Emerging Australian alt-pop artist ALBII closes out 2025 with “PTSD,” a painfully intimate, exquisitely made single that transforms her battle with aggressive breast cancer into something haunting, poetic, and deeply human. Known for blending 2000s pop nostalgia with space-rock atmospheres and hints of Tim Burton–styled surrealism, ALBII has already carved out a distinct lane, winning Visual Creative of the Year at the 2022 Gold Coast Music Awards and earning international traction with her debut single “Hold On (Psycho).”
But “PTSD” marks a turning point. Written and recorded largely from her bedroom studio between treatment cycles, the song creates an audio diary of survival that refuses to shy away from its own scars.
Anyway, once “PTSD” begins, the track immediately pulls you into its emotional gravity. It opens with a building piano, before ALBII enters completely transparent about her issues and her feelings, willing to be vulnerable. She sings reflectively, like doing a shaken and beaten down heart-to-heart with an intimate friend, she trusts to see her exactly as she is and where she begs to be heard and seen and understood and felt exactly what she’s going through. Every breath carries the weight of someone begging not just to be heard, but to be felt.
Halfway through, the production begins to shift. Soft, shaking percussion slips into the mix, adding a subtle heartbeat that mirrors her emotional unease. Then, in the bridge, the tension erupts, as the beats hit harder, sharper, like intrusive thoughts suddenly flooding in. Moments later, guitars come blazing, grinding, buzzing with an engulfing, overwhelming force. The sound swells into a chaotic surge, drenched in distortion and threaded with distant agonized howls—an audio embodiment of panic, trauma, and the terror of reliving painful memories.
And just as the storm peaks, ALBII’s voice returns to its low, dejected tone, retreating into vulnerability once more. It drops from freefall into stillness—amplifying the emotional whiplash that defines post-traumatic recovery.
With “PTSD,” ALBII crafts a piece that is equal parts confession, catharsis, and artistic triumph. It has been distilled into sound. Check it out on Spotify.
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Review by: Naomi Joan