Browsing Tag

Electro Pop

Unshackle your soul with Imelda Gabs’ latest alt-RnB single, Free Spirit

The innovative soul singer Imelda Gabs took back control in her empoweringly enlightening alt-RnB single, Free Spirit, which is just one of the standout singles on her debut LP, Synopsis. The track is for anyone that has ever encountered a fuckboy/girl and been left reeling with questions confounded by insecurity and self-doubt when actions have no cohesion with their words in the cold light of day when they’ve had the usury way.

Any fans of the Weeknd will be instantly enamoured by the synthetically sweet instrumentals that fuse elements of future pop with the soul of RnB to create the perfect platform for her vocal lines as they evolve from ethereal to convectively powerful.

‘Moving on’ songs proliferate the airwaves, but few lyricists prove that the pen is mightier than the sword as well as Imelda Gabs, who will take you on an inner-healing journey with this introspectively emboldening release which takes all of the guilt away from naivety.

Free Spirit hit the airwaves on April 14. Catch it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

AŸA is anything but pedestrian in her jazzy RnB pop single, Sidewalk

Singer-songwriter, producer, and artist AŸA has beguiled the Berlin scene and beyond with her latest RnB pop rendezvous, Sidewalk, which is anything but pedestrian for the way it breaks the monocultural mould by pulling on her Moroccan and Yemeni Roots while keeping the production refreshingly contemporary.

If I’m being honest, I dread the run-up to summer for the swathes of superficial sun-soaked singles that land on my metaphorical desk, but AŸA couldn’t be trite if she tried. The revolutionary soul in the ethereally warm vocal lines melding with the dominant percussion is a lesson in Summer pop alchemy. If the sax lines and the lyrics that narrate a story of romantic stagnation don’t leave you wanting to dive into realms of fulfilment, you may as well hibernate through summer too.

“The lyrics of the song are a metaphor for an ongoing relationship that is actually not going anywhere. Instead of riding into the sunlight with the one you love, you find yourself taking dark paths and compromises for the one you love even though it feels so wrong.”

Sidewalk was written, composed, and produced by AŸA, with help from Kurtis Wells, Johnny Kulo, and Gavriel. Executive production and mixing were taken care of by the #1 Billboard music producer, Ido Poleg, and the single was mastered by the award-winning engineer, Manon Grandjean.

Stream the official music video for Sidewalk on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Parisian electro-pop icon Andrea Dee lit an alchemically emboldened fire under her single, Be Her

Andrea Dee

If you can imagine what it would sound like if Breach and Bjork collaborated on a record, you can get an idea of the fiery aural alchemy contained in the latest electro-pop hit, Be Her, from the trailblazingly magnetic songwriter and producer Andrea Dee.

The single, co-produced by Aaron Knight, is slick with unfuckwithable attitude that Andrea Dee pulls off flawlessly. The unapologetic celebration of her own autonomy becomes as infectious and addictive as the lyrical hook that reprises through the stormer of an earworm, “It’s music that makes me be her”. I can totally relate.

With the bi-lingual lyrics bringing euro dance flavour to the mix that also found room for indie funk guitar licks, the Parisian singer-songwriter affirmed that she’s got a place in the industry – and it is way above the underground.

Be Her will officially release on March 24th. Hear it on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Chasing Abbey – Lie: 10/10 Sociopaths Will Detest The Taste of This Dance-Driven-Pop Ear Milk

What do you say about one of the freshest pop palettes of the decade, let alone the year? The scintillatingly sweet soul in the latest single, Lie, from the Irish outfit Chasing Abbey is enough to make a sociopath swoon at something other than their ability to manipulate for personal pleasure.

Capturing the deceit that hits the hardest, when it comes from someone holding your vulnerability in your hands, the electro-dance-pop earworm goes out to anyone in the same boat. While the synth lines deliver their glistening stabs, the steady builds and breaks in the backbeat work to entrance you as much as the titular reprise, which seems to garner more meaning with every repetition of that monosyllabic three-letter word that will be reverberating around your head long after this hit has faded to a close.

Taking the inspiration of the dance-driven pop hits from the 2010s; Chasing Abbey did more than emanate the likes of Swedish House Mafia and MK; they set the bar for every artist that wants to transcend their sound, which has seen them win the Irish Song of the Year Award at the RTÉ Choice Music Prize, sell-out national tours and support The Chainsmokers, Rita Ora and Enrique Iglesias.

Stream Lie on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Nicholas Dante incited a sonic insurgence with his harsh electro-art pop debut, Rebellion

The Brooklyn-based artist, Nicholas Dante, brought the uprising we’ve all been waiting for in his electro-art pop debut single, Rebellion.

The hyper-pop elements melded with harsh electro synthetics allow industrial tones to go pop in the insurgently promising debut that the world is already paying attention to. After making light work of putting momentum behind the debut, the Avant Garde originator will undoubtedly become a landmark fixture in the future of pop.

Beyond the cinematic production, the experimentalist holds reverence to pop pioneers, naming Britney Spears, Madonna, and Janet Jackson as his main aural influences, which goes a fair way in explaining the hooky proclivities of the track that will push your speakers to their limits.

Jump on the sonic insurrection by streaming Rebellion on Spotify, Bandcamp, and Soundcloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Leave your inhibitions at the door for Loren’s latest EDM anthem, The Feeling ft. Jessi McDonald

The up-and-coming artist Loren’s sophomore electro-pop hit, The Feeling, featuring Jessi McDonald, is making light work of catching up to the hype of their 2022 debut single, I Want All Your Love.

Uninhibited affectionate ecstasy surges through the sensuously demure deep house instrumentals that effortlessly coalesce with the honeyed vocal lines that are tinged with tropic tranquillity.

If any new independent EDM hit can make you lose your head and heart on the dancefloor, it is The Feeling, with its addictively liberating rhythms and lyrics which prove that giving yourself completely is the only way to truly feel free. The infectiously euphoric backbeats are the only upper you will need to leave you riding on a high.

The Feeling officially released on February 3rd; check it out on SoundCloud and Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Starya went interstellar with her cosmically ethereal electro-clash hit, Jealous

Fusing the provocative electro-clash energy and snappy vocal melodies of Peaches with the demure indie cool of the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, the luminary art-pop songstress Starya’s latest single, Jealous, is tantalisingly interstellar. But that isn’t all; this alchemically amalgamated cocktail hybridises itself even further with elements of hip-hop, techno and dubstep, giving the bass a kick and the beats an irresistible pulse you’ll want to synergise with time and time again.

LA is known for breeding iconic artists by the applecart, but if anyone has what it takes to rock it and squeeze out new juice it is the singer-songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist and DJ who is making light work of transcendent aural domination. Once you’ve had your jealousy fill, stay tuned for the upcoming EP, Find The Key, set to be released in February 2023.

Jealous hit the airwaves on January 31st. It is now available to streams on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Madishu is a contemporary electro-pop cut above the rest in her hypersonically redemptive single, Naïve

Madishu

The Austrian electro-pop artist, Madishu, is off the sonic Richter scale in her latest single, Naïve. The piercing RnB-tinged electro-pop aesthetic will ensnare you from the first melodic hook, while the lyrical vulnerability pushes you deeper into the soulfully disarming hypersonic world, which will be a hit with any fans of 8 Bit-adjacent music.

If any artist can relinquish you from the shame of being naïve, it is Madishu with this addictively vindicating earworm which effortlessly demonstrates the beauty in sincerity when there’s such a scarcity.

“The song is about a toxic friendship I broke free from, and the journey I took in learning to value myself enough to no longer tolerate people who constantly take from me without giving back.”

After achieving viral renown via her collaboration with MOONBOY on the track Need U and off the back of her own original work, the Austrian singer-songwriter is a vision of visceral colour in a drab and dark world.

Naïve will officially stream across all major platforms on February 3rd. Hear it here.

Follow Madishu on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

Review by Amelia Vandergast.

YME adrenalized self-liberation in her euphoric electro-pop hit, I Rule the World

Since making her 2021 debut, the Netherlands-hailing electro-pop sensation YME has established herself as one to watch alongside her producer, Marco Roosink, as she transcribes personal experience into vulnerably infectious earworms.

The independent artist’s latest single, I Rule the World is a triumphantly empowering track which does plenty more than testifies to individual strength; it shares the euphoria of self-liberation. As her vocals switch between ethereal soul to demurely playful grace, it’s impossible not to get caught up in the adrenalized helter-skelter hit that embeds entrancing elements around addictively encapsulating lyrics.

I Rule the World was officially released on January 19th; check it out on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Nikol spoke for the outliers in their electroclash hit, Not Like You

The Nashville Alt-Pop trio, Nikol, seared their authenticity across the defiantly autonomous latest single, Not Like You. After hearing the disjointed electroclash instrumentals pulsate against the hypersonically sticky sweet vocal lines, you will never think of individually the same ever again.

After a turbulent storm of distorted electronica sets an instantly anthemic tone, the confessional lyricism fed through effect-laden pop vocals affirms that true outliers don’t colour outside of the lines through an edgy wanton desire to create a difference from the mainstream. The lyric “It’s not that I don’t want to fit in, life is better with imagination” poignantly says it all.

Any fans of Dead Disco and Shiny Toy Guns will undoubtedly want to discover Nikol before they get even bigger. So far in their career, they’ve hit the stages at The Vans Warped Tour twice and secured multiple licencing offers, which placed their alt-pop hits on hit shows, including The Real World and Keeping Up with the Kardashians. If any act has what it takes to blow up like an atom bomb in 2023, it is Nikol.

Not Like You was officially released on January 6th. Stream it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast