to the feeling of saying sorry far too much.”
Last year saw Lola Young pick up a BRIT ‘Rising Star’ nomination (alongside Holly Humberstone and Bree Runway), as well as achieving 4th place in the prestigious ‘BBC Sound Of’ Poll. It seems certain that we’ll see this artist take over the mainstream in a big way over the next few months.
Ni/Co might not be a group that you’d have heard of before, but this R&B-pop outfit already command over 100k monthly listeners on Spotify alone, rapidly gaining a loyal and significant fanbase.
Today sees the release of their vibrant new single, which also happens to be a re-write of the classic Christina Aguilera Y2K hit ‘What A Girl Wants’. With a new storyline, the track serves nostalgic tones with a fresh and current twist.
With more than a million Spotify streams to date, the momentum behind Louisiana native Indii G. is steadily on the rise.
New single ‘Hampton’ sees the multi-talented lo-fi hip-hop rapper delivering a sound that features beautiful instrumental elements, silvery vocals a gorgeous orchestral outro.
“It’s never too late to fix any mistakes you’ve made in the past. Keep trying and don’t give up, it gets better. It’s about rekindling a lost flame; looking back on my mistakes with this person, realising how we’ve grown from it and how we’ve come back stronger.”
Track of the week. Harry Stone’s ‘Daydreaming’ has been on repeat for most of the weekend, purely based on its finessed and hypnotic twist on soul-pop.
Atmospheric and full of movement, the song is about the challenge to connect (least of all, dating in a pandemic) and ultimately how not to lose yourself around someone new.
“A song about personal space. I’m more emotional than I’d like to admit, which didn’t help me get a read on a situation where I could have protected my energy a little better. When I hear the track it reminds me how you never actually know you’re dreaming until you snap out of it.”
