Listen: Please Please Please by Jiwon

Born in New York City in 2001, Jiwon was raised against a backdrop of diverse music, his father’s love of bands like The Clash, and his mother’s focus on classical training. Having developed his skills playing the piano, cello, bass guitar, and drums, music became Jiwon’s principal form of self-expression.

Jiwon’s music sees him draw on inspiration as diverse and Lou Reed and Jai Paul, with the latter’s pop experimentation clearly audible on Please Please Please, a cover of Sabrina Carpenter’s hit single.

It’s rare that I would choose to feature a cover version of a record that is just a few months old, but what Jiwon does to Carpenter’s original is both transformational and complimentary. Where Sabrina’s original is a lilting country-influenced vehicle for snappy percussion and vocal harmonies, Jiwon creates a version that is soaked in soft-focus instrumentation and dubby, electronic synths. Jiwon’s vocal has a hurt, hollow feel to it, and where Carpenter sounds hopeful that she will escape romantic embarrassment, Jiwon sounds like he has already dealt with more than one dose of it.

Overall, Jiwon takes Sabrina Carpenter’s commercial-yet-intelligent single and turns it into a lesson in art-pop artifice, his throbbing synths and swirling melodies equal to those of Jai Paul and Dev Hynes.

Watch: You Watch Me Break by Brooke & Zone Diem

Building on the dark synth pop that has defined our BRAT summer, lyricist and vocalist Brooke, and producer Zone Diem, are looking to take us straight into BRAT fall.

Hailing from Boston, MA, 20-year-old musician Brooke is now based in Brooklyn, NY. She initially got into music growing up, as a jazz and funk drummer, and started writing, arranging and producing her own music in the 2020 pandemic. 2024 marks a return to releasing music, having spent three years exploring her identity and style, and what it means to be a queer person in a binary word.

Taken from her EP, Away Today, You Watch Me Break basks in glossy, aloof production. Now partnering with producer Zone Diem, Brooke’s performance is underpinned by 808s and arpeggios, coming together to create a sound that sits at the intersection of Charli XCX, Crystal Castles and the Weeknd. The instrumentation creates an atmospheric, cinematic backing for Brooke’s vocals, which tell a modern tale of longing and loneliness. You Watch Me Break feels almost like an invitation, to watch her buckle and shift. It is the sound of being afraid of nothing as much as nothing happening.

Check out You Watch Me Break below, and add it to your streaming platform of choice here.

Listen: I Need To Understand But I Don’t by Foxgluvv

Back with their first release since last year’s Sapphic Subtext, Brighton-based queer pop artist Foxgluvv has just unveiled new single I Need To Understand But I Don’t.

The track brings together crisp electronic pop experimentalism with elements of high-energy. As punchy percussion establishes a propulsive sense of momentum. On I Need To Understand But I Don’t, Foxgluvv’s vocals are reflective, crystalline, and glass-like. Those vocals depict an experience of self-discovery, navigating ‘the complexities of gender identity and the confusion of self-discovery’.

Describing the song, Foxgluvv says:

‘This track is more than just a song to me — it's an anthem for those grappling with societal expectations while on their personal journey, particularly resonating with the LGBTQ+ community. I want people to listen to this song and realise it’s okay not to have all the answers — not knowing where you're going in life, not fully understanding your sexuality or gender identity, or not feeling at home yet. This song leans into that narrative. By not saying a lot, I’m actually saying so much if you really listen — and that’s often how it feels when opening up about sensitive topics. I want people to feel that it’s okay not to have everything figured out yet, the answers will come in time.’

Mirroring the thematic core of the song, Foxgluvv wanted the release, and their return after almost two-years away, to feel personal. As a result, they decided to produce the song themselves, without any assistance. What is impressive is not just how this adds to the story, but how natural and dialled-in the sound is. There is a level of confidence and self-assurance in the sound of I Need To Understand But I Don’t that feels like a step forward for Foxgluvv’s sound.

Listen: You & Me by Retro Kid

Retro Kid is the musical pseudonym of producer Jake Juba. Based out of Copenhagen, Retro Kid constructs tastefully arranged pieces of electronic music, blending ambience and hints of pop to create abstract-yet-emotive sound collages.

In his latest single, You & Me, Juba has made a dedication to his girlfriend, Gry, and the challenges they experience as new parents. In the face of the multitude of practical paper cuts that come with being a parent, the song is a reminder of the bonds that connect the couple, and their new family.

As a song, You & Me is centred on a simplistic melodic refrain, the sort of thing a parent may hum to a newborn, in fact. Around that melody, Jake leverages the trademark Retro Kid sound to construct layers of textural detail. Synths bubble, hi-hats splash and cut-up vocals tumble, like the snatches of thoughts as you go about the messy experience of loving and parenting.

You & Me is taken from Retro Kids’ forthcoming EP, IYKYK (Right?), which itself is set for release in November. As Jake describes in his own words, “The EP explores the journey into my 30s, capturing the real-life transitions of becoming a dad, buying a house, and even mowing the lawn”. If you know, you know…

Listen: Never Loved Somebody by Kylie Rothfield

Hailing from the US, Kylie Rothfield signed her first publishing deal back in 2015. Since then, she has been making music and touring, with Never Loved Somebody representing her latest release.

On her new single, Rothfield depicts a relationship tinged with a sour sense of apathy as she sings of loving someone incapable of reciprocating her emotional investment. Kylie’s vocal is undeniably the start of the show here, as she transitions from intimate narratives in the song’s verse to a rousing crescendo of a chorus. Where the performance is heartfelt and hurt in Never Loved Somebody’s quieter moments, Rothfield drives her message with a sense of self-assurance as things build.

Beyond Rothfield’s impassioned vocals, Never Loved Somebody is surrounded by deftly performed and carefully produced instrumentation, creating a rich and timeless aesthetic. This is particularly the case in the song’s final minute, where Rothfield’s delivery flies above a bridge that basks in a more rock-oriented sound, before descending into a final round of that rousing chorus.

Overall, Never Loved Somebody is nothing less than a powerhouse of a performance — emotive, dramatic, and yet intimate.