Songs of the Week - 31/08/2026
These are the essential tracks you need to check out this week!
Photo Credit: El Harwick
Chloe Slater - 'I've Never Felt So Hated'
"This song is centred around my mental health struggles as a result of internet scrutiny. It's about how easy it is in 2026 to watch a twenty-second video, or read a comment and form an opinion on someone with a complete lack of context. In the digital age of short-form media, it is so difficult to form nuanced opinions. Everything has to be polarised and divisive to get clicks, and the result is such black and white thinking: it's true love or extreme hate."
Chloe on the track
Nieve Ella - 'Romance Is A Desert'
"Romance Is A Desert is the light to the heavier, darker themes of the record. It’s the loving side of me, who is simply happy to exist. I wanted a song that people could dance and feel good to. It’s reminiscent of a beach holiday or getting ready to go on a night out. It’s the feeling of being so in love that consequences don’t seem to matter, the only thing that’s important in that moment is that emotion. It’s sexy, it’s sassy, it’s fun."
Nieve on the track
AFTERDRIVE - 'Jewellery'
"The song is about crossing paths with someone who’s not like anybody in this time or era of your life. Someone who is complex in the way that you don’t understand why they are different - they stand out without trying, they have their own vibe and confidence and don't follow what everyone else is doing. It’s about being pulled in by someone rare who has a real, genuine energy that cuts through all the sameness. We are so excited for everyone to hear this song and for it to be the next release from our debut EP, Dress To Drive”
AFTERDRIVE on the track
Dalia - 'Samsara'
"This has been a song I’ve been wanting to write for years. There’s so much hope and light in this song and I hope it finds the people who need it the most. Every lyric in it are the words I wish I could go back and give to myself and to anyone out there who has ever felt like there’s no way out. I hope this song can bring you a sense of comfort when you need it most."
Dalia on the track via Instagram
Sara Baroni - 'slow down'
"This song was one of the first ones I ever wrote in a studio, and it feels like it marked the beginning of this new chapter for me. It’s about constantly feeling like you need to keep moving and achieving more, even when part of you just wants to slow down.”
Sara on the track
Clyde Crooks - 'Coldest Day of the Year'
"'Coldest Day of the Year' is a reluctant love song. The first verse came the night I met my current partner and the chorus came as we got serious and I got sober, trying to reconcile deep love with a lifelong fear of intimacy. Sobriety forced a simple truth: my feelings won't kill me. Neither will vulnerability or commitment. But my coping mechanisms will"
Clyde on the track
saint luke - 'The Planner'
"'The Planner' is a personification of the anxious thought spiral i often find myself in when i feel overwhelmed. at its core, it’s about the human condition - seeking value in productivity yet procrastinating and feeling crushed by the weight of it all - filtered through an upbeat, summer folk-pop ballad. an anthem for blind faith."
saint luke on the track
Anya Alchemy - 'Don't Say You Never Felt It'
“I wrote this song about someone holding back their feelings for you and lying to themselves. I could tell that they felt the same way as me but wouldn’t admit it.”
Anya on the track
Lapse - 'Hindsight'
"‘Hindsight’ is a letter to replaying a relationship that ends without closure, leaving you to search for answers that will never arrive. It’s that wondering on what you missed and whether things could have turned out differently. Sonically it’s upbeat and euphoric, but there is an underlying sense of yearning throughout."
Lapse on the track
Sunday,June - 'What if I Tried?'
"['What if I Tried?' is] An ode to failed dreams and perseverance. Its lyrics reflect the pressures of life and how they suffocate dreams and hold back our wildest ideas, while ultimately celebrating the perseverance and courage to ‘just try’"
Sunday,June on the track
Ruby Dean - 'Leave Me Be'
"'Leave Me Be’ was dug out of the depths of losing your first love. That first experience of heartbreak is gutting and raw and confusing, and processing the fact that you have to let go of the strongest feelings you’ve ever felt is something that can be so difficult. I wrote the song as a means of processing all that, as a way of talking myself through my confusion and also managing my grief. It’s a song about trying to let someone go, no matter how much the ghost of them follows you around."
Ruby on the track
Meital - 'Insomniac'
"Two years ago, I went through a breakup, moved to New York on a whim, and lost the ability to sleep entirely (I really was up until 3am every night). 'Insomniac', the first single off my debut EP, is an indie pop/folk track built around a fingerpicked guitar riff that spirals like my thoughts do when I can’t sleep. The song is about finding myself again through that experience – maybe not moving on, but starting to move forward."
Meital on the track
Angel Wong - 'Know That'
"‘Know That’ is a commercial pop track about being the one doing the breaking up, the perspective that rarely gets any sympathy. The lyrics play a deliberate trick: confessional and self-blaming on the surface, but the real register is sarcasm and barely concealed exhaustion. Catchy and danceable, with Latin rhythms woven into the production and a late summer feel that hints at colder months ahead, it is musically inspired by the production of artists such as Charlie Puth."
Angel on the track
Mariae Cassandra - 'Splinters'
"By the time I was 16, I was carrying unresolved wounds that made it difficult to move forward. After writing the first demo, I disliked it because it felt too real. Two years later, I returned to it with a different perspective. I rewrote parts of the song to reflect who I had become during that time, shaping it into what it is now."
Mariae on the track
Montello - 'Eleanor (When Will You Learn?)
"‘Eleanor (When Will You Learn)’ is a song that describes the turmoil of a dysfunctional relationship with someone too concerned with themselves to care. The banging-your-head-against-the-wall chic the lyrics embody result in a song that many of our audience can relate to, from the sarcastic ‘You know I love you's' to the bargaining of the titular question ‘When will you learn?’ - all neatly wrapped up in the instrumentation of a nostalgic noughties indie rock tune."
Montello on the track