Alt-pop trailblazer Charlotte Sands returns with her explosive new single, "neckdeep”. Following the success of her 2024 album can we start over?, Charlotte is stepping boldly into a new era, first teased with June’s fiery single “HUSH” and now ignited with “neckdeep.” 

Singer-songwriter Ana Luna returns with her striking new single "Bleeding Pen." The single follows songs like “Daddy’s Empire,” “Dance in a Trance,” and “Can We Pretend We Just Met At A Bar,” and paves the way for her debut album, due later this year.

Rising singer-songwriter Avery Lynch reveals her new EP, Glad We Met, out now via RECORDS/Sony Music. The 9-track EP includes previously released singles like “Rain,” “the boys who don’t know what they want,” “think about it,” “Dead to Me,” “Lasting Effects,” and “Sweetheart,” alongside a handful of new tracks. 

"Too much."

"Too affectionate."

"Drama queen."

"Overbearing."

I've heard variations of these words for as long as I can remember. Not always with cruelty-sometimes just as a casual observation-but they always seemed to suggest the same thing: that my way of feeling, caring, and expressing was somehow inconvenient, something to manage or mute.

Indie-pop luminary Maddie Regent unveils her long-awaited debut full-length album, On the phone with my mom. Crafted in collaboration with her creative partner and significant other, producer and songwriter Cade Hoppe, the album is Maddie's most fearless and fully realized work to date. Seamlessly blending shimmering pop melodies with razor-sharp introspection, On the phone with my mom captures her at her most raw, radiant, and self-assured.

Over a decade in the making, Saira has published her highly-anticipated second poetry collection Rising From Despair: A Journey to Hope. We were honoured to speak to Saira ahead of the launch of her new book to explore her process, inspiration, and challenges she faced along the way over 10 years of creation.

I. BIRTH OF A WOMAN

Oh so you were looking for a baby mama

Blue mountains from my aunt’s bungalow, her womb swollen from having had “only a daughter”

The dog still weeps on the dusty path—dust red like my grandma’s glasses

The Caribbean swallowed Kingston but cannot digest it because we are all still screaming there

Just W O M E N just W O M E N

i was a(u)n pulled trigger on your gun

you were too indifferent to shoot and too obsessed to simply let me run

so we hang on, half-there, half-gone

The lead up to turning 30 definitely felt like a momentous occasion, but then things were… the same. I didn’t wake up and feel as though I had magically changed overnight into this ultra-sophisticated put-together adult woman. I still felt as though I had no idea what I was really doing. But I think the most mature thing about turning 30 was accepting that that’s okay, learning that we are all on different paths, and understanding that everyone’s milestone birthday is going to look completely different.

I spend hours waving goodbye.

It hurts, doesn't it?

The goodbye that breaks my fingers and my heart.

I wave 'bye' to every last person I've ever dated...

The stars gaze back, but there's no way for me to greet them.

Saira Anwar is an educator, poet, author, content creator, and spoken word artist. She published her first poetry collection The Death of a Beautiful Dream in January 2014, which was featured on Amazon’s Top 20 Bestsellers list.

We were honoured to speak with Saira in anticipation of the launch of her second poetry collection, Rising From Despair: A Journey to Hope, the long-awaited sequel to her first collection and 10 years in the making.

Neglect.

A word so cold,

that it pierces my soul,

 —and takes hold.

Tears bleed down my cheeks

    —Oh how I wish it were not so!

Roses are red,

Violets are blue.  I have lived my life,

    And so have you.

But I need,

       Something more.  (I need)

Something to love

       —With all of my heart.

All these lines.

All these words.

All these thoughts, scribbled across paper for a girl I do not see.

(Not know.)

Scribbled in ink, staining the paper.

                                    Staining my soul.

                                    …But she is—

                                    …she is beautiful…

I stand before you now. . .

We are two poets. . .

Will you let me be?

Will you accept my world as it is?

I've only just wished for a second chance. . .

The word feels strange on my tongue. Like I might just taste it and spit it out because it tasted wrong.

I might as well bite my tongue and taste blood than say that word out loud, because the word girlfriend has never been reserved for someone like me.

Don´t you remember what you wrote in that message on that cold rainy morning in May?

Because I remember crying while I hid under the covers, thinking the world had surely ended.

mmm, her

nails digging

into my back

but no one’s

here

the sun

won’t peak

That is the question you probably ask yourself every time I see those three dots disappear.

When did this become so fucking one-sided?

When will I stop making the effort?

When will I call the time of death?