These LITM Pop Picks explore everything from heartbreak to spirituality, featuring Lana Karlay, Ravens Beats, Stephanie Westdal, and more.
1. Lana Karlay – Think it Through
Australia-based Lana Karlay’s latest single, Think it Through, embodies everything that makes pop the genre it is: harmonies that intertwine with each other so beautifully, drums that stay just under the edge of tipping over, and a cathartic quality that makes this a song that deserves to be blasted on long, late-night drives. It’s refreshingly vulnerable – not in a performative way, but completely raw and unhesitant in showing you what it’s like to be a bystander as someone you love falls for someone else. Karlay captures the messiness, the frustration, the anger below the surface, and delivers it with a polish that elevates it to the kind of song that’d fit perfectly into a coming-of-age romcom. Listen here!
2. Ravens Beats – Trauma
Raven Beats and Viii Dorsey’s Trauma is more of an immersive experience than just music. With reverberating vocals that find their way into your mind and echo there, atmospheric textures, and a hypnotising rhythm, this track brings every nuance of grief and trauma to the forefront: that grief never fully goes away, that healing from it isn’t an erasure of what caused it in the first place, and that despite how it may feel, you can find room for hope. It balances being emotionally heavy and vulnerable with the careful acknowledgement that life goes on; give Trauma a listen here.
3. Stephanie Westdal – Sirens
Opening with a melancholy-tinged piano, Stephanie Westdal’s Sirens continues her journey as an artist inspired to find deeper meaning in her music. Cinematic textures pair with an atmosphere that stays with you long after the song ends, and this surrounds vocals filled with clarity through the haze, enough that it feels like she’s sitting right next to you. Filled with vivid imagery, the song unfolds slowly, in waves – fitting for the lyricism – of energy; it never once creates tension, keeping things free-flowing and organic-sounding throughout. Thoughtful writing and intentional sound make this a must-listen – check it out here!
4. Fishburn – Take It Away
Fishburn’s Take It Away is all about ultimate spiritual surrender as an act of strength. Minimal and restrained throughout, the background instruments stay in the background, allowing the vocals and their message to shine. With lines like “I don’t understand why now I feel so alone when I thought I was so strong in my faith / Take it away / I chased something that wouldn’t last / Held on tight onto a broken past,” Fishburn crafts a narrative through music: from a desolate place of frustration and confusion, the song moves on a natural arc to a place where hope and strength become the focus. Listen here!
5. Jonathan Milanes – Sunkissed
Jonathan Milanes’ debut release, Sunkissed, is warm and bright throughout. On this track about figuring yourself out and being grateful for the ones that stick by you as you do, what stands out is its simplicity: Milanes understands the value of staying restrained and letting the music do the talking, and this is a philosophy reflected in every element. The instrumental layers stay uncomplicated and consistent, wrapping around the vocals; the vocals themselves are also mixed to cohesively blend into the instruments, making it clear that the song’s message is conveyed through lyricism, but also through the mood being set. Give Sunkissed a listen here!
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