Listen: Pretty Pills For Broken Hearts - Cloudy June

Cloudy June is a 21-year-old, Berlin-raised-and-based musician. Having previously performanced for three-years as the singer in a death metal band, Cloudy June is now challenging our expectations through dark, intelligent pop music.

Having previously broken into the top 30 on HypeMachine with her single High Waist To Hell and topped 120,000 streams on Spotify, Cloudy June is back with unique new song Pretty Pills For Broken Hearts.

Opening with a sultry and moody vocal and guitar performance, Pretty Pills instantly portrays an image of someone struggling with how to address the way they feel, to move beyond a person that refuses to get off of their mind. With the song directed at a mysterious individual named Alice, the titular pretty pills are used as a way to just move beyond the pain. Sometimes it is tempting to numb ourselves to just stop the feeling.

What makes Pretty Pills stand out for me is the way it depicts the injured swagger that can sometimes come out of the experience of heartbreak… You no longer care what other people think, and so you can embrace a sense of being aloof and distant, self-absorbed, lost in feelings whilst insulated from everything except the hurt inside your own head.

'Pretty Pills for Broken Hearts' out now everywhere! → https://lnk.to/prettypills Connect with Cloudy: Instagram: www.instagram.com/cloudyjunemusic Facebook: www.facebook.com/cloudyjunemusic SoundCloud: @cloudyjunemusic Twitter: twitter.com/cloudyjunemusic

Listen: Where Is It - Meyta feat. Shib

Opening with Shib’s hushed vocal, Where Is It feels a little like floating. The song’s use of layered vocals creates an introspective feeling, like talking to yourself, and the song’s economical use of space only further emphasises that.

Alabama-raised producer Brett Edmiston started making music at 16, adopting the pseudonym of Meyta after the release of his debut single, I Need Your Love. In making music, Edmiston’s focus has been on storytelling through the soft, emotive dance music we find here on Where Is It.

Where Is It is a song that represents the search for love that never fails. Between humans, such love is rare… Instead we often seek it spiritually, or within ourselves, and just occasionally in fundamental bonds, such as the one between a parent and a child. Yet almost everyone longs for the security that such a love brings, and in some ways I suspect we all hope to be able to offer someone that same form of love too. This is a comfort and security from knowing you will not just be loved, but that you will love others.

Watch: Delilah - Stephen

Stephen is an LA-based indie-electronic musician, and Delilah represents the centrepiece of his upcoming album Akrasia.

Created in response to Stephen’s struggles with drugs and his exploration of his sexuality, Akrasia is the sound of an artist pushing at the boundaries of their own identity.

Delilah sounds like the act of pulling something apart… Strands worked loose and threads rapidly unravelling. A haunted piano melody establishes a seemingly delicate platform for Stephen’s vocals, with the song’s opening sounding like the midpoint between Radiohead and the Weeknd. Delilah feels like gradual disintegration before reaching a chorus that sounds like rebirth, all the fragility punched through, tanned and turned tough. Drums and vocals capturing the sheer raw feelings of frustration and alienation life can inspire in us.

The result is a staggering performance - bold, artistic, experimental and sad, and yet somehow infectious and enticing all at once. The video is similarly weird and wonderful and intimidating.

Describing the song, Stephen says:

“Delilah is the name I've given my shadow - my repressed, unrecognized potentials and desires. She is temptation. She is seduction. The process of getting to know her has been scary and exciting, a deep sense of self-acceptance and power reached through self-annihilation.”

Premiere: Heartstrings - Peachkit

Back with her sophomore single, Peachkit is an artist who wants to be judged based on her sound, not her visual identity.

Describing her sound as thinking pop, Peachkit looks to combine social commentary with synth-led hooks and infectious percussion. The result is something that makes you want to move whilst also giving you something to think about.

As someone who receives countless pitches from artists, labels, PR professionals and artist managers I am often struck with how much thought goes into an artist’s visual identity. In contrast, and taking inspiration from Banksy, Peachkit is eschewing expectations and letting her music do the talking. Heartstrings itself is a song about Peachkit’s determination to do just that.

Whilst the harmonies and the central hook are uplifting and accessible, Heartstrings wears its message loud and proud.

Peachkit · Heartstrings

Listen: Fatal Flaw - Flawed Mangoes x Will Jay

Following May’s release with Handsome, I Am No Fun, Flawed Mangoes are back with another collaboration.

This time working with Will Jay, Fatal Flaw packs a significant different feeling to I Am No Fun… Where the latter basked in an easy breezy summer eve feeling, Fatal Flaw chugs with nervous energy.

Will Jay’s vocals convey a sense of introspection, frequently repeating the refrain “Baby it’s my fatal flaw” on a song that describes the experience of questioning whether you are actively bad at maintaining friendships and connections. I personally experience the push and pull between wanting to be open, emotionally available and vulnerable, whilst also at times worrying about being seen to be needy in a way that is off-putting. I suspect I’m not alone in that experience and yet, as someone once told me, we are each the protagonist in our own story. We never get to truly know another’s experience or see ourselves as we see others.

Flawed Mangoes is producer Evan Lo, and here he gives Will Jay’s vocals an itchy, slightly frantic sense of movement that suits the slightly anxiety induced feeling of the song. The chugging synths feel like escape and yet as Will himself alludes to, you can’t escape loneliness:

“Fatal Flaw is a song for anyone who wants to be left alone but doesn’t want to be lonely.”

I’ll sign off with another quote, this time from Evan Lo, who describes his admirable intent in releasing Fatal Flaw:

“I hope this song can put into words the social pressure that people feel a lot but don't like to talk about, make people feel less uncomfortable feeling that way.”

Check out Fatal Flaw below:

stream: ffm.to/fatalflaw Follow Flawed Mangoes: https://www.instagram.com/flawed_mangoes/ https://twitter.com/fla_mingo420 Follow Will Jay: https://www.instagram.com/willjaymusic/?hl=en https://twitter.com/willjaymusic artwork by Conner Sorensen