POP

At just 16, Moscow singer-songwriter Vladimir Buyakov is already turning everyday pressure into bright, groove-heavy pop. Всё получилось (“It All Worked Out”), his fourth original single, swaps the usual autumn gloom for disco sparkle and pop-funk swagger, built around the deceptively simple idea of letting go when life refuses to…

Jinishi turns personal adversity into something quietly searching on “Broken People, Break People,” an introspective single about the ways unresolved hurt can travel from one relationship into another. Drawing from an interest in sociology and psychology, the Chicago artist approaches emotional damage as a simple tragedy and more as something…

Maxwell Knowles turns personal transformation into a cinematic indie-pop odyssey on A Hero’s Journey, a 12-track sophomore album that maps a year of self-exploration onto Joseph Campbell’s famed monomyth. Following his Earmilk-praised debut Daydreaming In the Dark, Knowles returns with a record concerned with pain, uncertainty, self-discovery and, ultimately, the…

At 15, Piper Connolly already seems to understand one of pop music’s oldest tricks, which is that sometimes the messiest feelings make the catchiest songs. On she’s too much!, the Los Angeles-based alt-pop/pop-rock artist turns the chaos of growing up into six tracks packed with sharp hooks, guitars, humor, insecurity,…

Los Angeles artist AquariO makes electronic pop that refuses to put a pretty filter over emotional messiness. Working somewhere between alternative dance, futuristic pop, dark humor, and outright catharsis, the singer and songwriter turns inner turmoil into something you can actually move to. “Get Some FCKN Therapy,” released September 25,…

Susan Mohini Kane makes music that turns hardship into a reason to keep believing in beauty. With classical training, cinematic pop instincts and a storyteller’s ear for emotional truth, the artist brings an elegant but deeply human sensibility to her work. Her single “Ready For The Wonderful” captures that outlook…

Geelong artist Lana Karlay turns the quiet exhaustion of one-sided love into a sharp pop-rock confession with “Cross Your Mind.” The song captures that uncomfortable point where you still wish someone would realise what they have lost, but you also know that waiting for that recognition is costing you too…

Thomas O’Shea gives glossy 2010s-inspired pop a darker twist on “No I Won’t,” turning the familiar shape of a messy love song into something far more personal. Written, produced, performed, mixed and mastered entirely by O’Shea in his Madison, Wisconsin home studio, the single grew from an experiment in recreating…

Country-pop singer-songwriter Ally Cribb turns the exhaustion of a toxic relationship into quiet strength on her latest single, “Stand Back.” The song captures the moment you stop waiting for someone to become the person they keep promising they will be. “Stand Back” opens with a catchy, relaxing rhythm, where gentle…

Robbie Rosen and Interstate Snake turn a basketball broadcast into a supernatural party with “Bring The Madness,” a high-energy collision of pop, hip-hop and cinematic spectacle. Written by Beth Franco, Rosen and Rob Aster, the track found an especially fitting stage in CBS Sports’ coverage of the NCAA Men’s Basketball…