Category: Pop

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AO – Through The Storm

Aria Pullman Ostrander has done a little bit of everything. She’s been a model; an actress, appearing on numerous tv shows and films and on her own comedy show on Youtube with her friend Alexandra Holden, who you might remember from Friends); a songwriter, writing for herself and also for fellow artists, with several of her songs featured on films and tv shows; and a singer, which is the reason I’m talking about her today. By the way, the Ostrander in her name comes from being married to Josh Ostrander, better known as Mondo Cozmo, for whom she co-wrote several songs in both of his albums. Naturally, he returned the favour by helping her produce her debut solo album, Life Out Loud (LOL).

As a solo artist, Aria uses the moniker AO and her music style is moody indie pop in the same vein as Lana Del Rey. They even have a similar tone of voice, which makes the comparison unavoidable. My favorite songs in LOL are Heaven and Through The Storm, ultimately choosing the latter one because it had a lyric video. It is an entrancing and atmospheric track that couples Aria’s ethereal vocals with layers of sounds that give it a rich texture. This is not a song to sing along or dance to, but you can enjoy it in silence all day long without getting tired. Through The Storm pulls you in like a dream you don’t want to wake up from.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Pop

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Julia Michaels – All Your Exes

Julia Michaels - All Your Exes

Julia Cavazos, better known as Julia Michaels, made a name for herself writing hits for other pop artists such as Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez, and Shawn Mendes, just to name a few. Then, in 2017, she wrote a song that she liked so much that she kept it for herself. That tune, Issues, became a hit and even earned her some Grammy nominations (whatever that’s worth). Julia is a established solo artist now and earlier this year released her debut studio album: Not In Chronological Order, which features the single being featured here today.

I hadn’t paid that much attention to Julia before because most of her songs tend to be mainstream pop tunes that are not typically my cup of tea. That being said, I happened to listen to All Your Exes and found it so good that I had to write about it here. It starts as a decent pop track led by an acoustic guitar and Julia Michaels‘ great vocals. So far so good but nothing to write home about. Then the chorus starts and it becomes a very different song, swapping out the acoustic guitar with a gritty electric one. The end result is one of the best #poprock tunes of the year, which comes accompanied by a fun music video that nods to a few psychological thrillers. Well worth your time.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Alternative
  • Pop

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The Hisunz – CNTRDCTNS

CNTRDCTNS sounds great. Period. But when you are told that it is just the second single The Hisunz have ever released, then you can’t help but feel blown away. Well, I guess it helps a lot to have the guidance of another band that has been around for a long time now: The Ting Tings, who co-wrote and produced some of their songs. The Hisunz were formed in East London but both of their members, Emma Barber and Alex Roman, come from Spain. In fact, they’re currently in that country preparing their debut album.

The Hisunz cite The XX as one of their influences and you can definitely sense that in CNTRDCTNS, which mixes layered guitars and atmospheric electronic sounds with dreamy vocal melodies. It’s a mesmerizing indie rock song that you will want to put on repeat. Highly recommended!

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Folk/Indie
  • Pop

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WOLFNUNN feat. CLOUDE – Make Me Feel Bad

WOLFNUNN is the electronic/dance project of London-based multi-instrumentalist, writer and producer Joshua Nunn. He draws inspiration for writing songs from watching movies, imagining wherein the movie his tracks would fit in. Case in point, he wrote Make Me Feel Bad, his first original release, right after watching The Matrix and his intention was to create an atmospheric track for the end credits. The ethereal vocals in the song are from Spain-based artist CLOUDE, who attends the same university in London Joshua goes to (he studies Music Technology), and they couldn’t fit the tune any better.

Listening to the track, it’s hard to believe that it was recorded remotely (thanks to the first lockdown) and mixed and produced with home equipment. You really cannot notice anything odd with the recording. All in all, it is pretty clear that Joshua is really talented as a music writer and producer and he could get really far with WOLFNUNN. Hopefully, he will make more collaborations with CLOUDE as well. The future is bright for them.

  • Everything
  • Pop
  • Electronic

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Majozi – Close To You

When someone tells you that a recently-released song got a strong 1980s influence, almost immediately you will think of synths of all types and shapes and, most of the time, you will be right. With Close To You, however, you would be very wrong because music from that decade was much more than just synths. Majozi is a South African #indiefolk / #indiepop artist who decided to push his boundaries further with his latest single by incorporating rhythms and sounds typical of tunes from the 1980s. Think Lionel Richie’s All Night Long with a folksy vibe and a sax-based bridge.

Majozi has been active in his home country for about 10 years and has even had several radio hits over there. He has grown a fanbase in South Africa due to his heartfelt lyrics written from his cheerful perspective of the world. Close To You is a good example of that because you will see that the track is pretty uplifting on its own. It’s the kind of music the whole world needs right now: the kind that will make you smile.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Pop

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almost sex – Blue Heaven

almost sex - Blue Heaven

It’s hard to believe that we’re already in June. It was more than 6 months ago when we were introduced to alternative act almost sex back in January. Since then, they have released a few more singles and even an acoustic EP so to say that they have been very active in 2021 would be an understatement. Each new song has been considerably different to the previous ones and their latest single, Blue Heaven, is no exception. I think it is the one I have liked the most since Charmer, but that does not mean that their others releases are not worth your time. They are.

What I really enjoy about Blue Heaven is its groovy backing track. I don’t know how Nick and Warren do it but it is kind of addictive. You can’t get enough of it. The vocals match the infectious rhythm perfectly well, resulting in a well-rounded song that you will want to play on repeat. Again and again. Check it out below.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Indie
  • Pop

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Chvrches feat. Robert Smith – How Not To Drown

I had been wanting to feature Chvrches here for a long time now but I was waiting for the right opportunity. They they have just released the second single off their forthcoming fourth album, Screen Violence, and I really liked it, so I decided to take the plunge. I’m a big fan of Chvrches’ first two albums but not so much of the third one, Love Is Dead: it was not a bad album but it wasn’t at the same level as the other two. I thought that He Said She Said, the lead single for Screen Violence, could have been in their previous album but this new song, which features the legendary Robert Smith from The Cure, is something else completely. In a sense, it sounds exactly as you would expect from combining the two bands’ styles, while, at the same time, it’s kind of surprising to see how great that hybrid sounds.

How Not To Drown is a song about coping with everything that’s going on in your life and how sometimes you might feel like you just want to go away. If features Chvrches’ electronic soundscapes they got us used to, and, as usual, great vocals from lead singer Lauren Mayberry, one of the coolest and more down-to-earth music artists out there today. Having Robert Smith as well is just the cherry on top. Check this great song out below and start your weekend with a bang.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Folk/Indie
  • Pop

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Shaun Riley – Secret

Shaun Riley is a solo #indiepop artist from Minneapolis that has just released his debut EP: Drive, written, recorded, and mixed by him at home. He also has a Youtube channel where he uploads acoustic covers of popular songs. In a nutshell, that’s all there is to know about Shaun in terms of biographic details, and, quite frankly, that’s all we need. Well, that and the facts that he got a really good voice for pop songs and can write a great hook or two.

Secret, the first track in Drive, is a great example of that. It’s an unpretentious song about feeling infatuated at the beginning of a relationship but good luck getting that chorus out of your head afterwards. On these short track reviews, rather than describing each element of the featured song, I just try to give the reader reasons for spending 3 minutes of your valuable time listening to a song. For Secret, I can’t think of better reasons than flawless vocals and how catchy the chorus is. Everything else is secondary.

We should definitely keep Shaun Riley in our radars.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Pop

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Dawning – Ennui

Dawning - Ennui

Ennui is the word used to refer to that feeling of dissatisfaction you get when you have nothing to do. I suppose Michigan-based artist Aaron Senor, aka Dawning, really hates feeling ennui because he wasted no time between releasing his debut EP, Petals, back in March, and his new single, Ennui. As it was the case before, the great Eclectic Music Lover wrote a flawless review of the single well worth your time. All I can add now is that this is an upbeat indie pop track that can be part of our summer’s soundtrack. You won’t want to miss it!

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Pop

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YumeMike – Dream Out Loud

YumeMike

Yume means ‘dream’ in Japanese and that is the reason why YumeMike chose that moniker, even though he’s actually Italian. He grew up playing bass in multiple #punkrock bands but, as a solo artist, he traded the bass for synths, creating an interesting variant of #indiepop with a strong #poppunk flavour. He cites The Naked And Famous and The Killers as influences, but if you want to have an idea of what he sounds like, think Owl City meets Angels & Airwaves. YumeMike’s ‘dream’ is to inspire and elicit warm feelings through his music. If you like positive messages, this is the artist for you.

Dream Out Loud is part of YumeMike‘s debut album, Light In The Mirror, released in February but that he started working on back in 2019. The track is perfectly on-brand with the artist’s style of uplifting synthpop music but I have to say that the overall production/musical arrangement is really impressive considering he worked on it alone. In fact, YumeMike just released an instrumental version of his debut album that is just as good too. This Italian artist is seriously talented and deserves to be on our radars. Check him out.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Pop