(via Shutterstock)
Life is a LOT.
And while there’s no escaping that, you can find ways to work through the myriad of emotions that summons, including of course channeling it into some highly cathartic music.
These five artists do that brilliantly and well and the resultant songs manage to get you dancing or grooving but also thinking and feeling deeply which might just be all the therapy you need.
“TALK” by GRANT KNOCHE
(courtesy official Facebook page)
If you have ever read one of this site’s Eurovision reviews, you will be well acquainted with just how early a lot of music artists start out on their journey to creative glory.
Texan-born Grant Knoche is definitely counted among that prodigious number, kicking off his musical career as a Kids Bop kid, who, a profile on the out bisexual artist in Queerty noted, toured “the globe singing family-friendly (often comically sanitized) versions of the day’s biggest pop hits”.
He’s clearly learnt a lot from that time, and upped the ante content and music-wise with “TALK” coming across as a boisterously bouncy party dance number that gets you on your feet almost instantly and refuses to let you sit down.
What’s fun about the track is that for all its frenetic musical energy, it’s all about taking it cool when the person you like is hanging out with all kinds of other people at a party, all of whom are vying to get them alone, but you know they will end with you.
It’s a very cool, hands-off confident vibe, and it totally works with the upbeat musical setting in which it sits.
“Keep Møving” by MØ
(courtesy official Facebook page)
Christened Karen Marie Aagaard Ørsted Andersen, Danish singer-songwriter MØ has a way with a banging tune and insightful, emotionally rich lyrics.
If you have ever doubted her talent and versatility, then check out “Keep Moving” which burns with an unrelenting full speed ahead addresses what it’s like to be pedaling furiously on the treadmill of expectations which what you really need to do is slow right down and take a breath.
It’s a symptom of our modern digital world, this ceaseless need to go go GO!, and “Keep Moving” does a brilliantly catchy and accessibly relatable job of laying out the issue … and giving you something to bop along to into the bargain.
‘Keep Møving’ is an ironic take on my endless to-do list. It’s about the feeling of unravelling under the weight of everybody’s expectations (including my own) whilst also secretly dreaming of being set free from this constantly shifting, absolutely mental Western world. Nick Sylvester, Elliot Kozel, and Harrison Smith (The Dare) worked on the production, and I think it perfectly captures the urgency, the chaos, and the undeniable fun we had making it. I have never enjoyed recording ad-libs as much as I did screaming “BUAH!” in the chorus – definitely my favourite ad-libs ever. The lyrics come from a place of real frustration, but writing and performing this one heals me too. (courtesy FemMusic)
“Relentless Love” by Sophie Ellis-Bextor
(courtesy official Facebook page)
It’s likely that a good percentage of music listeners out there think that English singer-songwriter Sophie Ellis-Bextor is some sort of has-been one-hit wonder.
She is so widely known for the 2000 single, “Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love)”, which was recorded in collaboration with Italian DJ Spiller, which even now draws instant recognition from just about everybody, that most people probably think she retired to domestic bliss with husband Richard Jones and put any musical aspirations on the shelf.
But that’s not even remotely the case with the talented singer keeping well and truly active with a slew of infectious dancefloor fillers including her latest release, “Relentless Love” which DIY rather playfully observes is “the kitchen disco queen’s first new music of 2025”.
It’s a gorgeous slice of retro disco-pop which a surprising but wholly relatable origin story.
‘Relentless Love’ came from my love of fun fairs and the way that falling in love and going on a ride can be a similar thrill … Ferris wheels, roller coasters… all of them can make your perception of reality a little wonky and give you a rush. They are sometimes unpredictable but also an exciting way to shift your perspective for a little minute. There’s definitely a romance in getting on a ride together and seeing where it will take you. (courtesy DIY)
“HOTBOX” by Lil Nas X
(courtesy official Facebook page)
Montero Lamar Hill, better known to an audience of fervid fans as Lil Nas X, is a queer artist who is unashamed of being absolutely and gloriously colourfully himself.
From a fantastically on-point fashion sense to songs that run a diverse range of styles and sounds but always with an insanely catchy beat and playfully insightful lyrics, his songs, Like “HOTBOX” are relentlessly, wonderfully catchy.
Released on 14 March this year, “HOTBOX” found its way to an eagerly receptive world as the second single form Lil Nas X’s second album, Dreamboy, set to be released later this year.
It’s got all the groove and then some, and is a ton of fun to listen to and to move too, imagining what it’d be like to be as carefree as he is and how he simply shrugs off all kinds of things in the pursuit of a telling someone that nothing bothers him because, among other things, he knows Anna Wintour.
“HOTBOX” is playful with edge and it’s one of those songs that demands to be played again and again and … well you get the idea.
“End of the World” by Miley Cyrus
(courtesy official Facebook page)
Good lord can Miley Cyrus sing!
I mean, we all know that right but there’s something about End of the World”, with its pitch perfect hitting of every single note and it’s rich, lived-experience emotionality that really showcases how good this singer is and why she should be regarded as one of the singing greats of the current generation.
While its title might indicate a major lyrical downer, but as Atwood Magazine observes, the song, with “[its] timeless feel … [and] its rich layers of live strings, piano chords echoing ’70s glam, and a groovy bass line that gets under your skin”, possesses lyrics “which are at once a declaration of escapism and a love letter to a life lived fully”.
Its hopefulness and melancholy married to a deliciously insistent and highly listenable beat and it beautifully captures the humanity of what its like when all good things, and quite a lot of bad, suddenly come to an end.