Nicole Blakk on Broke Love and Turning Awkward Dating Experiences Into Music

Nicole Blakk is a Watford-born rapper and singer-songwriter whose multilingual lyricism and soulful delivery across English, French and Punjabi are quickly turning heads across UK music. Blending sharp storytelling with melodic instinct and emotionally grounded writing, her music balances honesty, wit and lived experience in a way that feels both personal and immediately relatable.

Over the past year, Nicole has steadily built momentum through viral freestyles, standout live performances, and a growing catalogue of releases that feel both personal and sharply observed. She recently appeared on Dave’s BRIT-nominated number one album The Boy Who Played the Harp, delivering a standout verse on “Fairchild”, while appearances alongside DJ Mak Ten, Red Bull freestyles, Glastonbury’s Shangri-La and SXSW showcases have further positioned her as one of the UK’s most exciting emerging voices.

Her latest single Broke Love continues that trajectory. Inspired by a painfully awkward date experience, the track transforms frustration into a witty but self-assured reflection on standards, boundaries, and modern dating culture. Set against a warm, lo-fi backdrop, Nicole moves effortlessly between melodic phrasing and incisive lyricism, capturing the kinds of everyday experiences that make her music resonate so widely with young audiences today.

What’s the story behind "Broke Love"?

It really did come from a place of pure awkwardness! I was out with this guy, he pushed through the train barriers and asked me to pay for his food when he’s the one who asked me out… I remember just sitting there like, "...oh."  When I got into the studio later, that phrase ‘broke love’ just kept sticking in my head, and we built the whole track around that specific energy of dating in this economy. It’s not a necessity - get your priorities in check before you date.

A lot of people discovered you through freestyles. Is that still a big part of how you create, or has your process evolved?

Freestyles are my roots and definitely how a lot of people have found me, but my process has definitely grown. I used to just jump on a beat and go, but now I’m much more intentional. I spend more time on the architecture of a song - the hooks, the bridge, and the overall concept - rather than just focusing on the bars. It’s about building a world now, not just a moment.

What do you enjoy most about making music, and what still challenges you?

What I love most is that "click" moment in the studio when a finished song sounds exactly like the feeling I had in my head. It’s like magic. The biggest challenge, honestly, is the consistency. Pushing through those days when creativity isn't just flowing naturally, and you have to actually *work* for the inspiration to kick in can be tough.

For artists coming up right now, what’s actually worth focusing on, and what’s just noise?

For anyone coming up: focus on consistency and your own lane. The "noise" is definitely the social media comparison game - looking at everyone else’s wins and feeling like you're behind. Don't chase the algorithm; chase the quality of your work. If the music is undeniable, the rest will follow.

What’s one habit or routine that’s really helped you improve as an artist?

One thing that really levelled me up was my routine. Having a healthy routine can be difficult with late-night sessions and eating junk and takeaways when you get in super late from the studio. I started intentionally doing earlier sessions, sleeping well and taking care of my routine. This helped me in so many ways, but it can be difficult to keep up. Once you get into it, you’ll see the benefits. 

What’s the most important thing you’ve learned about networking/building relationships in the industry?

The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that authenticity beats an elevator pitch every time. People in this industry can smell transactional vibes a mile away.

I’ve found that just being a cool, genuine person leads to much better collaborations than trying to use someone for a connection.

Build friends, not just contacts. I’ve made so many friendships, and these have then developed into amazing business relationships. Through having this mindset, I met my manager, and honestly, my life has changed for the better!

What’s been inspiring you creatively lately?

Just listening, I’ve been wearing my headphones less in public and truly just taking in the environment around me. There are so many beautiful things happening around us, and if we take a moment to just take it in, we will see and feel them.

Three things you can’t live without in your bag?

I never leave the house without these three:

1. Lip gloss: obvs can’t have crusty lips

2. White eyeliner for my eyebrows and lashes 

3. And of course, my keys since they have both my house and car keys—I'd literally be stranded without them!

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Nicole Blakk on Instagram & TikTok | More Links

NOTEP on “Radio,” Filming at Sea in Koh Tao, and Working with Intention

NOTEP is a Thai musician, DJ, producer, and environmentalist working across electronic music and A/V performance, where sound, environment, and process are closely tied. Blending ambient textures, traditional elements, and her voice as an instrument, she builds immersive, multi-sensory sets that move between introspection and physicality.

Her work has extended beyond the studio through collaborations with Louis Vuitton, La Mer, Prada, and Nike, alongside her sustainability initiative “High On Your Own Supply” and projects with Greenpeace Thailand and UNDP. Her debut album Metamorphogenesis (2024) marked a move from ambient, sound-led work into more rhythm-driven territory, while maintaining an experimental edge.

Released on Earth Day, “Radio” is the first track from her upcoming EP PAKARANG—named after the Thai word for coral. The project draws a direct line between the ocean and the human body, grounding its ideas in material and structure rather than metaphor.

The video, filmed on the open ocean in Koh Tao with digital artist Cyrus James Khan, reflects that same approach: self-produced, stripped back, and built from reclaimed materials sourced from the sea.

“Radio” was released on Earth Day. What was the starting point for the track?

It actually started with a conversation I had with Alex, my co-writer and producer. I told him I felt like I was going through a quiet identity shift, so before we even opened the session, I suggested we meditate and ask for guidance.

After that, we entered the studio in a very calm, grounded state. I chose four beats that were completely different from each other, but each reflected a different part of me. We wove them into one track. At its core, “Radio” is about tuning into your inner frequency and reconnecting with a higher sense of self.

The video for “Radio” was filmed on the open ocean in Koh Tao. What was that experience like, and how did it shape the video?

It was a very intimate, two-person production between digital artist Cyrus James Khan and myself. We spent about three hours on a long-tail boat at sunset in the ocean around Koh Tao Island, where he’s based. We did everything ourselves, from concept and sourcing materials to styling, filming, and editing. Working together felt very natural. We balance each other’s strengths and gaps in a way that makes the process flow.

The project was especially meaningful because of our shared connection to Koh Tao and our concern about ocean waste there. That directly shaped the visual concept. My entire outfit was made from reclaimed materials: a dress by Eric Tobua using soda can tops, and a skirt and headpiece I created from ghost nets and ocean debris. It became a physical expression of the message.

You integrate natural soundscapes with electronic production. For artists interested in working this way, where do you begin—field recording, synthesis, or concept?

Start by listening to the things closest to you. Field recording is a powerful entry point because it forces you to pay attention to your environment. Once you begin observing sound more deeply, you naturally learn more about yourself as well. From there, the concept and production choices tend to reveal themselves.

There’s increasing conversation around eco-conscious production in music. Beyond visuals and messaging, what are some tangible ways artists can rethink how they create and present their work?

It starts with awareness. Think about the footprint your work leaves, both physically and psychologically. What materials are you using? What systems are you supporting? And just as important, what kind of mindset are you encouraging in your audience? Shifting perspective can be as impactful as reducing waste.

Environmental messaging in music can sometimes feel didactic or surface-level. How do you avoid that, and instead create something that feels embodied?

I don’t approach it as messaging. It’s more about lived experience. When something is genuinely part of your life, it naturally shows up in the work without needing to be explained.

I focus on translating feeling and connection rather than trying to instruct. That’s what makes it resonate on a deeper level.

What’s one piece of advice you’d give to producers or artists who are just starting out and trying to find their sound?

Set intention before you create. Even something simple like meditating with your collaborator before starting a session can completely shift the outcome.

It aligns your energy, clarifies what you want to express, and builds a deeper connection, which you can hear in the music.

On a challenging day, how do you unwind or reset to get back into a creative headspace?

Sleep helps the most. Beyond that, walking, spending time in water, going to an onsen, or getting a massage. Anything that brings me back into my body instead of my mind.

What’s something small or unexpected that often sparks an idea for you?

Being in nature. Even a small detail, like the texture of sound or light, can open up an entirely new direction.

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Notep on Instagram

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Multidisciplinary Electronic Artist Aja Ireland on New EP Moult Mouth, the Monstrous Aesthetic and Visual Collaboration with Joey Holder

Photo Credit Hogg: IG @999999999boyscrysendpics

Aja Ireland is a multidisciplinary electronic artist working across performance, sound design, visuals, DJing and creative development. Her work spans club, gallery and digital environments, with a focus on live performance, spatial sound and collaborative visual worlds.

Her latest project, Moult Mouth, is an EP and live AV show released across February to April 2026. Blending experimental UK bass, industrial techno, baile funk percussion and detailed sound design, the record is built alongside a physical performance practice where movement plays a central role. Developed in collaboration with Joey Holder, the project extends into a multidisciplinary audiovisual work incorporating costume, choreography and digital visuals.

Across both the EP and the live show, the human form is continuously altered and reconfigured. Costumes by Studio FCLX and SKNDLSS exaggerate and distort the body, while the visual world introduces shifting, hybrid organisms and unstable physical states. Sound and image operate together to create an immersive environment that moves between club energy and performative intensity.

Movement functions as a core element within the work. Ireland approaches dance as a form of expression and construction, shaping both the performance and the way the music is realised. The result is a project that connects sound, body and image within a single framework, presented through both recorded material and live performance.

What follows is a conversation with Ireland on the development of Moult Mouth, her approach to collaboration, and the processes that inform her work across sound, movement and visual form.

Moult Mouth explores monstrous femininity, body autonomy and liberation through movement and sound. What drew you to the “monstrous” as a creative and emotional framework for this project?

Growing up as a woman in club spaces, you quickly learn that your sensuality isn't really yours. Men touching you, staring at you, your body existing to satisfy someone else's gaze. That's just a normal Tuesday night out for most women, and it makes it genuinely confusing to figure out how to have sexual and sensual energy and actually celebrate it in a healthy way. Nobody really teaches you that part.

Queer safe spaces changed that for me. Good music, a place to dress up, people who weren't watching to consume you. That's where I started to find and celebrate that side of myself.

The monstrous aesthetic is two things for me running alongside each other. The first is that I genuinely find it beautiful. Leigh Bowery, Hungry, Matières Fécales have been with me from the start, and more recently Niohuru X, who really leans into it. What people are calling post-human beauty now, distorted drag, contradictions and contrasts, that space has always felt like home.

What I love about it is that it lets the usually hidden things exist openly without needing to be fixed. Discomfort, imperfection, the parts of yourself that don't feel easy to show. It's like meeting your shadow self instead of pushing it away, recognising something in those warped, unfamiliar forms that reflects your own inner contradictions. Beauty stops being about becoming acceptable and starts being about letting everything be seen, even the parts you'd rather deny.

The second part is more personal. When I'm dressed like that, I can actually move the way I want to. The monstrous aesthetic acts as armour. Somehow it gives me permission to be sensual in a way that feels safe and entirely mine. So Moult Mouth was expressing the frustrations with the (like in the track Smile) but also celebrating moving through it (like with Mami Voguer and Grind it like).

The EP exists not only as music but as a multidisciplinary work spanning AV performance, costume and visual worlds with Joey Holder. How do you approach building a cohesive artistic universe across sound, body and image?

Joey and I have been collaborating for nearly ten years, so there's a real shorthand there. Our interests, references and instincts have a lot of crossover, and working together feels completely natural as a result.

In terms of how a project like Moult Mouth comes together, it's honestly less about planning and more about accumulation. I'm always collecting, always drip-feeding myself new inspiration. Then because of my ADHD, there'll be a burst, usually three to six months where I'm so fired up I just have to make something. With this EP, I was touring Cryptid, still producing constantly on the road, and this whole new body of work arrived.

The cohesion comes from staying true to a set of obsessions that have been with me my whole career: distorted drag, creaturely beauty, the monstrous as expression. It's never a decision, it's just where everything naturally lands.

Your live shows are intensely physical and performative. How has incorporating movement and embodiment changed the way you produce or structure your music in the studio?

Movement is an expression of the music I produce, and I always produce from a place of pure inspiration. Mami Voguer came directly from playing Dancity Festival and being so inspired by the other artists that I just had to make a song to represent what I'd just experienced.

Smile was made after playing with Slikbak at Avant Art Festival. Other artists inspire what I'm making, but the ones that affect me most are always the ones that make me move my body. It's almost like I'm detached from it, it does things I couldn't think of by myself.

Whilst making Moult Mouth, I was on my own journey of just wanting to move in a more sensual way and not feel self conscious doing it. There was a real block there, an insecurity.

So everything is created and expressed in flow state. In terms of specific production choices, I used more Brazilian percussion on the record, and structured the first few tracks in a more commercial way, with choruses and verses, which isn't something I always do but I felt they needed that structure. Then the techno tracks towards the end of the record were much more free flowing.

Photo Credit: Nanni Roberto

What is your favourite part of the music-making process, and what is the part you find most challenging or confronting?

When I'm at my most inspired I feel like a vessel and it just flows through me. I could make music for hours, days, without eating or sleeping or taking breaks.

The most challenging part is that I never feel like I reach what I actually want to sound like. And I change genre a lot, so when people connect with a particular track or sound I'll often completely change direction on the next record.

The WORM residency really reminded me why I make sound in the first place. Being fully immersed in a studio for days shifts something in how you think. Instead of chasing ideas they just start happening, textures unfolding, rhythms building, machines responding in ways you didn't expect.

Some of the best moments weren't about finding the perfect sound but letting the machines lead, responding instinctively rather than overthinking. I was drawn to the unpredictable, the way certain synths seem to breathe when pushed a certain way, how layering raw unprocessed sounds creates something deeply alien. The Synton Syrinx, only a few hundred were ever made between 1983 and 1984, the Emotional Machine by Dalin Waldo, the Blippoo Box by Rob Hordijk, the Roland D50. Every instrument had its own logic and I had to meet it on its terms.

That instinctive approach is how I work generally. I love to layer and manipulate sounds without listening back in between, just building blindly and discovering what's happened. I use Granulator a lot, autotune in places it's not supposed to be, I resample constantly. 

You’ve built a career across club culture, contemporary art, film and performance contexts. What helps you connect with the right collaborators and creative communities?

It's one thing to love someone's work, and for them to love yours, but you also have to connect on a level of energy and communication, both need the time and capacity, and there are so many things that have to align for a collaboration to actually work.

A lot of it I think is down to my higher power and who she wants me to work with. But social media is a genuinely useful tool for research and connection, and so is paying attention to what friends and peers are sharing, going to events, being on tour. I don't really go out unless I'm playing these days, but there are always so many inspiring artists to discover.

You have to listen to your gut. Just because you love someone's work doesn't mean it's going to be a good fit. I think you just know when you meet the right person. I’ve loved collaborating with Joey Holder, LULALOOP, IMPATV and BORA over the years and in the last year am so grateful for new collaboration with Nicholas Delap who created the music video for Mami Vogue and to Studio FCLX and SKNDLSS for the costumes for touring and music videos which have been an absolute dream. I love to be positive and show as much respect and gratitude as possible when working with other people and have built such beautiful relationships and long term friendships from this. 

What practical advice would you give to artists trying to develop a distinctive artistic identity and creative voice?

I've taught this to a lot of students and musicians over the years, and there's so much I could say, but I keep coming back to three things.

Be authentic. Stay true to what really moves you and what is right for the project.

Have anchor points. Key influences, people, images, anything from a record cover to a make-up artist to something like water or nature. Choose a few and keep returning to them, especially during creative blocks.

Do your research properly. Not just who and what is currently trending, but go back in time and understand who they were inspired by. Read books. Don't just build a Pinterest board, although those are genuinely useful too.

I do 1:1 sessions and workshops teaching this so make sure to follow me on IG for updates @ajaireland or drop me an email if you’d like more support with this musicwithaja@gmail.com

Mami Voguer Still

How do you stay creatively grounded or take care of yourself during intense creative periods or touring?

To be honest, the time I need to take most care of myself is actually during the booking period. There is so much rejection that comes with pitching shows, and that's what I struggle with most. The touring itself is the fun part, even if it's physically demanding.

When I'm on the road I make sure I do really thorough logistics planning so everything runs smoothly and I'm not carrying that mental load as I do all the bookings myself. Generally I have to do a lot of self care anyway in my life. I meditate, I'm sober, nearly nine years now, and I try to eat well and exercise. It all sounds very boring but the most basic things have the biggest impact. I also reach out to friends and fellow musicians for support, because doing everything yourself is a lot. And I do take proper breaks. Every few years I might take a year out, get a normal job for a while, have the same routine and feel grounded again.

What tools, techniques or approaches have been most important in shaping your sonic language?

Experimentation above everything. I use Ableton, I love Granulator, I use autotune in places it's not supposed to be used, and I resample constantly.

I love to draw my compositions out using shapes and symbols before I start, to plan the journey of the track. I also love to layer and manipulate sounds without actually listening back in between, just stacking plug ins, warping, stretching, reversing, tweaking parameters completely blind, and then discovering what's happened.

Recent plug ins I've been enjoying include Random, and I'm currently doing a course with Arca where I noticed she also loves Synplant, which I've been exploring. I had some lessons with Randomer last year too.

Generally I love polyrhythms, deconstructed club and experimental techno, and more recently I've been bringing in Brazilian percussion, which I've always loved but never really knew how to use properly until now. I pull raw samples from Splice, build in Drum Rack, and love generating random patterns as a starting point.

Live I use a Roland TR8S, an autotune pedal with distortion and delay on vocals, and I run the drums through a Metal Zone. I used to use a Korg Minilogue live but after so much international touring I had to reduce the setup, so now it's Ableton and a midi controller to trigger samples alongside the drum machine (although I hate using a computer on stage haha).

Looking back at your journey so far, what is something you wish you had known when you first started as a producer and performer?

I might have studied music if I'd known how much connections matter in this industry. Not really for the learning itself, but for the access. Getting in front of the right people is genuinely hard when you can't afford to live in London and you're not interested in the drinking and going out side of things. But really I wouldn’t have changed anything - I think everything happens for a reason, and we are exactly where we’re supposed to be. There is a lesson in all the difficulties and it builds strength and empathy.

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Aja Ireland on Instagram

‘Moult Mouth’ on Bandcamp | Website

Iris Gold on ‘Sugar On My Lips’, Healing Through Music and Working with Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart

Photo credit: Emil Hamburg

Iris Gold’s work has always existed in flux—shaped by shifting geographies, hybrid influences and a refusal to settle into one fixed identity.

Born in London and raised in Copenhagen’s Christiania, her Indian and Jamaican heritage runs through a body of work that resists settling in one place for too long, pulling from soul, pop and psychedelia with a lightness of touch.

Nominated for Best New Live Act at the Danish Music Awards in 2019, Gold has since appeared at festivals across Europe. Her live résumé stretches further still, with support slots for artists including Taylor Swift, Doja Cat, Robbie Williams, Miguel and Blur.

Later in 2026, she will take on the lead role in a Tina Turner musical—casting that carries a certain resonance, not least following Dave Stewart’s comparison of her to Turner. In the meantime, her focus remains on her third album, Sugar On My Lips, which she is touring across Denmark—her first full run of shows in the country in four years.

With Sugar On My Lips, Gold shifts again—towards something more open-ended, less concerned with definition than with feeling, and more willing to hold vulnerability alongside confidence.

What's the story behind "Sugar On My Lips" and how did you and Dave Stewart first connect?

"Sugar On My Lips" came from a deep desire to bring softness, sweetness, and love into a world that feels a bit heavy sometimes. I wanted to create something that feels like a hug, but also has power in it.

I connected with Dave Stewart very naturally. There was an instant creative spark. He's someone who really listens and creates space, and I felt free to just be myself from the beginning. It never felt forced—more like two energies meeting at the right time.

You've described the album as a "celebration of life." What did that look like in practice while making it?

It looked like letting go. Laughing a lot. Being present. We didn't overthink things—we followed the feeling. Some days were light and playful, others more emotional, but everything was welcome. It was about capturing real moments instead of trying to perfect them. That's life to me—messy, beautiful, alive.

There's a strong balance between softness and strength across the record. Was that intentional, or something you discovered as the album unfolded?

I think it's just who I am. I've always felt that softness is a strength. There's so much power in being open, in feeling deeply, in staying connected to your heart. So the balance wasn't something I planned—it revealed itself as I allowed myself to be fully present in the music.

Photo credit: Emil Hamburg

How do you decide which ideas are worth developing into full songs, and which ones to leave behind?

It's very intuitive for me. If something sticks—if I keep coming back to it, or it gives me a certain feeling in my body—then I know it has something. Some ideas are nice, but they don't have that spark yet. And I've learned to trust that. You can't force magic.

Working with someone like Dave Stewart, who has such a strong legacy, how do you hold onto your own voice while still being open to that level of input?

For me, it starts with being grounded in who I am. When you know your voice, collaboration becomes something that expands you instead of changing you.

Dave was really beautiful in that way—he never tried to shape me into something else. He supported my vision and helped me bring it further.

What does a typical day on tour look like for you right now—from waking up to going on stage?

I try to keep it very grounded and gentle. I wake up slowly, drink water, maybe do some breathwork or stretching. During the day I protect my energy—eat well, take walks, stay a bit in my own bubble.

Before the show I have my rituals—warming up, getting quiet, tuning in. And then stepping on stage is like opening a portal. That's where everything flows.

For artists preparing for their first tour, what are 2–3 things you wish you had understood earlier about touring?

Protect your energy. Not everything needs your attention. Rest is part of the work—it's essential. And stay connected to yourself. It's easy to get pulled in many directions, but your center is everything.

How do you balance performance, vocal health, and overall wellbeing during a busy run of shows?

I listen to my body. Hydration, sleep, and vocal care are non-negotiable. But also silence—giving myself space to not always be "on." There's a discipline in taking care of yourself that allows you to keep showing up with love and presence.

When you're on the road, how do you stay creatively connected—are you writing, collecting ideas, or fully switching off?

It comes in waves. Sometimes I'm collecting everything—little melodies, conversations, emotions. Other times I need to fully switch off and just live. That's just as important, because that's where the real inspiration comes from.

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Iris Gold on Instagram | Sugar On My Lips Tour

Evann McIntosh on New Album ‘Fantasy Fuel’, 60+ Million Streams and Stepping Back from Industry Pressure

Photo credit: Nicholas Cantu

Evann McIntosh is a singer, songwriter and producer whose breakout EP MOJO has surpassed 60 million streams. Their second album Fantasy Fuel arrives after a period of stepping back from that rapid rise, and follows a relocation to Chicago, where they began writing from a different vantage point.

Written between Chicago and Los Angeles and produced with Abe Rounds, the record reflects that shift in both environment and approach. It moves beyond the insular world of their earlier work into something more collaborative, rhythm-forward and emotionally exposed, with contributions from artists including Meshell Ndegeocello and Madison Cunningham.

Across its ten tracks, Fantasy Fuel centres on desire, projection and miscommunication, tracing the tension between staying in emotional loops and choosing to move forward — a push and pull captured between “Mull It Over” and “Better”, their collaboration with Ndegeocello.

The release arrives alongside a run of live dates across the US, with shows scheduled through April, May and June, including stops in Chicago, Seattle and San Francisco.

After the momentum of MOJO, you took a step back before making this record. What did that distance give you creatively?

Perspective. In this industry it bodes well for artists to have a very “go go go” mindset and work ethic, and for some people that sort of grind is in their nature but I don’t think I operate that way. Especially in the context of my situation at the time I’d made MOJO, it went crazy in an unexpected way and I was 16. My life and my trajectory as a human being and the trajectory of my career as an artist are so intertwined and so separate.

I feel like the quality of my work is informed by the quality of me. MOJO brought me so many great opportunities and experiences, it brought me to where I am, but there were a lot of really important and necessary canon young person experiences I needed to have, I needed to figure out who I was outside of a social media personality and how I exist in the world. I was scared to try and fail in a lot of ways because of a perceived social standing, both in my creative work and outside of it. I thought if I messed up people would care, and I needed space to breathe and the freedom to figure it out, become a well rounded individual.

Few 16 year old people have the necessary boundaries and sense of self to be able to navigate that level of visibility. I think as things progressed with MOJO and the project following I became aware that I wanted to be more equipped for the world I was moving into, and that stability in what can feel like a really turbulent environment that’s subject to change from second to second has to come from within.

Artistically I also knew I wanted to progress, though I’m proud of everything I’ve ever made, I knew I wanted the next project to feel like growth and that just takes time. Also in the rapid fire nonstop endless stream of product (that is only speeding up), I did not see a future for myself.

Longevity and the future of anything worthwhile is in tuning all of that out and zooming all the way out to see where you’re at in the timeline of everyone who’s ever done what you’ve done before you. Let that motivate the decisions you make, not what’s happening on your phone. It’s not in the screen, it’s in tangible things like books and records and the community you’re living in. Those things are real and have real history and significance. Everything else feels like a distraction from that. That way of thinking informed the making of Fantasy Fuel. 

The album touches on desire, projection, and identity. How do you approach writing about those themes in a way that still feels honest and grounded?

I try not to be so intentional about it, I was having a writing drought because I was overthinking my process and trying to be very exact about what was going to come out on the page. I can’t get anything genuine that way, I think it’s better to have fun and let whatever honesty is in the music sneak in how it wants to. The themes are subconscious and feel like something that’s none of my business lol. If you’re living a certain experience it’s going to bleed into anything you do.

What’s your favourite part of making music and what’s the part you enjoy the least?

My favorite part of making music is seeing the vision come together, and the high you get when you’re in the zone and pieces start to fall into place, even if you listen back the next day and it sounds nothing like it did when you were making it. The part I enjoy least is probably trying to promote it.  

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received so far when it comes to building a career in music?

I feel like I don’t get too much advice outside of the obvious “read those contracts!”. Very important. Or I get unwarranted advice from a lot of people that isn’t really productive, usually it’s dudes who like to hear themselves talk. But it seems like this industry is just as ambiguous to everybody else as it is to me. I’d say it has never benefited me in my career (or life) to shrink or try to conform. I’m inherently hip, this is nothing to worry about, I’ve just got to be myself.

The more certain you are of yourself the less easy it is for things to shake you or for you to be swayed into making decisions you don’t feel good about. Young women are both encouraged to be and discouraged from being unyielding and sometimes even by the same people. It’s a confusing world, a really confusing space, you can’t make everyone happy but you certainly can make yourself. 

What’s your top networking tip for artists trying to find the right collaborators or community?

Who do you like? Whose work moves you? Follow that.

What are you listening to at the moment?

Recently this guy Bill Callahan. I was listening to a lot of Rufus Wainwright who I’m super stoked to get to open for. Attica Blues by Archie Shepp and English Settlement by XTC. 

And outside of music, what’s been inspiring you lately?

I just finished reading Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon and I’m now on to Libra by Don Delillo.

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Photo credit: Nicholas Cantu

Evann McIntosh on Instagram | Fantasy Fuel Vinyl | Tour

Rocco on “Surely”, Viral Momentum and Building a DIY Music Career

Rocco is a bassist, singer, producer and world champion beatboxer, moving between technical precision and instinct-led creativity.

After a year touring internationally with Grammy-nominated artist NAO, they step into their solo project with “Surely” — a debut that didn’t follow a traditional rollout, but grew out of a moment. A 15-second jam — layering voice, beatboxing and double bass — unexpectedly took off online, building a level of demand that shifted the direction of the release.

Rather than rushing to meet it, Rocco took their time. The track was developed slowly, in a DIY way, across a year shaped by recovery, reflection and a return to performing. Along the way, the process was shared openly, with a growing audience following in real time. What emerges is a track that feels both intimate and expansive — somewhere between indie, trip-hop and experimental soul.

Drawing on influences ranging from Radiohead and Massive Attack to Nina Simone and Charles Mingus, Rocco’s work resists easy categorisation. It’s shaped by improvisation, multi-instrumentalism and a willingness to let things unfold — even within an industry that often pushes for clarity and consistency.

Your debut single “Surely” grew out of a viral 15-second jam. What is the story behind how the track evolved from that spontaneous moment into the final release?

I actually wasn’t planning to embark on a solo project at this point - I had just come out the other side of a debilitating experience with long covid and was returning to work again. At the time I was on tour playing bass for NAO, savouring every moment of my first big job since my health collapsed.

Going viral almost felt like a spanner in my plan, because I knew I had to respond to it (I’m semi joking here - I was also excited and grateful!).

The process was very DIY - everything was home recorded, and my priority was to keep it fun, easy and stress free. I did what I could with the resources available, and galvanised my audience for moral support. I learned a tonne, with the biggest lesson probably being that I can actually do it. It was really empowering and I’m pleased with how it all went!

You are a multi-instrumentalist who sings, produces, beatboxes, and performs live arrangements. How does working across multiple instruments shape the way you write and produce songs?

I think the personality of the different instruments gives a different flavour to whatever idea is coming through. It means I have a broad palette to work from and when left to my own devices I will make some pretty wildly varied sounding pieces of music.

I know this could potentially be a challenge for me in a world that likes putting people in boxes and an industry that expects a consistent sound from artists. I’m still figuring out how much I care about these types of rules because I understand their function. I guess I’ll figure it out as I go along and maybe I’ll end up with 10 different pseudonyms

Many artists experience sudden viral attention but struggle to convert it into a sustainable release strategy. What did that experience teach you about timing, audience demand, and momentum?

I really experienced this struggle myself - it took me a year to make the song because I was so overwhelmed by the pressure of living up to the expectations of all the people who loved my viral clip.

When I finally started making the song, I brought them into my process, sharing the highs and the lows with a lot of BTS. In the end it was the relentless encouragement of my following that carried me - it genuinely felt like this song belonged to all of us, and I think they feel ownership over it too. I think the lesson for myself was that this is about the relationship I share with my community. When we’re plugged in, the ship sails and everyone seems delighted to be on board!

What is your favourite part of making music, and what is the most challenging part that listeners rarely see?

I love just playing. Exploring, improvising, trying things out. Flow state is induced for me when I’m making for no reason. The inner critic is asleep because it doesn’t matter what comes out. Then there’s a point when the ideas have spilled themselves out and need to be refined. This requires more discipline for me, and is where my inner critic starts to get involved. Sometimes when I’m trying to achieve something specific, I can hit a wall and go round in circles getting very frustrated.

As opposed to when I trust the process and allow the work to create itself through me. Another challenge listeners rarely see is resources reality. Unless we have significant f inancial backing (which I don’t), we are finding time to make our music in amongst working our paid jobs, then spending our earned cash to record and release, which we’re expected to do constantly to keep up momentum. It’s not just our creative energy that goes into our music it’s our literal life blood.

For emerging artists trying to build real connections in the industry, what is your best networking or collaboration tip?


I used to get really stressed out about networking - other than the fact that I am (surprisingly) an introvert, the idea of talking to someone because I wanted something from them felt uncomfortable. At some point I realised that isn’t what networking actually is.

You’re just making friends and connecting with other people in your orbit. When you see it through that lens then it’s just about connecting with other humans, and maybe some of those will lead to collaborations.

You have performed as part of other artists’ bands as well as your own project. What have those different roles taught you about musicianship and stage presence?

I’ve spent a lot of time on stage over the years, working as a session musician or a collaborating artist across different projects. I’m so grateful for this because it’s where I really cut my teeth. I feel very comfortable on stage now. There are certain somatic aspects of performance you simply can’t replicate in a rehearsal room.

My body recognises adrenaline and knows how to stay present within that heightened state. I’m accustomed to how live sound shifts from space to space, and sometimes not being able to hear yourself properly at all, but still staying anchored in the energy of the music and performance.

What are you listening to most at the moment?

My listening habits are quite chaotic TBH I’m not sure what the thread is! I really love so much music that is wildly different from the next thing I’ll listen to.

The last 4 artists I listened to were Radiohead, Nina Simone, Aphex Twin and Alabama Shakes. I actually have a monthly radio show on Soho Radio where I play a genre fluid selection of tunes that I enjoy - old and new. So if you fancy it, come and have a listen!

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Rocco on Instagram | More Links

Summer C Stepped Away From 1 Million Followers to Focus on Her Mental Health. Now She Returns With New Single “My Quiet Kind of Brave”

Photo Credit: @emilx.w

Summer C is a Hong Kong–raised, London-based pop artist and songwriter whose work is defined by emotionally direct, vocal-led songwriting and an intentional approach to storytelling.

After building a social media audience of more than one million followers, she made the rare decision to step away from public visibility to prioritise her mental health and focus on developing her craft away from the pressures of constant output. Rather than chasing viral momentum, she chose to rebuild her creative practice on her own terms—an experience that now shapes both her music and artistic direction.

Her return is marked by My Quiet Kind of Brave, her most personal and musically accomplished work to date, produced with Jamie Sellers (Elton John, Ed Sheeran, FLO) and Annie Rew Shaw. First conceived during her time studying in New York and completed in the aftermath of a mental health crisis, the track reframes bravery not as something loud or performative, but as a quiet, internal act of persistence.

Drawing from her Hong Kong upbringing alongside a deep appreciation for precise pop songwriting, Summer creates music rooted in melody, emotional honesty, and resilience. As a proud trans woman, Summer is also committed to improving access to arts education and supporting organisations that provide mental health resources and safe spaces for LGBTQIA+ young people. With My Quiet Kind of Brave, she reintroduces herself with clarity and intention, marking the beginning of a new chapter defined by artistic autonomy, balance, and renewed confidence in her voice.

Your new single “My Quiet Kind of Brave” marks an important personal and artistic return. What is the story behind the track, and what inspired you to write it?

“My Quiet Kind of Brave” represents a new chapter for me, and it was the first song I wanted my audience to hear. I actually began writing the melody over a decade ago when I was a student at New York University. And when I was writing it, the melody gave me goosebumps and I felt there was something special about it. But I never finished it because it sat right at the top of my chest voice, and I kept telling myself I’d complete it when my voice was ‘ready.’ 

Photo Credit: @emilx.w

A decade later, in the aftermath of a mental health crisis, I finally finished writing the lyrics. And recording this song helped me realise it wasn’t about being ready. It was about showing up. I recorded the lead vocals six times, and each take taught me something new about my voice and my voice was my way back into my body.

When I listen to the track now, I still hear the freedom and joy in it. And I feel a lot of pride with this song. My hope is that the audience will take away that bravery is not something loud or performative, but internal and steady. It’s really about choosing to stay.

You made the difficult decision to step away from a large online following to focus on your mental health and artistic development. Looking back, what did that period teach you?

I think after going through my mental health crisis, it really showed me how unsustainable it is to constantly produce. For the three years that I was active on social media, I was posting daily and at times posting up to five times a day because momentum is everything when you’re growing. But stepping away forced me to face the uncertainty of what would happen if I stopped feeding the algorithm.

What that time gave me was perspective. I realised that I had built my life around being creative when really I should be building creativity into my life. So there’s a lot more balance and coming back now, I feel more aligned with who I am and what I want to say. I’m quite excited and I have a lot more curiosity because I can see how I can do this more sustainably now.

The song reframes bravery as something internal and steady rather than loud or performative. How has your understanding of “bravery” evolved over the past few years?

Over the past few years, my understanding of bravery has shifted a lot. I’ve learned that some of the bravest acts are showing up for yourself, allowing yourself to feel, creating even when it’s uncertain, and choosing honesty over performance.

To help promote this song on social media, I interviewed a lot of people asking about hope, courage, and through them, I’ve learned that being brave is about staying present with your own truth, even when it’s uncomfortable. That you can trust that your voice matters simply because it exists. That has been a huge learning.

What practices or boundaries help you protect your mental health while working in the music industry?

A huge part of protecting my mental health has been about learning how to build boundaries. When you’re posting everyday and multiple times a day you eventually share things before you’re ready to or have fully processed yourself. My brain was trained to constantly look for how to turn what I was going through into an “angle” or “hook”. Unlearning that was the key and it gave me back the power to make the decision to share what it is that I wanted to. 

And practically, I prioritise rest, community, and time offline. I have designated time windows for when I post, reply to comments and analyze what went well and what didn’t. Outside of that, I don’t look at the analytics and that has given my brain time off and rest. I’ve learned to give myself permission to create in cycles rather than on constant demand.

What is your favourite part of making music, and what is the most challenging part that audiences rarely see?

I genuinely love the craft of making music. When I stripped the numbers away from the art, I rediscovered that I love the challenge of shaping a vocal, refining a lyric, and finding subtle details that make a song feel alive.

There’s something deeply satisfying about building something from nothing and watching it take form and I love working with people that challenge me or push me to go further. It’s always cool to see how ideas can change or develop depending on the chemistry of the person you’re with.

Photo Credit: @emilx.w

I think the most challenging part for most artists is the financial reality. So many of us have these grand visions but practically we all have a budget and limited resources to work with. I’ve found that these restraints force me to be more inventive but I think that’s part of the fun too.

What are you listening to at the moment, and which artists or sounds are currently inspiring your songwriting?

I’ve been reconnecting with the music I grew up with in Hong Kong, and it’s been pretty cool to revisit those songs with fresh ears. One songwriter that keeps popping up is Mark Lui. He’s written hits for all the A-list musicians in Asia and I look at him as Hong Kong’s Max Martin. But outside of that, I naturally gravitate toward Top 40 tracks as a pop girl at heart, so there’s a lot of  Olivia Dean and Bruno Mars on my playlist.

With that said I also love Sufjan Stevens. There’s a level of honesty, creativity, and vulnerability in his music that really moves me, and he’s someone I would love to collaborate with one day. 

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Listen to 'My Quiet Kind of Brave' HERE

Follow Summer C on TikTok & Instagram 

VASSIŁINA Discusses Her Existential Avant-Pop Album ‘i.par.ksia.ko’ and Creating Between London and Athens

Vassilina x Lissyelle

Athens-born, London-based avant-pop artist VASSIŁINA returns with i.par.ksia.ko, her second album and first written entirely in Greek. Released via Kiki Music, the record was developed between London and Athens with producer TOTALWERK (Tom Wright), building on the dark electronic and electro-pop foundations of her 2021 debut Fragments while moving into more personal territory shaped by migration, identity, and family.

The project began as a collaborative EP with Greek indie and alt-pop artists before evolving into a full-length album. Its title—Greek for “existential”—reflects the experience of living between places and versions of yourself. Tracks including “Dolini,” “Red Flag,” and “Katadiki” explore belonging, emotional inheritance, and the uncertainty of entering a new phase of adulthood, while an interlude featuring a recorded conversation with her mother brings these themes into direct focus.

Inspired in part by Alice in Wonderland, the album incorporates AI-processed vocal excerpts alongside field recordings and layered vocal arrangements, reflecting shifts in voice, language, and identity. Since releasing Fragments, VASSIŁINA has performed across Greece, the UK, and Germany, including shows at the Athens Digital Arts Festival and London’s Shacklewell Arms, and has opened for artists such as Miss Kittin and Kadebostany.

In this conversation, she discusses the personal experiences behind i.par.ksia.ko, her approach to voice and technology, and the realities of building an artistic practice between cities.

Vassilina x Lissyelle

Your album i.par.ksia.ko explores identity, belonging, and existential transitions. What is the story behind the project?

i.par.ksia.ko /“existentia” was written during a time of constant movement between London and Athens. It was a period of intense questioning: where do I belong and who am I in the process ? When you migrate between cities and countries, your identity doesn’t feel stable, it adjusts depending on the language you’re speaking, the room you’re in, the version of yourself that environment expects.

The album became a map of those parallel lives: the small-town girl, the city girl, the Greek girl in London, the ex-orthodox Christian girl, the daughter, the immigrant, the girl in therapy, the artist vs the girl in depression .It captures the sensation of living on unstable ground,  as if the ground could collapse at any moment and choosing to remain present rather than escape

After years of therapy and taking SNRIs, I kept confronting the same question: why do I have this need to radically change my life? Is it a pattern of self-sabotage or is it evolving and curing your trauma?

The record also explores inherited guilt, shaped by growing up within an Orthodox Christian Environment and the emotional legacy that passes quietly between mothers and daughters. Constant shame that is rarely spoken but deeply rooted .

It’s the first time I’ve written entirely in my mother tongue. That choice made the process more exposed and more truthful and weirdly it became my most extroverted work so far.

The record incorporates AI-processed voice excerpts and conceptual storytelling. How did you approach using AI as part of the creative process? What did it allow you to explore sonically or conceptually?

I didn’t use AI as a replacement for humanity.  I wanted to reflect exactly the feeling that we’re constantly being asked to adapt, accelerate, and reshape ourselves in order to survive within late capitalism. The pressure to produce more, to optimise, to become more “efficient” versions of ourselves , more westernize.  It reshapes our confidence and identity.

We move countries for opportunities. We shift accents to be accepted more. We fragment who we are to fit systems that were not built for us.

So using AI on my voice just to alter my accent was about exaggerating that fragmentation. It became a sonic metaphor for how we are already being altered by technology and music industry by the demand to constantly reinvent ourselves and how awkward and unreal that actual make us sound.

What is your favourite part of making music, and what is the most challenging part that audiences rarely see?

The best part is the creation itself, that raw, unfiltered moment of inspiration. It feels almost like a drug. A creative rush that takes over your whole body. It’s like stepping into a deep emotional retreat or an intense, non-verbal therapy session. You access parts of yourself you didn’t even know were there. That state is addictive. It’s one of the few spaces where I feel completely aligned instinctive, present, untamed.

The most challenging part is everything that follows that goes beyond the music itself. The waiting. The planning. The endless emails. The rejections.

You pour your whole self into something vulnerable and then, suddenly, you’re expected to become the manager, the strategist, the content creator, the producer, the negotiator, the art director everything except the musician. You’re asked to package and promote something deeply personal within systems that often ignore or dismiss it.

There’s also a subtle pressure to reshape yourself in order to make that personal work more “marketable.” So you find yourself altering parts of who you are just to amplify something real inside you. And when the results are slow or invisible which they often are, it can be deeply disheartening. It takes enormous emotional stamina to continue creating when recognition isn’t immediate.

For emerging artists trying to build meaningful connections, what is your best networking tip?

I think we hear so many tips and stories  but realistically Is very subjective. Most of the times is all about luck. Of course, if you are staying back home and not talking to anyone You will rarely see results.  For me, I can only do what works best with my ethics. I freak out when I have to network. I still do it but My social anxiety peaks. I prefer real connections and to be honest that where I see actual results. I love collaborating with other creators. 

Collaboration should feel aligned, not transactional. Show up consistently. Support others genuinely.  Don’t be competitive with others. You are you and they are them. The right people stay and will support you when there’s mutual respect and support.

Which three women in music have inspired you the most?

Bjork; for building entire ecosystems around her work and never compromising her artistic language.

SOPHIE; she didn’t just contribute to hyperpop, she reshaped the sound of contemporary pop altogether.

Kate Bush; for theatrical Performativity and fearless experimentation long before it was safe to do so.

Vassilina x Lissyelle

What is your best advice for young people who want to become producers, singers, or songwriters today?

Do your research and talk to other artists. Stay open. As women especially, we believe that we have to struggle alone in order to prove our worth by doing everything the hard way. That process is so isolating.

My perspective shifted completely when I started connecting with other femme artists while studying at Goldsmiths in London. I attended a female and non-binary music technology group called Omnii and for the first time I felt genuinely empowered in production spaces. Community changes everything.

Understand production at least to the level of building strong demos. Learn the basics of the music industry, contracts, publishing rights, booking etc. Observe how other artists made it. Talent alone is not enough. At the same time, don’t let the industry take away the reason you started creating in the first place. If you have a vision stay true to it. Be patient with your timing.

And build a team. No meaningful vision is built entirely alone. Collaboration doesn’t weaken your voice ,it strengthens it. You can create much more powerful worlds when you allow others to contribute to them. I keep on saying how my stylist and co-art director is now essential part of my band. I grew up so much and evolved as an artist and a person  since I started collaborating with Vinyl Face. 

What are you listening to most at the moment?

I go through phases but It’s been almost two years that I can’t stop listening to Oklou. So I’d say Oklou’s music . it’s not a phase for me. I also love the new album of A Greek artist and a friend of mine Olina and I love to explore new artists.

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Producer, Composer and Sampha Collaborator elsas on Her Creative Process and the Making of Her EP APORIAMOR

Barcelona-born and now based in London, producer, composer and vocalist elsas has quietly become one of the most distinctive voices operating between the UK’s alternative music landscape and a wider experimental pop continuum. Her work moves fluidly across disciplines and scenes, shaped as much by her classical foundations as by years spent collaborating with artists including Sampha, Florence + the Machine, Little Simz, Jockstrap and Duval Timothy. Those exchanges, particularly her ongoing creative relationship with Sampha over the past three years, have played a formative role in refining her approach to songwriting, production and sonic storytelling.

Her new EP, APORIAMOR (out now) released via Barcelona’s Lapsus Records, marks a decisive moment of artistic consolidation. Largely self-produced over four years and developed across multiple geographies—from her childhood home in the Spanish countryside to stages across the United States while touring—APORIAMOR reflects a more distilled and intentional evolution of her sound. Drawing on both her Mediterranean heritage and the textures of UK alternative music, the record explores love, heartbreak and emotional transformation through a deeply personal lens, building a language that embraces vulnerability rather than closure.

If her debut EP The Art of the Concrete introduced an expansive and exploratory artistic identity, APORIAMOR signals a clearer articulation of that vision. Conceived as both archive and release, the project captures a period of personal and creative becoming, positioning elsas as an artist concerned not only with experimentation, but with legacy, memory and emotional authorship.

APORIAMOR is framed as “the death of love’s contradiction.” At what point did you realise this record needed to exist, and what emotional or conceptual shift set it in motion?

I must’ve come up with this word during a very inventive late night etymological rabbit-hole. I was in romantic turmoil, trying to invision a type of love that would be freed from all contradictions, all logical dysjunctions. I was wondering if pure clear and peaceful love existed, even as a reaching point, an asymptote. Needing to repeatedly process and overcome heartache was the catalyst to creating these songs and grouping them under this project.

Photo by: Aitor Rodero. Outfit: Bebé Espinosa

Compared to The Art of the Concrete, this EP feels more distilled yet emotionally expansive. What did you consciously decide to leave behind in order to arrive at this new sonic language?

If a record was a stim, that’s what The Art of the Concrete was for me. It was my way of learning how to produce, and in the process I was equally overexcited and overwhelmed by the vastness of possibility (hence the irony of the title).

I had to become some sort of sound hoarder before I could understand how I really wanted to articulate myself musically. It’s an experimental record in the full sense of the word, enveloped in the high-frequency energy of my early twenties, and I love it for that. 

Since then, I gave myself the time to be in music, but without the agenda of being an artist to the world - just keeping my input antennae open. I had to reconnect with the heart of it, and deconstruct the trained musician within (call it ‘conservatoire syndrome’). I started listening to my intuition, keeping only the essences, enjoying my own company, and building my world from that place. I also spent time developing my skills as a producer, becoming more intentional in my choices. And, most importantly, I eventually understood my gift, started prioiritizing my voice, and stopped hiding behind my ideas. And there’s still a long way to go!

You’ve described this project as part of building your own archive, a documentation of becoming. When you imagine listening back to these recordings ten years from now, what do you hope they will remind you of?

I hope I still feel proud of the work, and that it reminds me of my commitment to my artistry. I hope it makes me hold my past self tenderly and appreciate the hard work she put in to get me ‘here’. Maybe I’ll have destilled and deconstructed so hard that I’ll be making exclusively drone-based ambient music, smoking a pipe and thinking to myself ‘wow that girl was really working through some s***’.

You often describe songs as organisms that respond to their surroundings. How do different environments (e.g. touring, cities, solitude) practically shape the way a track evolves for you?

They are very much alive and pulsating. I enjoy letting the music breathe in real-time before making it permanent. This EP shape-shifted while I was touring it.

I performed the songs on APORIAMOR while supporting Sampha in the US in early 2024, and it became a kind of testing ground. It helped me see what felt aligned and what didn’t - what needed changing and what needed deepening. Exposing myself in that no-strings-attached way became a real incentive to finish the music.

Going back to the drawing board tends to be easier for me when its prompted by the inercia of external living. Solitude can result either in my thoughts jamming in a loop whilst I drift in a limbo of in-between activities, or I enter a state of hyper-focus and forget I have a body. It is in the latter where the magic tends to happen.

Collaboration seems central to your artistic ecosystem, from long-term work with Sampha to exchanges with artists across very different scenes. What makes a collaboration feel creatively “right” for you?

I’ve been very lucky to have worked with some extraordinary musical minds. I’d say a collaboration is right when everyone is showing up in their truth and working in the service of music (the muse, the craft), and mantaining a sense of mutual respect whilst exercising freedom.

I usually trust that the conspiring forces that lead us to be sharing a room in the first place can be enough to make it worthwhile, or “right”. Of course, like in any collaboration, there’s more or less personal and creative affinity that can unfold. But at the end of the day, making art for a living is a huge privilege.

What is your favourite part of the music-making process and the part you struggle with the most?

My favourite part is the initial spark and the throb of or vision that follows, whether it’s the maturing of a long-time mulling idea or a spontaneous manifestation. The creative infatuation phase. Usually these early ideas arise with energetic bounce and in collaboration.

I just love jamming. I love those moments of lucidity (who doesn’t!). I struggle more with moments of diffuse intention and indecision, when there’s an inner wall that stalls progress and it’s hard to locate and break down. And like most artists, I can find it hard to know when a song is finished, almost to a pathological level.

But so far, more often than not, I’ve proven myself right when I persevere until the end, however torturous it might feel at times…

Photo by Connie Keane | Headpiece by: Annika Thiems

For emerging artists trying to build meaningful relationships rather than transactional networks, what has been your most effective way of connecting with the right collaborators and communities?

I think the key is overcoming the fear of reaching out to people whose work moves you, sparks curiosity or familiarity, because you never know what might come from it!

Creative work can be emotionally intense, especially when projects are rooted in personal experience. On difficult days, what helps you step back, reset, and return to the work with clarity?

Honestly, on those days I get really good at replying to all my emails. I get all my admin done, probably clean the house and get on the phone to my close friends for hours. Most of them are musicians or artists, so they understand and share the underknitting of my daily struggles.

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APORIAMOR by elsas is out now | Listen & Download

elsas on Instagram

Kallemi: An Ounternational Transcultural Ensemble Rooted in Migration and Musical Exchange

Photo credit: Alessandra Leimer

Kallemi (Arabic for “Speak” in the feminine voice) is a transnational musical project formed by Jasmin Albash, La Nefera, Maysa Daw, and Rasha Nahas — four artists whose individual practices span electronic music, hip hop, rock, and experimental songwriting.

What began as a short-term exchange through Kaserne Basel during Palestine Music Expo quickly became something deeper. Rooted in shared experiences of migration, ancestry, and the search for home, Kallemi’s music is shaped as much by friendship and trust as it is by sound. Since their first performance, the project has grown organically through live shows across Europe, the UK, Canada, and Palestine, long before any official release.

Their debut single ‘One Day’, written during their first residency in Ramallah, marked the project’s first release and was followed by ‘Where Is Your Home’. A new single and their debut EP — produced by Aaron Ahrens and recorded in Berlin — are set for release on January 30, continuing to expand Kallemi’s evolving collective body of work.

How did Kallemi first come together, and what made you realise this wasn’t just a one-off project?

We met through an exchange initiated by Kaserne Basel (Switzerland) during Palestine Music Expo. During the 10 days that we had to work, the songwriting process was flowing very organically and in addition to the music flourished a genuine connection and friendship. After getting off the stage from our  first show in Basel, noticing the energy that we felt between us as band, as well the exchange with the audience we realised that this is bigger than us.

You met during Palestine Music Expo in Ramallah. What do you remember most clearly from that first period of working together?

It was a combination of different experiences: we lived and rehearsed in an almost empty flat and Maysa packed the car with gear from Haifa. Each of us brought their instrument and we just jammed, explored the city, ate amazing food, talked for hours and wrote almost all of  the songs we have during that time.

What’s your favourite part of making music as a collective and what’s the hardest part of sharing creative space?

The hardest part for sure is the physical distance between us. In order to tour, rehearse or write music it requires a lot of organisation and resources, which forces us to be more strategic which is good, but not always simple. 

Plus decision making and distribution of tasks, for example in our individual projects we are used to deciding for our own but making decisions collectively can be hard but also freeing and opening horizons at the same time.

Definitely magic is when we finally all meet in one room and the music is happening between us and  there are these moments where we know that everything is falling into place.

Each of you brings a distinct sound and skillset. What’s one concrete rule or habit you’ve developed to make collaboration work smoothly?

There is no actual rule. When we are making music, we do not force anything to happen, we trust each other’s creativity and skills and we let things happen naturally. when one of us has an idea, we take that idea and explore it to the max. at times we go back to songs and change parts of them, but we keep them flowing.

On the technical\logitsic side, we each have her strength and skills, and we divide the behind the scenes work accordingly.

Before any official releases, you were already touring internationally. What did playing live teach you about the project early on?

From playing live we love each others energies on stage, its a fit! Even though its not the easiest setup as a long distant band, this understanding keeps us committed and resilient to make it work.

Photo credit: Alessandra Leimer

For emerging artists trying to connect with the right people in the industry: what’s one networking tip that actually works for you?

Always trust your gut. If anything feels off, it probably is.

What’s one mistake you made that taught you something useful about building a sustainable music project?

It took us time to distribute the tasks and to do’s between us, but once we figured that out the workflow became much more sustainable.

What are you listening to at the moment?

Ino Casablanca, Maria Basel, Stevie Nicks, Dina El Wedidi

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Follow Kallemi on Instagram

Selah Sue on Working with the Gallands on the Album Movin’ and Taking the Record on Tour

Belgian soul-pop artist Selah Sue returns with Movin’, a collaborative album created alongside drummer Stéphane Galland and producer/keyboardist Elvin Galland. Released via Because Music, the project marks a shift from solo authorship to a more instinctive, collective process — one rooted in improvisation, trust, and musical dialogue.

What began as an invitation to perform at Jazz Middelheim quickly evolved into something more expansive. Within months, the trio moved from an initial idea to a full-length record, shaped by Stéphane Galland’s polyrhythmic drumming, Elvin’s textured production, and Selah Sue’s spontaneous vocal approach. The result is a body of work that moves fluidly between free jazz and more structured songwriting, balancing looseness with precision.

At its core, Movin’ reflects a personal and creative turning point. Written across a period of emotional transition, the album traces a journey from introspection to release, grounded in the idea of movement — not as escape, but as a way of working through discomfort and change.

How did this collaboration with Stefan come about?

I got a text message from Stéphane Galland (drums, The Gallands) about a year ago, asking if we could get together and listen to some music. He and his son had been working on some songs and wanted to perform a gig at Jazz Middelheim, an annual summer jazz festival in Antwerp, Belgium.

They asked me to feature on a few tracks, and I was blown away by the musicality and the overall sound. I had never been so inspired by a drum beat. The way Stéphane plays is deeply polyrhythmic, and it really sparked something in me. Elvin produced the tracks and chords in a very tasteful way. It all happened very quickly — no overthinking, everything felt natural, just freedom.

Stéphane recorded the instrumentals first — drums and keys — and then I put on headphones and recorded whatever came spontaneously, instantly, without thinking. Sometimes it was just sounds or words that came out unconsciously.

We started with four songs, then decided to turn it into an album, and now, a year later, we’re on tour.

On stage, there’s room for improvisation, but there are also fixed sections where you can improvise for a few bars. It sits somewhere between free jazz and something more structured — closer to the discipline of pop music.

How was it working together as a group?

The music itself came together very easily — there was hardly any discussion. Everyone respected each other’s identity and space.

The mix was the most challenging part, especially since we worked with Russell Elevado, one of the best mixers in the world. That process involved a lot more back and forth, but it always led to the best possible result. It could be difficult at times, but in the end, it was always worth it.

Being part of a band makes things much lighter. You can share the pressure — it’s not all on your shoulders. It feels really good, especially when you have a strong emotional and musical connection.

What does a typical day on tour look for you?

We usually wake up and get off the tour bus — if we’re using one — and grab a coffee. I like to go for a jog or do some exercise, and sometimes we do that together.

Then it’s about looking forward to the day — lunch, dinner, and spending time together. We’ll play games like badminton or frisbee.

I also tend to create quite a lot on the road — I’ll take my computer and work on ideas, building things in my own space.

Touring can be demanding. How do you take care of your energy and mental space?

It’s important to get a good night’s sleep. I don’t drink or do drugs — I’ve been sober for the last three years. I also try to have meaningful conversations with my band members.

We’re a really close band. I always choose to work with people I genuinely like, so we can spend time together and connect — that’s really important.

If I had one tip for artists on tour, it’s this: it doesn’t have to be ‘sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll’. It’s still a job, so it’s important to stay healthy and keep your energy up. Otherwise, it becomes difficult to sustain this kind of work long term.

What’s the best piece of advice for musicians starting out?

Stay true to what you feel is right. Try to enjoy the process because that’s always the best part. The outcome is extra — that’s more about ego. If you enjoy the making of it, the art itself, then you’ve already succeeded.

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Selah Sue and The Gallands - Listen HERE

Selah Sue on Instagram

The Gallands on Instagram

EUROPEAN TOUR 2026
*Support by K.ZIA (selected dates)

May
09.05.26 – Jazz à Liège, Liège, BE
14.05.26 – Bitefartecafé, Belgrade, RS
15.05.26 – Sofia Live Club, Sofia, BG
25.05.26 – Progresja, Warsaw, PL
26.05.26 – Quantic, Bucharest, RO

June
24.06.26 – Niort Jazz Festival, Niort, FR
25.06.26 – TBA
28.06.26 – Tournai Jazz Festival, Tournai, BE

July
03.07.26 – TBA
04.07.26 – Musique Sous Les Étoiles, Bouc-Bel-Air, FR
11.07.26 – North Sea Jazz Festival, Rotterdam, NL
13.07.26 – TBA
17.07.26 – Jazz à Sète, Sète, FR
21.07.26 – TBA
22.07.26 – Les Escales du Cargo, Arles, FR
25.07.26 – TBA

August
06.08.26 – TBA

September
04.09.26 – Jazz à La Villette, Paris, FR

SABRI on Sustainable Growth as an Artist, What I Feel Now and Performing on COLORS

Amsterdam-raised singer-songwriter SABRI grew up in a Moroccan-Algerian household where R&B, soul and hip-hop shaped her earliest musical language. Influenced from a young age by artists such as Lauryn Hill, Aaliyah and Mary J. Blige, she began writing songs as a way of understanding her emotions and building a voice of her own, one that now moves fluently between vulnerability, strength and introspection.

Over the past few years she has explored a broad palette of sounds across collaborations with Full Crate, Yung Bleu and Olamide, while steadily developing a songwriting style rooted in honesty and emotional clarity.

Following her debut EP Actually, I Can and a widely-received COLORS performance of Sold Myself For Love earlier this year, SABRI continues to deepen that narrative with What I Feel Now, a project centred on presence, self-awareness andthe complexity of relationships.

What is the story behind What I Feel Now?

‘What I Feel Now’ is really about owning your emotions and being fully present. The EP is rooted in honesty, feminine strength and clarity. It’s not about over-explaining or justifying anything but it’s about feeling something, naming it and letting it move through the music and lyrics. Each track explores a different part of that journey, from desire and release to anger, clarity and self-worth. It’s me being unapologetically me, in real-time.

Your COLORS performance of Sold Myself For Love placed the song in a stripped-back, highly visible context. How was that experience?

Performing on COLORS was intense in the best way. There’s no room to hide — it’s just you and the song. I loved how raw and exposed it felt because it forced me to really focus on the emotion behind the lyrics. It reminded me why I make music in the first place: to feel and to connect.

For artists trying to build sustainable careers, what is one misconception about growth or visibility you had to unlearn yourself?

I used to think that growth meant constant numbers, constant attention. But I realized real growth happens quietly. Learning your craft, figuring out the business side, protecting your energy. You can’t just show up and hope for it; you have to build it from the inside out.

Networking is often discussed in abstract terms. In practical terms, what has actually helped you build meaningful professional relationships?

For me it’s all about being real and showing up consistently. The best connections happen naturally. In the studio, at shows or even just in conversations. Not from forced “networking moments.” Listening, following through and genuinely caring about people goes way further than trying to impress them.

What part of the music-making process do you find most essential to protect, and which part challenges you the most?

I protect the writing stage the most. That’s where the song’s heart is. The part that challenges me is the business side: timing releases, strategizing, making decisions about what to put out. It’s tricky to stay true to the emotion while juggling all the practical stuff.

When you feel stuck creatively, what do you do first to move forward in a practical way, like changing your environment, switching tasks, voice notes, rewriting, or stepping away?

I usually try to change my environment. Going outside, cooking, walking around. Sometimes I record rough voice notes or switch to a different task. And if nothing works, I step away completely. Giving myself space almost always brings new ideas.

What is one decision you made behind the scenes that had a bigger impact on your career than any release or performance?

Back in 2019, I decided to take control of my music and share it on my own terms. I stopped waiting for someone else to validate me or guide me and started putting out music independently that felt true to me. That approach gave me a lot of confidence and clarity, and it eventually led to getting signed in 2024.

What are you listening to right now?

Recently, I’ve been listening a lot to rock classics like songs from Led Zeppelin and The Cranberries and also a lot of blues. More modern artists I listen to on a daily basis are BLK ODYSSY and Leon Thomas.

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Connect with SABRI on Instagram

What I Feel Now

FACTORY: The Brooklyn Collective Built on Friendship and a DIY Ethos

FACTORY is a self-produced, self-written, self-engineered collective formed by Halima, Von, Murielle, and Sophie Hintze; four artists who met at NYU’s Clive Davis Institute and turned nearly a decade of friendship into a creative engine. What began as weekly DIY workshops in their Brooklyn apartments evolved into a shared practice rooted in autonomy, experimentation, and community.

Their first songs emerged organically from those sessions, revealing a chemistry that cuts across their distinct solo careers.

Today, FACTORY operates as a boundary-pushing unit making club-ready music shaped by personal storytelling, collaboration, and a refusal to follow industry rules.

FACTORY is self-produced, self-managed, self-engineered. What made you want to form FACTORY together?

Years ago we would meet every Monday for a self run workshop where we acted as interchangeable parts of each other’s teams for our solo artist projects. Whether it was mixing notes, PR outreach or photo edits, we would show up to help each other, and called those sessions FACTORY.

As four completely different artists with really different sonic identities, we hadn’t considered making music as one unit. But after writing together on a whim it was too undeniable for us not to lean in. That was 3 years ago. Now FACTORY has really become its own name as one collective. 

What tools, platforms, or systems have been game-changers for you in keeping FACTORY running smoothly?

Good comms!!! Being able to communicate directly or attune to different types communication has been so key for us since we're all just really different people with different processes. We have so many group chats to keep all of our conversations and assets organized and use a lot of different organizational/file management tools, but really without good communication none of that solves anything anyways. 

 
Each of your first three releases shows a different side of FACTORY. Which track do you think best introduces who you are as a collective?

Honestly they all kind of encompass our collective breadth, which is important to us. BLOODLINE is a more chill, driving with the windows down kind of song. STICKY TONGUE is more of a charged anthem and BBH is a deep, sexy club track. They all introduce us as what we are: 4 multi hyphenates navigating friendship, career, love and the future. 

What’s one mistake you see new artists make again and again, and how would you avoid it?

Not trusting yourself. Right now especially the comparison game is so tempting. It’s easy to judge yourself or judge whatever’s happening next to you but that’s not actually ever productive. It sounds so simple but it’s so important to really just trust yourself and trust your own timing. Everyone’s lane is their own, everyone’s journey is their own. There’s actually a lot of peace and stability in that. 

What’s one overlooked skill that every artist should learn early on?

How to self regulate. Taking care of yourself, physically & mentally, isn’t overrated. It’s actually vital to having any type of sustainable career in this industry. Drink water, lean on your friends, go dancing, journal, take time for yourself. Learning how to regulate and care for yourself is never a waste of time, it’s a necessity. 

What are you listening to at the moment?

New releases by Halima & Sophie Hintze.

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Follow FACTORY Spotify | YouTube | Instagram 

Stacey Ryan’s 500M-Stream Breakthrough, Debut Album 'Blessing in Disguise' and Her Advice for Emerging Artists

Stacey Ryan has spent the past few years reshaping the edges of pop-soul, weaving her jazz training into a catalogue that first took shape online and has since grown far beyond it. She broke through in 2022 with “Don’t Text Me When You’re Drunk,” the collaboration with Zai1k that became one of TikTok’s biggest trends of the year. “Fall in Love Alone” followed, turning into a major hit across Southeast Asia (reaching No.1 in Indonesia, charting in the Top 5 across the region, and crossing half a billion global streams) while Ryan built an audience that now spans more than two million combined followers and over 1.8 million monthly listeners on Spotify.

A classically trained jazz pianist who also plays guitar, bass, ukulele, and trumpet, Ryan has leaned into that musical grounding as her work has evolved. Her debut EP, I Don’t Know What Love Is (2023), signalled a shift toward more nuanced songwriting, drawing attention for its melodic unpredictability and understated emotional clarity. Live, she spent 2023 and 2024 on the road across the US, Europe, and Asia, performing at festivals including Montreux Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, Jakarta Jazz Festival, and MAD Cool.

Ryan released her debut album, Blessing in Disguise, in August 2025, an unguarded collection of songs shaped around the “painful lessons” that ultimately defined her early twenties. The album marked a period where she also began foregrounding her French-Canadian identity, experimenting more openly with bilingual writing and performance. She followed the release with her first North American headline tour in September and October 2025, closing out the year with a clearer sense of artistic direction and a growing international fanbase.

What’s the story behind Blessing In Disguise? If you want to introduce someone to listen to one track from Blessing In Disguise which should it be and why?

The story behind blessing in disguise was kind of built as we were completing the album. I went in just writing music that felt super honest to me and when I sat back and looked at all the songs, there was this common thread that tied them all together. They were all painful lessons I had to learn to grow as a person. And now, I know they were blessings in disguise because I came out stronger on the other side!

How do you keep consistency on socials without feeling like you’re performing for the algorithm?

The most important thing is loving and relating to every piece of content you make. As soon as that passion and creativity starts to get replaced with “I need to post this to go viral” it’s really hard to leave that mindset. But there also needs to be a balance.

What’s your go-to way of connecting with people in the industry without it feeling transactional?

I really have found myself in a group of people, who I met through industry or network events, that have become really important friends of mine and that almost takes the “work” element right out of it. Music is such a personal business that human connection goes hand in hand with it and that makes it feel less transactional for sure.

What’s your favourite/least favourite thing about making music?

My favourite thing is how much smaller it seems to make the world. You know people through social media and word of mouth and then meet them out at an event or show and connect and become friends and collaborators. My least favourite part is probably that it is so competitive and, especially with social media, everyone now gets a shot to get seen and discovered, which in itself is a good thing. Just so many of us out here.

What’s a mistake you wish more emerging artists would avoid early on?

Thinking your initial viral moment or success will carry you through your whole career.

It is the best jumping point and will give you so many amazing connections but the hard work and consistency has to stay to be able to continue it and become a true artist.

What are you listening to right now?

I’m obsessed with Olivia Dean’s album The Art of Loving. It captures so perfectly what it’s like to live and love in your twenties and she just words feelings so perfectly.

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Stacey Ryan on Instagram | YouTube | TikTok

Apple Music / Website 

BODUR presents SECOND LANGUAGE at V&A East Storehouse

Photo credit: Morrigan Rawson

London-based artist BODUR emerged with a clear artistic language through her debut album MAQAM, a conceptual project shaped by her decision to study the oud and work within the maqam system after studying at The Arab British Centre.

The album brought together alternative electronic production with maqam structures and across the record, BODUR addressed racism, Islamophobia, generational trauma and her own mental health with directness and precision.

Tracks such as DOGTOOTH [INTRO], UGLY [NAHAWAND] and MY BLOOD, IT’S IN THE SOIL [SABA] positioned personal testimony alongside wider political reality, including her vocal support for Palestine and fundraising work, including a London benefit alongside Joy Crookes that raised over £90,000 for Gaza.

Since MAQAM’s release in March 2025, BODUR has moved fluidly between music, fashion and performance. She has appeared at London Literature Festival, Rally with NTS, collaborated with Levi’s London, and featured on Manni Dee’s Is This Not What You Came For?. Her role as Musical Director for Di Petsa at London Fashion Week, where she also performed with her oud on the AW25 runway, marked a further expansion of her practice into live conceptual performance. Alongside this, her earlier EP ÖZ (2023) continues to resonate as the foundation of her sound, earning support from Jamz Supernova, Rinse FM, Radio 6, COLORS, Notion, The Line of Best Fit and Wonderland.

This month, BODUR turns toward process itself with SECOND LANGUAGE, a three-day live installation at V&A East Storehouse that runs from 10–12 December, with a final performance on Saturday, 13 December at 6pm. Across the installation, Gallery 2 becomes a functioning recording studio where BODUR will compose new music in real time with her long-term collaborators Malte Henning, James Hazel, Will Heaton, Jono Pamplin and producer Gabriel Gifford.

With no separation between artist and audience, visitors are invited to observe the full working dynamic as it unfolds. Every session will be filmed, with the resulting material feeding directly into her next project. Staged in front of Le Train Bleu (1924), the largest Picasso artwork in existence, SECOND LANGUAGE places contemporary composition inside a space shaped by archive, history and exposure.

Your debut album MAQAM combined alternative electronic music with themes of racism, Islamophobia, generational trauma and your own mental health. What are you exploring now as you move into SECOND LANGUAGE?

I’m exploring the conversation that is had between musicians when we’re creating music together both with and without words. Also - the idea that music is everyone’s first language and that everything else comes secondary.

I want this performance art piece to highlight what unites us rather than divides, as there is no language barrier when it comes to the conversation that is had through music. 

SECOND LANGUAGE opens up your recording process in real time. What drew you to the idea of letting people witness the earliest stage of a song rather than its final version?

I think with the rise of AI music and music that is created in an extremely corporate way - I wanted to open up what is essentially a very old school, ‘human’ way of creating music - which is just a band getting together, messing around and seeing what happens. I wanted to demystify the process of creating music this way for anyone interested in getting started in songwriting, to encourage them to hopefully do the same.

Also, the moment a song is born in the studio is the best day of a songs life for me. By the time I actually perform a song to the audience, usually a couple years have passed and I’m less excited about it. This way - audiences get to witness that initial spark of an idea and to experience that excitement with us. 

Photo credit: Morrigan Rawson

You will be composing new material with no separation between you and the audience, and the music will shift depending on who is in the room. How are you preparing yourself and your collaborators for a process that is shaped by the public in such a direct way?

I think we all understand the intensity of what we’ve signed up to do and will be preparing for it differently in our own ways.

I’ve personally deleted most of my social media and have taken a break from TV so my mind can be as clear as possible for original ideas to arrive to my subconscious, despite the pressure of having an audience present.

The more silence I sit in during the lead up to the experiment - the more room there is for melody and lyric ideas to arrive

Your projects involve research, discipline and experimentation. How do you structure your creative routine so that ideas actually develop into finished work?

I don’t ’over-create’. I know some artists make a song a day, every week, always. For me that doesn’t work and becomes quantity over quality. My creative routine involves being extremely active and present in the lives of my family and friends, living a very full life and allowing myself to feel everything extremely deeply. That’s what inspires me to create things that feel essential and meaningful that I always *want* to develop into finished work. I don’t know what’s inspiring about sitting in a dark studio all day everyday. What do you have to write about? You have to go out and live as much life as possible in order to have a story to tell through your music.

For emerging artists who want to build meaningful relationships in the industry, what practical advice would you give on finding collaborators and creating the right networks around their work?

Find people you have a natural friendship connection with, kind and funny people whose company you enjoy - that is the most important thing as you’ll have to spend so much time together.

Making music is such a vulnerable act, you need to surround yourself with people that make you feel comfortable enough to make mistakes in front of without feeling ashamed. Stay around people that make you feel good and that’s where you’ll make your best work.

To keep them around - always make sure you’re feeding them well. Food is the key to longevity in creative partnerships. Food and friendship. 

What would you say to artists who want to bring their personal or political realities into their music but are unsure where to start?

Everyone has a special and unique perspective to bring to the world because of their individual lived experience.

Once you realise that your individuality is what sets you apart from everyone else and that that is the most valuable thing you have as an artist, rather than it being a hindrance, you can lean into creating your best work.

I think people like to be part of a scene and stick to the status quo sometimes to protect themselves from exposing the most vulnerable and unfamiliar parts of themselves - but in unfamiliarity is where groundbreaking creativity can happen.

There’s nothing more valuable than a unique perspective as an artist because all we are are storytellers, and nobody wants to hear the same story 10,000 times. People always want to hear a brand new story. In your unique lived experience is where lyrics that have never been written before or sounds that have never been made before can step forwards. Lean into your individuality rather than trying to blend in. Your unique perspective is essential. 

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Event Details:

Live Installation: 10th-12th December, Gallery 2:

Wednesday (10th): 10am–6pm

Thursday (11th): 10am–10pm

Friday (12th): 10am–6pm

Final Performance: 13th December, Collections Hall at 6pm

Location: V&A East, Storehouse, Parkes Street, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Hackney Wick, London, E20 3AX

More Info HERE

BODUR on Instagram | More Links

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Acclaimed Poet Sophia Thakur on the Making of ‘Affirmations’ and Her Shift Into Music

Sophia Thakur’s move into music arrives after years of shaping a distinct presence in British poetry. The BBC has referred to her as “The Poet of this Generation,” and Vogue has called her “one of the most adored poets of our time.”

She’s published four books, appeared on Forbes 30 Under 30, and built a live reputation through sold-out shows at The Jazz Café, Bush Hall, and Omeara, as well as performances at Glastonbury, Abbey Road Studios, and Royal Albert Hall.

Thakur introduced her musical direction with ‘My City’, a stripped-back alt-soul track built around voice, space, and personal transition. It was her first solo release and a clear signal that she was ready to carry her storytelling into a new medium. ‘Affirmations’ moves that approach forward. Recorded live with a five-piece band, it pushes deeper into the idea of documenting a moment rather than constructing one, prioritising interplay, presence, and the texture of the room.

What’s the story behind ‘Affirmations’ and how does it reflect where you are creatively right now?

Affirmations is an entirely live recording with 5 musicians in one room, jamming the song for almost an hour, before finding the perfect moment to bring the chorus and words in. Performing live with my musician friends has always been my happy place and Affirmations feels like that, on record.

Creatively I just really want to bring the magic of live performance onto a record. To create a world people can get lost in for a little while. With affirmations, that world is one of bliss, encouragement, hope and tranquility. The world that we deserve to be in as we close out 2025. 

In a time of constant noise, how can artists create work that actually makes people feel something again?

 I think the living is just as important as the making. I've created so many songs, but I'll probably only ever share the ones that reflect a deeply honest and human experience. People need to feel seen and held and I think a song is a perfect opportunity to hold a mirror up to a person and say 'look, I go through these things too'. I. hope my music can connect the world. 

As someone who mentors young writers and performers, what’s one discipline or creative habit you think every artist should cultivate early on?

I can't think of anything better than journaling. Learning how to slow down our thoughts, understand them, explore them...that's how we can arrange powerful stories in our songs. From a clear mind that knows how to explore a feeling.

There are so many distractions these days and when I'm not journaling, I struggle to focus with the level of clarity that I think music deserves.

I would advise that everyone journals but also reads new books. Books give us new language, new imaginations, new feelings and new storylines. It's a cheat code to being a songwriter really. 

You’ve said your goal is to make music you’d listen to at sunset. What does stillness mean to you creatively, and how do you protect it in a busy world?

Coming from a poetry background, it's meant that I'm used to complete, pin-drop, undivided attention during a performance. That acute level of focus from an audience has meant that often times, they're brought to tears or moved in such deep ways. That space of stillness has always been my favourite arena to perform into so I'm trying to do the same with music.

Affirmations has a long musical intro and outro and it's for this very reason. To slow people down, ground them and hopefully create a fertile heart to take in the verse and chorus. 

What keeps you grounded?

I'm human, so I'm not grounded all the time. To be honest, I'm helplessly sensitive and wildly passionate so that can sometimes be derailing.

To come back to my centre, I carve out time for the things that bring me peace and remind me of my greater purpose. I pray to Jesus a lot, for a peaceful mind and happy heart.

I make sure to stretch or exercise and also stay around people who keep my nervous system at peace 

What’s your best tip for finding creativity on a tough day?

I would say for me, going back to things that previously inspired me. Back to old books, old films or songs that used to spark something. Sometimes lightning does strike twice!

What’s your favourite and least favourite thing about making music?

I love that music is basically our own, hand selected soundtrack to life and special moments. I guess the downside is that it also then, carries memories. There are some songs I can't listen to just yet because they carry a memory of a person who has maybe passed away. 

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Sophia Thakur - ‘Affirmations, I’ll Be Okay’ out now

Follow Sophia Thakur on Instagram

Kah-Lo: The Voice Behind Global Dance Hits Returns With “Somersaults”

Kah-Lo is a Nigeria-born, London-based artist and songwriter whose distinctive vocal style first caught global attention through her collaborations with Riton on tracks like Rinse & Repeat, Fake ID, and Ginger.

Since then, she’s continued to build her own path across pop, house, and electronic music, releasing her debut EP The Arrival and her 2023 album Pain/Pleasure, and collaborating widely across the UK, US, and beyond.

Her new single Somersaults continues that progression, opening up a new direction in her sound. With disco-leaning production, an elastic bassline, and lyrics that open up about giving too much of yourself, the track captures both the directness and emotional clarity that run through her work.

What’s the story behind ‘Somersaults’?

I gave a lot of myself to a couple of relationships and got little in return. I essentially found myself ‘bending over backwards’ and overextending myself to remain in the relationship when the other person wouldn’t even inconvenience themselves in any capacity – so I wrote a song about it. 

Your visuals and style are integral to how people experience your music. From a creative perspective, how do you think artists can use fashion and visual identity to build a stronger artistic brand?

I’m very into visual identity, especially hair theory, as a tool to build an artistic brand. I think everything about an artist should reflect the era they’re in. New era? New hair. I don’t make the rules.

What’s one mistake you see new artists make when trying to “break through” that you’d advise them to avoid?

I think anticipating ‘no’s before they happen and not collaborating. Fear of failure doesn’t really ever go away, so I’d advise against succumbing to it in the early stages. Also, collaborating can be a really strong tool to win over newer audiences.

What’s your best networking tip for artists trying to make authentic connections in the industry today?

Go to the party and have fun. People are more likely to remember the person they had a fun time with than the person that was trying to shove an idea down the entire night.

How do you stay inspired and avoid creative burnout when music becomes your full-time job?

Going to parties and having fun lol. I also recently started doing digital detoxes for about 2 weeks a year where I lock my smartphone away and just immerse myself in reality. Experiences feel heightened and I’m more in tune with myself and what’s actually going on within and around me.

Tips for finding your creativity on a tough day?

Stepping away from the computer or talking to people.

What’s your favourite thing about making music?

My favourite thing is getting to create something out of nothing and have it do things beyond my imagination

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Follow Kah-Lo on Instagram | TikTok

"Somersaults" available at: https://kah-lo.com/somersaults

Marieme on Collaborating with Bedouin and Why Authenticity Is Every Artist’s Superpower

Photo Credit Ogata | Styled by Dash Armstrong

Senegalese-American artist Marieme has built a career that fuses soul, spirituality, and electronic music into something unmistakably her own. With over 14 million streams, 200K monthly listeners, and collaborations spanning Groove Armada, Above & Beyond, Klangkarussell, and Vintage Culture, she’s carved a lane at the intersection of global dance culture and conscious songwriting. Her music has scored moments for Grey’s Anatomy, Apple TV, and even a Michelle Obama x Oprah Netflix special.

On stage, Marieme’s voice has filled Red Rocks, Pacha Ibiza, and Burning Man’s Robot Heart, blending the transcendence of a club set with the intimacy of a soul performance. Named a “Powerhouse” by Glamour and a “Next-Gen Icon” by V Magazine, she continues to expand what an artist rooted in both ancestral rhythm and modern consciousness can sound like.

Her latest single, “Reason”, created with Bedouin, distills that vision into a hypnotic meditation; a track that channels love as something infinite and elemental.

What’s the story behind ‘Reason’ created with Bedouin?

I met Tamer and Rami when I was invited by Guy LaLiberte (founder of Cirque Du Soleil) to perform a few songs with my shadow at Bedouin Saga night in Pacha. Then the same year we got in the studio in Miami and we created the track.

I love Bedouins sound and for me it always give me Ancient hypnotic vibes, so when I started singing the words I wanted to tap into the highest form of existence Love, which is not bound by  time and space and just is. I feel like the track just is, like it already existed and was channeled from all sides.

You’ve collaborated with global names like Groove Armada, Above & Beyond, and Klangkarussell. What have those partnerships taught you about connection and co-creation across different music worlds?

I was always nervous working with people of that caliber. I always walk into it grounded and try to honor the songs. I realize that I will always be a student and so I try to learn as much as I can from them and in the end by being authentic they’ve learned from me too which is cool. Music hits you when it’s good no matter what genre or language, and we’re all humans with same needs and so we all connect on that level.

For emerging artists, building genuine relationships can be just as important as making music. What’s your best advice for networking and connecting meaningfully in the industry?

Be real and honest, and don’t be too pushy and a no is just a moment thing, it could turn to a yes. And also create your own path, if you’re on your path people going the same way will find you, don’t wait for anyone. 

What’s something cool you’ve done outside the usual stage and studio world that you’re especially proud of?

Facilitating song writing camp in Lesotho, Africa, for amazing kids and showing them how easy it is to create and express themselves. I did it as part of a non profit called Kick4life that I’m on the board of. It was so magical for me and I’m doing many more of that around the world. The kids in the beautiful school came up with a song about love and I learned to record so I could record their voices and then had a friend produce it. When the kids heard it we were all teary eyed. One thing was the magic of releasing creative energy and also realizing the possibilities are endless. And staring where you are.

You’ve performed everywhere from Burning Man to Red Rocks to Pacha Ibiza. What’s one unforgettable moment from your live shows that still gives you goosebumps?

Burningman was epic, I have a shadow clone suit I made to represent going inside ourselves and the inner space journey. And bringing it out for sunrise on the legendary Robot Heart bus was so profound for me and for people to see my shadow dancing and being fre showcased my healing in real time, which is what I want to do with music, help people heal.

What’s one of the best tips you’ve learned along the way that you think every artist should know?

Be truly yourself because only you can do what you do, don’t compare yourself to anyone else 

What are you listening to right now that’s inspiring you?

My meditation music I’ve been making, LP Giobbi, Alice Coltrane

What are three things we’d always find in your bag?

Breath mint, honey throat spray, multiple USB’s, small perfume, lip gloss 

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Perera Elsewhere on Bringing the First Wave of Grime Artists to Berlin and New Album 'Just Wanna Live Some'

Photo credit: Gene Glover

Berlin-based producer, songwriter , trumpeter and sound voyager Perera Elsewhere returns with her fourth album, Just Wanna Live Some, out 24 October via LA label Friends of Friends. The record captures her distinct mix of experimental pop, dub, grime, and electronica, a sound she’s refined over a decade of boundary-pushing releases that first led critics to coin the term “doom folk.”

The album’s focus track, “Dream Like That,” pairs Perera’s poetic reflections on addiction and capitalism with cigarette lighter clicks, deep dub bass, and trumpet-led textures. Across twelve tracks, Just Wanna Live Some balances introspection with urgency, moving between moods of melancholy, defiance, and ecstatic release.

Known for her singular approach to voice manipulation and hybrid sound design, Perera — born Sasha Perera — has long blurred the lines between the cerebral and the physical. Her work has earned praise from Vogue, Pitchfork, and Clash, who have each celebrated her ability to fuse raw emotion with sonic experimentation. Over the years, she’s collaborated with artists such as Nina Hagen, Aho Ssan, Maral, and KMRU, while continuing to teach workshops and champion independent artistry from Berlin to Yale.

In this Q&A, we speak with Perera Elsewhere about the ideas behind Just Wanna Live Some, her collaboration with Ivorian rapper Andy S, early memories of bringing grime and dubstep to Berlin, and the creative exercises she uses to inspire the next generation of producers.

What’s the story behind your new album Just Wanna Live Some?

I guess reacting to the world we live in which is kinda depressing as usual and just wanting to live instinctually and take each day as it comes as reflecting on stuff sometimes is just too much. That is my take on the album title, which is kinda nihilist and hedonist in is stance. But as it is in life, you do end up reflecting and cant just ignore stuff, so as you can hear on the album there are some pretty huge mood swings; songs and tracks to dance to, to cry to and some very mega doom-folk soundtracks for the post-apocalypse. 

You and Andy S first connected after you played her track in a Boiler Room set. What drew you to her music, and what made this collaboration feel special?

I guess the fact I have been to Cote D’Ivore 3 times in my life; first for the Goethe Institut to teach Ableton and play and then later again to play directly with promoters there - specifically Isa aka DJ Chabela, who booked me there after being the only female in my audio production workshop. 

So I had some ‘70s Ivorian tunes in my Spotify and on vinyl. Thus the ‘algoriddim’ suggested an Andy S tune called ‘Prodada’. I bought it and played in in my Boiler Room set.  Ivory Coast might have had no meaning for another DJ, but I actually like returning to places on multiple occasions.  So working with Andy S was continuing/ deepening  a relationship I have with the artists, people, country and music of Ivory Coast.  Revisiting things makes sense to me. 

You were one of the first promoters to bring grime and dubstep to Berlin. Looking back, how do you remember that moment in the city’s music history?

I mean Berlin had an early appreciation of Jungle and DnB etc. There’s this old lie/myth that Berlin club life was only built on techno. It was actually build on DIY, and there was a hunger for all kinds of music, and also Bass Hardcore Continuum UK vibes. Clubs or events like Toaster, Hard Edged and more were before my time but there had also always been squats here and jungle was being played there too. 

Photo credit: Jamila Kae

Bringing UK artists over in 2004 was special because international gigging and ‘easyjet lifestyle’ had not been established yet, so some artists had to get a passport for the first time.

Berlin didn’t have the hype it does now, so artists came with less preconceptions in some ways. Berliners were also less exposed thus everything felt a bit more special. The city was no where near as international as it is now; it was literally a more German place and a more East German place in its vibe. There were less clubs , less clubbers, less hype, less internet! It was just the start.

We had a blog called Grimetime. I just remember BBK Skepta and JME literally doing backflips down Karl Marx Allee into the Burger King (LOL).  Berlin wasn’t ready for that energy! It was as a lot of fun doing that stuff with Christian Fussenegger at WMF club. I’m on the lord of the decks dVD coz Jammer, Kano, Lethal Bizzle and D Double came our studio at the time. 

I’m not in the ends, I’m in Germany, pure these girls they heard of me. I remember JME logging in to his Myspace on a desktop computer in our studio in Friedrichshain. We had no idea what he was doing at first. Feels like a whole other era. 

You’ve always pushed technology in unusual ways, from manipulating your voice to turning sound design into part of the storytelling. What keeps you excited about experimenting with new tools?

I guess also the unknown / unpredictable results that can occur and probably coz I also like to work alone it does suit me. Also, just not reading manuals or really watching tutorials and just messing about with stuff does suit my personality. However I really do love working with organic/ analogue stuff too and then messing with it.

Hybrid forms - eg. literally recording my trumpet and adding arpeggiators and having it end up sounding like a gangster rap violin or ‘grimey’ synth simply excites me in the process. I like getting the feeling that I’m doing something for the first time. dopamine addict I guess! JUST WANNA LIVE SOMEEEEEEEE. 

As someone who’s taught workshops from Yale to Berlin, what’s one exercise or mindset you share that always clicks with young producers?

I usually get them to record random things eg. everyday objects, voices, field recordings and make their own drum kits/ virtual instruments and adding other more ‘sophisticated’ sounds too, in order to make them feel like they are making their own sound palette and deciding on their own non-generic sound identity for a sec.  

That is how I started! Literally I got a kick out of from using my mum’s voice and the sound of me banging on a jar of muesli with a wooden spoon and a long 808 kick. Just nice to have some special sound-sources in there real, life stories. Stuff you know that happened where you actually partook in the process of making sound-wise can bring some vibes, spirituality and chaos to the equation. 

Photo credit: Noreyni Seck

You’ve had your music placed in films and theatre. What’s the biggest difference between writing for yourself and writing for a director’s vision?

For the synch licensing stuff eg. Paolo Sorrentino’s movie, they chose a track that was out on my album. Thus they saw my already existing musical vision fitting to the scene of their movie. 

When I have worked with Dukhee Lee Jordan (artist working on multi-sensory installations) then I have made music according to her descriptions and interpret her ideas / themes/ moods when making the score. I enjoy that a lot and it seems to work for us.  After that, usually the visuals or film sequences are composed to my soundtrack. It has to start somewhere.  

Probably the most challenging for me was working on a 72 min audio-visual dance piece called Reparation Nation where you had to keep making music for scenes that were being written parallel and for dancers where the choreography was in the making.

A lot of ideas, opinions and the worst of all of course… changes!  Endless patience is required for endless changes haha. Compromise is involved too. But it was very rewarding to work with dancers. Literally fun to be part of a crew and on a  production. Those are the vibes you don’t get when you are producing or composing alone in the safety of your studio.   

What’s one piece of advice you would give your younger self when you were just starting out?

Probably to have some kind of community of niche friends around the world.  Kinda bores me to be a straight up tourist so its nice to have music as the medium to go an explore stuff and connect with people, 

What are you listening to at the moment?

Sticky Dub 

Fly Anakin

Bina

_By.Alexander

JD Reid

Persian Empire

Khadija Al Hanafi

• Interview by ninakeh

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Album artwork by Hugo Holger Schneider x Gene Glover

PERERA ELSEWHERE’s ‘Just Wanna Live Some’ album is released on 24th October via Friends of Friends

Website | Instagram

Hatis Noit on her Aura Reworks album featuring Laraaji, Jlin, Herbert, Basinski and more

Photo credit: Özge Cöne

Japanese vocal artist Hatis Noit returns with Aura Reworks, a collection that invites a circle of collaborators to reinterpret her acclaimed 2022 debut Aura. Originally composed using only her own voice, Aura drew on influences from Japanese Gagaku, Bulgarian folk, opera and Gregorian chant to create a sound that felt both ancient and contemporary.

For Aura Reworks, Hatis Noit opens her work to a new dialogue featuring Laraaji, Jlin, Matthew Herbert, William Basinski, Armand Hammer with Preservation, Alex Somers, Yu Su and Emel. Each artist translates her voice through their own perspective, creating a series of reimaginings that move across genre, geography and emotional register.

Laraaji’s version of “Aura” floats through zither and kalimba, Jlin transforms “A Caso” into taut rhythmic patterns, and Armand Hammer’s verses on “Jomon” connect New York’s underground with echoes of Japan’s prehistoric past. Basinski’s “Inori” introduces fragile piano lines recorded near Fukushima, turning a moment of loss into reflection.

Born in Shiretoko, Hokkaido and now based in London, Hatis Noit is a self-taught performer whose range spans from operatic resonance to avant-garde experimentation. She has found fans in David Lynch, who invited her to perform at his Manchester International Festival showcase, and Rick Rubin, who featured her in his Showtime documentary Shangri-La. Her live performances at Womad, Rewire, Le Guess Who?, Big Ears, Mutek Montréal and Wonderfruit have drawn standing ovations, with The Guardian describing her as an artist who “moves audiences to tears.”

Following a short pause after the birth of her first child, Aura Reworks marks both her return and her expansion. The album connects her voice to a wider collective of artists united by curiosity and deep listening, reaffirming her place as one of the most distinctive vocal artists working today.

Many remix albums can feel like an afterthought, but Aura Reworks plays more like a dialogue between lineages and geographies. Was your intention to create an album of conversation rather than one of simple reinterpretation?

My usual creative process is very solitary, so I wanted Aura Reworks to be the opposite — a work born out of dialogue. But not dialogue in the sense of physically being together and exchanging words; rather, our shared exploration through the voice across time and space feels like a conversation in itself.

What has been the most valuable lesson you’ve learned so far in your artistic journey that you would want to share with emerging artists?

When I was making my debut album Aura, my producer Robert Raths told me: “Don’t look for who you want to be — find out who you are.” That remains the most important axis for me as an artist to this day.

Building artistic communities can be as important as the work itself. From your own journey, what have you learned about finding and sustaining the right collaborators and allies in the music world?

The most important thing is to be authentic with myself first. Once I’m able to be, the connections I need will come — naturally, and in their own time.

What practices or rituals help you return to balance after an intense day of work or performance?

Going for a walk, cooking, swimming and meditation. And since giving birth, I’ve also taken up knitting — it has become the perfect ritual for self-regulation.

Photo credit: Giorgio Perottino

What advice would you give to artists trying to find their way in today’s music industry, particularly those working outside the mainstream?

Have the courage to be alone sometimes in order to truly know yourself. Don’t be afraid of solitude.

Listening is often where ideas begin. Which recordings, voices or sound worlds are currently shaping the way you think about your own music?

Since traveling there this summer, I’ve been listening to Okinawan folk and court music a lot, introduced through their local radio. The fact that sometimes I can’t even understand their dialect only makes it more wonderful.

• Interview by ninakeh

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Photo credit: Robert Raths

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Hatis Noit’s Aura Reworks is out now