(via Shutterstock)
The glorious thing about music is that you’re constantly finding and discovering new artists to add to the ones you’ve known for ages and ages, all of them mixing together into a lifelong playlist which soundtracks who you are every step of the way.
In this post’s selection, there are artists I discovered two weeks ago through a fun bit of algorithmic rabbit hole-running and others who, ahem, first came to my attention decades ago (yes, I am that old and no, my playlists don’t seem to care).
Whether an artist is an old favourite or a brand new discovery, they are making songs you love, songs that make your playlist sing with hope, love, thoughtfulness and the glorious emotional complexity of life and which fill these posts will all kinds of musical possibility …
“Street of Dreams” by U2
(courtesy U2.com)
What surprises me most about the fact that U2 has a new album is not that they’ve been around since my uni days way back in the ’80s, or that they are continuing to make music (when you’re a creative, there’s no such thing as retirement) or that the music is still really good; no, what truly shocks me is that after kicking off their career back in 1976, is that their new LP Carnaval e Luz is just their 16th album.
There’s been such a stream of great music about the last 50 years that I just assumed they’d be up to their 30 or something but regardless of the album count, the cool thing is that title track “Street of Dreams” is classic captivatingly good U2.
And it’s not just this humble reviewer who thinks so.
The song begins not with a declaration, but a prayer. Bono’s repeated appeal to be heard gives “Street of Dreams” an intimate point of entry, grounding its sweeping political message in the voice of one person reaching outward from a place of desperation. From there, U2 steadily widen the frame, transforming that solitary plea into a communal invitation.
In this song, U2 are proclaiming that the revolution will be sparked in ordinary streets, and that those roads will become streets of dreams arising out of everyday life. Across Mexico City – from Condesa and Colonia del Valle to Polanco and beyond – those unlikely and remarkable streets of dreams can be encountered in the most hidden areas where ordinary life becomes extraordinary. (courtesy Atwood Magazine)
The song is rousingly polemic and joyously hopeful, a perfect mix of message and music that elevates your spirit in a way only the best U2 songs can.
“Pretty People” by Bash Croft
(courtesy Bash Croft)
Does the face look familiar? Yes, of course it does if, like so much of the world with a beating heart and a progressively uplifting soul, you’ve had the inestimable pleasure of watching watching Alice Oseman’s tale of LGBTQIA+ hopefulness, Heartstopper.
Sebastian Croft aka “Bash” played the role of Ben Hope but while that’s what’s garnered him lots of attention, he’s also a super talented queer music artist, with “Pretty People”, a jaunty lo-fi number that hums along with quiet joy and celebration, a good example of the type of songs he creates with effortless ease.
But the genius of this song is that while the music sounds like a bubbly fountain of happiness, like many a Scandinavian light & dark track, it is full of achingly introspective lyrics that pack quite the emotional punch.
It started with a note that just said “Pretty People” as a title. When you go to a party or are with a gathering of people, you can sometimes feel like such an outsider. The song became this analogy for the people you see when you’re not feeling pretty, but then also this idea that someone that you once loved and knew intimately is now just this veneer that you interact with. They’re suddenly just one of these people in a room. (courtesy id-co)
The song represents life in all its contrary messiness, happiness and sadness, light and dark, hope and truth all jumbled up together and set to the kind of music that makes this a pop song with heart and a beat and a need to hit the “REPEAT” button.
“Gotta Get Out” by The Linda Lindas
(courtesy official Bandcamp page)
Finding this song was the end result of one of those fun YouTube algorithmic rabbit holes that I indulge in when all I want to do is forget the world and lose myself in new music.
Hailing from L.A, the Linda Lindas are a punk rock band with the requisite amount of attitude, intense messaging and music that drives you to your feet; and while you might not spring up dancing in your office, like the band does in the clip, you will be tempted.
OH, YOU WILL BE TEMPTED.
It’s a super catchy song, the title track no less of their third album, which pulsates with a racucous beat, lyrics which echo the cry of almost anyone caught in corporate hell and the cubicles which are our prisons and has you dancing as you contemplate (and hopefully) make your escape.
“Dandelion” by New Constellations
(courtesy official New Constellations Soundcloud)
Described in the bastion of knowledge of wonder and discovery that is Wikipedia (don’t let AI stop finding things out for yourself, please) as a “dream pop and synthwave duo based out of Portland, Oregon”, New Constellations have created a brilliant slice of emotionally evocative pop in “Dandelion”.
Sporting like some deliciously listenable ’80s vibes, “Dandelion”, in the world of PM Studio, “drifts between buoyant, synth-forward pop and aching vocals, crafting an introspective song about love tested by doubt and emotional distance.”
It’s a beautifully immersive piece of music which proves that Harlee Case (vocals) and Josh Smith (multi-instrumentalist) know their way around music which not only sounds good but which hits home lyrically too.
Case describes the song this way:
“Dandelion is a tender, introspective song about love tested by doubt and emotional distance. The quiet push and pull between trust and self-protection. It captures the fragile moment when two people consciously separate yet remain deeply connected, holding space for vulnerability, longing, and the hope that love can still find its way back.” (PM Studio)
“Sick of Love” by Lykke Li
(courtesy Spotify)
Lykke Li is another one of those artists who I discovered a great many years back, specifically where I was working in a call centre for a huge logistic company and god knows I needed music to listen to that actually meant something (because god knows my job often felt like it did not).
A Swedish singer, songwriter, model and actress, Li is the sort of artist who folds cool and quirky into the same brilliantly original package, who makes music which feels instantly accessible and yet which rewards repeat listens with all kinds of gems woven into her tracks, both musical and lyrical.
“Sick of Love”, drawn from 2026’s The Afterparty, is a contemplative piece of simply yet extravagantly lush pop which Culled Culture rather beautifully calls “another banger for unrequited love” which the site talks about at length in ways that really bring the song alive.
Although Li has previously stated that she was, in fact, sick of love—or at least writing about it for her songs (especially after Eyeye)—sometimes old habits die hard. Besides, how could she resist using the affecting beat (co-produced by herself and David Andrew Sitek) to get into the weeds of unrequited love? A theme that the listener immediately gleans from the opening verse, “Oh, what the hell?/Fell from heaven/Oh, my god/I can’t even/See her with her long hair/Television pretty/I know you got the wrong girl/When you left without me.”
Cutting to the core of so many women’s insecurities when it comes to heteronormative, monogamous relationships, Li addresses the feeling of inadequacy that this other, “prettier” woman brings out in her. All because the object of her affection is “choosing” this woman over her, which Li can’t help but assume has everything to do with somehow not being aesthetically “enough” compared to the proverbial “hot bitch” (who is perceived as automatically being a bitch precisely because she is hot).
It’s a gorgeous track that wears its heart and messaging on its sleeve and its so powerful for that, as well being the sort of song that makes you want to lose yourself in it and not find your way out.