Watch: Wonka by Derek Simpson

Opening with warm, analogue keys and gentle guitars, Wonka feels like the warm afternoon California sun falling through a window, resting on my skin. That west coast sound reflects Derek Simpson’s journey, as an artist, producer, and multi-instrumentalist who moved from Boston to the music scene of Long Beach in LA.

The sound employed by Simpson on Wonka has a beautiful subtlety and richness. With an ever so slightly cracked vocal style creating a sense of emotional authenticity, Derek’s performance slips between a standard register and a falsetto performance, like someone who inadvertently betrays their emotions with variations in pitch as they talk. The production that surrounds this delivery has a restrained sense of experimentation, a series of glitchy melodies in the song’s bridge creating a textural, IDM and crunchy hip-hop influenced sound.

Overall, Derek Simpson has created something equally tuned into the head and heart — an emotionally resonant song that is also intellectually stimulating. Simpson’s lyrics are an exploration of the vulnerability that comes with love, feeling exposed whilst also compelled, as he describes:

‘It’s an unsafe place you go to when you allow yourself to be in love. You’re putting clothes on and taking clothes off trying to imagine how your beloved will see you. You’re on exhibition all the time. And no matter your choices, you’re exposed. Right before you remember to breathe out & inevitably everything takes care of itself, the magic will disorient you.’

Watch: Body by Thavoron

Based in Seattle, Thavoron is a Cambodian American musician who creates queer pop whilst channeling the intimacy and inventiveness of the likes of Frank Ocean, Faye Webster and Bon Iver.

Growing up, Thavoron felt underrepresented within the music industry, and now hopes to create a sense of community and visibility for queer Southeast Asian Americans within music. Talking about the experience, Thavoron says, ‘Being surrounded by people I couldn’t fully relate to resorted to me locking myself up in my bedroom to just write to try and make sense of all my differences as a person’.

Thavoron’s latest release is Body, a song that seeks to celebrate queer freedom amidst emotionally resonant dance production. The result is haunting, Thavoron’s breathless vocals soaring above rousing, layered instrumentation. Live guitars and drums evoke a sense of humanity, Prince-like in the way they blend with the more electronic elements here, whilst shimmering synths give the song a sense of dramatic celestial majesty. Describing the song, Thavoron says:

'The importation for Body was a sort of reclamation of my sexuality… I was starting to shift my mindset and realised the power you can hold or remove in sex and intimacy.’

Watch: Reckoning by Jakke

Having originally establishing is career in alternative rock, Jakke gradually found his creativity transcended genre classifications. He began making dance music and evolving as a DJ, blending live instrumentation and electronic elements together to move audiences.

On his latest single, Reckoning, Jakke continues to experiment across genres, fusing the confessional potential of the singer-songwriter format with the emotional resonance of electronic music. Created with the fans of Lane 8 and Chris Martin’s Coldplay in mind, the song looks to wrestle with the negative consequences of war, conflict, and hardship. Discussing Reckoning, Jakke says:

‘The message of this song came to me after feeling distraught by the horrors of war and suffering that I routinely saw online in the news and social media. Whether it was disturbingly tragic images from the Middle East, Eastern Europe, South America, or beyond, I felt overwhelmed with sadness and unsure of just how to respond. I wanted to acknowledge(…) what I saw and felt, without adding to all the noise online. It is my hope for this song to be a way to speak out to everyone going through such misfortune to say “I see you and I feel for you”. I hope anyone else who hears this can bring awareness and empathy to those who do not have the luxury of safety and peace.’

The music itself is deftly produced, electronic elements layered together to create a subtle foundation for Jakke’s melodic vocal and a melodic piano refrain. The result is crisp and modern, yet emotive and, ultimately, human.

Check out Reckoning below, or stream it on your platform of choice here.

Watch: Left Behind by Kacey Fifield

With a gently strummed guitar introduction, Left Behind sees Kacey Fifield’s vocals take centre-stage from the song’s beginning. The vocal initially hooks you in, the earnest delivery exposing a trusting sense of vulnerability. It is the pulsing bass and racing melodies that kick in, approximately a quarter into the song’s duration, that set the song’s pace, however. The song creates the feeling of running to keep up, like a sprint down a hill that will only end when you either fall over, or reach the bottom.

Fifield is an acclaimed singer-songwriter, originally from Los Angeles, but now based in New York. Having released her debut album, Between The Lines, in 2022, Kacey has racked up 6.25 million plays on Spotify, with 4.5 million for the album alone. Offline, Kacey has also attracted audiences to venues that include The Whisky A Go Go, The Mind, and Heaven Can Wait. When she isn’t making music, Kacey is engaged in philanthropic endeavours that include fundraising for cancer research and supporting food sustainability, and completing her education in New York.

As a song, Left Behind is inspired by Kacey’s experience of receiving her college decisions:

‘It was the end of the year, all of my relationships felt like they were falling apart, and I was terrified of the future.’

The contrast of those heartfelt lyrics with a more upbeat sound was itself a deliberate attempt to capture the emotional contradiction of that experience:

‘This darker lyrical theme is juxtaposed with an upbeat, danceable instrumental. This pairing is meant to express the catharsis of finally letting go of my fears and recognizing that my worries are out of my control.’

Check out Left Behind below:

Listen: Cuts Me Up by Holly Wild

Opening with Holly’s own bluesy, smoky vocals, and a lilting, strummed guitar, Cuts Me Up gives the impression of a certain timidity. That is shattered, however, as the song hits its first chorus, an earth-shaking bass-drop underlining Wild’s delivery.

The result is a song that feels both coy, and knowing. As Holly sings about living with the aftermath of a relationship turned sour, she appears to be both heartbroken, and completely in control. She sings about being cut up, and yet, notably, admits ‘I know I was the one with the knife’.

Born and raised in a musical family, Holly’s father used to while away his evenings, singing and playing Roy Orbison songs on guitar. Holly learnt the foundations of her craft, singing backup vocals with her father, as her (less musically gifted) mother attempted to keep up, and keep in tune. Wild brings that experience, being immersed in the rock and folk music greats, into a contemporary setting.

The result could feel cheap, and yet Holly’s performance transcends the trappings of the electronic elements of Cuts Me Up’s production. The result swings between brassy, classical, bluesy pop, and something much more self-aware — just like Holly’s lyrics.