LITM Singer-Songwriter Picks featuring Rita De Los Angeles, WestingWay, Maddison Kate, and More!

LITM Singer-songwriter picks Rita De Los Angeles, WestingWay, Maddison Kate, Jacob Ifans and Claudia Tomàs.

1. Rita De Los Angeles - Riding Shotgun

Summer of 2002, an innocent American tourist encounters lifetime love in Germany. Movie script? Not a chance. It's Rita De Los Angeles' life, and her song Riding Shotgun is the song you didn't realize you were going to need for your next torrid romance.

This tune is the sound equivalent of rolling down the automobile window, having wind ruffle your hair, and yelling, "Anything is possible!" With airheaded melodies and a beat that imitates the smooth roll of an open road, the tune encapsulates the free, lovely energy of being in love.

Rita's gentle voice almost hugs you with the speakers. The words paint images of adventure, feeling of spontaneity, and discovering magic in the unlikeliest places. If you've ever been or ever fantasized about being in love, Riding Shotgun will tell you that life's greatest moments catch you when you're not expecting it. Hold on and ride it out!

2. WestingWay - Grace

Westingway's Grace is a genuine Americana treasure that sounds like the sound equivalent of being enveloped by an old friend. The track is all about trying to get through heartbreak and love, and it manages some success at this with sincerity and a dash of rough charm.

The instrumentation is as cozy as a night around the campfire, with pedal steel and acoustic guitars and subdued percussion. The singing of Jon Wheeler is like that favorite, cozy flannel shirt- worn in, cozy, and ageless. It's an introspective song about resolve, where each lyric feels to be ripped from a journal.

Think Tyler Childers meets The Lumineers with a sprinkle of stardust. Grace is the kind of song you’d play while driving into the sunset, pondering life’s ups and downs, and realizing that sometimes, the journey back to love is just as meaningful as the destination.

3. Maddison Kate - A Truth

Breakups are terrible. But A Truth by Maddison Kate puts that heartbreak together, wraps it around empowerment, and serves it with a side of "I deserve better." It's a breakup song, but one that's gentle and thoughtful and reminds you that healing is a process, not a race.

The melody is stream-of-consciousness movement- gentle but insistent- while Maddison's lyrics pierce to the heart: "This wasn't my fault, and I'm stronger for it." Her voice is gentle strength, the kind of friend who has seen the worst and sits beside you now saying that you are alright.

Whether you are currently going through heartbreak or years down the line, A Truth is a reminder that the best tales begin when one chapter closes. Grab some tissues and let this one remind you that resilience is the ultimate glow-up.

4. Jacob Ifans - Sun Don't Shine

Jacob Ifans' first single Sun Don't Shine is like drinking a warm cup of tea on a rainy afternoon—comforting, nostalgic, and ever so slightly melancholic.recorded during a chilly winter in a caravan, the song is lo-fi romanticism and raw-around-the-edges intimacy that can't be mastered.

The song begins all dreamy, waking from a dream sort of way, and gradually gains focus as it plays out. Ifans' subtle vocals are stunningly framed by a gentle female harmony, building a cozy, layered world that's like wrapping yourself up in a snuggle blanket for your soul.

Ideal for the indie-folk aficionado, the song's rawness is its beauty. It's coarse around the edges, but it's only because it's truthful. Sun Don't Shine is not only a song, it's a soft transfer of human contact in an age of clamor. Include it on your rain day playlist and be enchanted.

5. Claudia Tomàs - I've Seen You Lose

Claudia Tomàs' I've Seen You Lose is an ode to weakness and courage. It's the song that reaches you, even when you're sobbing in your PJs alone with a bowl of ice cream.

Claudia weaves a beautiful tapestry of raw emotion with her lyrics, words that will make you sit and ponder. Her voice stretches like a phoenix in one breath and collapses into a soft drone in another, mirroring the highest highs and lowest lows of human existence.

The composition of the song is stark and yet evocative, keeping the narrative in the foreground. By the last two minutes, it is no longer a track but a chant: You can break, but you can rebuild. No matter if you're at the height of the world or huddled in the trenches, I've Seen You Lose is a reminder that all falls are one step away from victory.

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This Week's LITM Pop Picks bring a spectrum of style and technique with artists like Maumaumau, Pixielated, and Bri Scully

This Week's LITM Pop Picks bring a spectrum of style and technique with artists like Maumaumau, Pixielated, and Bri Scully.

Maumaumau - Macho Macho

Maumaumau is a Mexican American alt pop artist. With his latest release, ‘Macho Macho’, he explores a fun-fuelled, light-hearted, but necessary contemplative anthem. He excites a  healing journey, urges us to grow out of unserving weights and prejudices that we carry and just be free. The track has larger than life energy, a high-energy, high-impact, momentum boost that compels the listener to think and simultaneously want to act. It lights a fire under you, reveals the other side of ego, the charisma of nonchalance, and fuels you to come on over. The listening experience can be transformative and liberating if you let it and take it from me, you definitely should. 

Pixielated - AI Superstar 

Taking the punching energy to the next level is Pixielated’s latest, ‘AI Superstar’. If you want to dive headfirst into a futuristic sonic space, then this is the track for you. There is not a single moment of stagnation. It’s a dynamic color show, progressing always to the next level of energy, a new level of consciousness. There’s dance, pop, and explosive peaks, all bolstered to an expansive vocal high. And the rhythm flows into a smooth infinity, with ups and downs. Like a landscape, it grows into the theme, speculating on electro pop like never before. Listen Now! 

Bri Scully - Under You 

Bri Scully is a singer-songwriter and indie pop artist. Her soft pop renditions are the voices of her experience. Stringing acoustics with a mellow pop flow, so personal and so intimate that you can’t help but connect. Her latest release is ‘Under You’, a track in which she explores the aftermath of a breakup where you have to unlearn so much of who you were in the relationship. It has that girlhood melodrama to it that plays into the lyrics. Matched with vulnerability, honesty and contemplative healing, it is such a special song. When you listen to it, it feels like you’re talking with a friend, slipping into her emotions and experiences. 

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