(via Shutterstock)
Life has a lot of dark shit going on right now.
Climate change, AI menace, global fascistic machinations and bird flu are just four of the things making 2026 feel like a complete and utter buzzkill, and so, we need things that remind that life be uplifting and light and wondrously good.
I give you these five songs and artists who deliver up songs that make you feel all the things, and while not all of them are buoyant pieces of pop perfection, they all come at your heart hard and make feeling things that are doom-laden feel like a distinct and existentially alive possibility.
Thank god for music we say once again …
Get Time Back” by mustbejohn
(courtesy official mustbejohn Instagram)
Channeling some serious ’90s-level New radicals sounds, harmonies and vibes, “Get the Time Back” sounds like the freshest piece of bouncy pop you will have heard in some time.
Described in CLASH Magazine as someone who is “rooted in St Albans but restlessly moving between London, Manchester and everywhere in-between” mustbejohn blends a host of divergent musical influences into a sound that is gloriously and originally his own.
Active musically since 2019, the artist happily leaps over genre borders, inserting catchy hooks into melodies that leap and dance vivaciously show how effervescently alive pop can be.
“Get the Time Back” is one a series of arrestingly fun single released this year by mustbejohn who proves with every song that you can be the sum of your influences and still be very much appealingly you with all the originality that implies.
“Show Me How” by LILY B
(courtesy official LILY B Instagram)
Possessed of one of the funnest clips I have seen in some time, with a clownified LILY B who is, according to her bio, “Canberra-raised and now rooted in Sydney’s indie underground”, learning how to love once more in her song “Show Me How”.
The mid-fi piece of rock-influence pop is all rich harmonies and heartfelt lyrical proclamations, set to music which mirrors the rich humanity of the lyrics with perfect tone and feel.
There is a happy whimsicality to the track which sits beautifully alongside its more earnest and emotionally intense thoughtfulness and it works perfectly as a celebration of coming back from past hurt and finding out what love can be again.
If you want to feel wrapped in musical wonder and hopefulness, then “Show Me Show” is the track your lost and lonely track has been needing.
“hesitate” by HRVY
(courtesy official HRVY Instagram)
HRVY, who has ditched the mix of caps and np caps in his actual name of Harvey Leigh Cantwell, for a snappy emphatic mononymic stage name, has been making music since 2013 in-between a range of TV appearances.
His single “hesitate” is a bright and breezy song, anchored by heartfelt, light-as-air vocals which feels all the good things coming to roost at once if you just trust yourself to act on your heart.
“‘hesitate’ is about trusting your instincts and living in the moment instead of second guessing yourself. It’s a fun, feel-good song about embracing a connection and letting things happen naturally. That carefree energy became a big part of the inspiration behind ‘Bliss’ and the music I’ve been making recently.” (HRVY via Culture Fix)
There’s a Scandi-pop vibe very much at work here, notes Culture Fix, “with the delicious Scandipop production coming from the track’s co-writer, Robin Stjernberg.”
With a clip filmed, says the artist on his Instagram account, “at 2am in the fields and streets of Stockholm with an amazing little crew”, this is a song which radiates lightness and a sense of heartfelt fun that will have you dancing and feeling all the feels every time you are lucky enough to hear it.
“Angry Girls” by Sabyna
(courtesy official Sabyna Instagram)
Hailing from North West London, Sabyna is described as having “deep Romanian roots” and being “the voice of a new generation”.
That last descriptive phrase is quite the audacious claim but she certainly has the voice and presence to back it up with her bio on The Digilogue further claiming that “she carves out a space for third culture kids and emotionally aware listeners everywhere, blending alt-pop, soul, and R&B to explore the complexities of heartbreak, identity, and generational pressure with powerhouse vocals and storytelling that holds nothing back”.
Big swings on the bio front but thankfully the music backs it up with “Angry Girls” channeling some serious heartfelt, Eurovision-y big stage vibes, her pop full of emotion and operatic sense of time and place.
This is not pop you simply sit and listen to – it demands movement, a reaction, an emotional response that makes you feel different and if that doesn’t make for some truly impactful music, then what does?
“bellevie” by marguerite
(courtesy official marguerite Instagram)
Good lord but I love French pop.
It’s a product of a high school French teacher who believed not only in teaching the language but the culture informed by it, and it’s meant these pop-loving ears and heart always find a great music which surprises, delights and gives off pop vibes wholly different to most of the English language songs I consume.
Case in point about how wondrously different and soul-enliveningly fun French pop can be comes in the form of “bellevie” by marguerite, who apart from acting, is also a consummately good singer and songwriter.
Springing to the attention of the musical world via singing talent show Star Academy, marguerite’s song “bellevie” is all kinds of whimsically light joyously buoyant happiness and lyrical contentment married with bright vocals and music that bounces along on heels of helium and happiness and will make your world suddenly feel like it’s filled with light and all the best feels possible.
SONGS, SONGS AND MORE SONGS EXTRA!
Happiness happiness joy joy! Two of my favourite music acts, Snow Patrol and Kylie Minogue have joined forces for a song that is absolutely up there with the best tracks of the year with Euphoria magazine having this to say about the track …
Snow Patrol is back with a brand new single, ‘These Alarms’, and it features Australia’s very own dance music queen, Kylie Minogue. I’ll confess that if I were given a million chances to match random artists together, this combo might not have occurred to me. I mean, Snow Patrol and Kylie Minogue, who would’ve thought? I would say stranger things have happened, but I deeply doubt that. But, as off-brand as this was for the band, the collaboration was a natural one in some ways. Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody happens to be a huge fan of the ‘Tension’ hitmaker, and, well, it inspired him to make a song with her in mind. That song is ‘These Alarms’ – a pop-rock song with pulsating synths and finely blended vocal melodies.