Gina Zo is a rock-pop singer-songwriter and powerhouse vocalist celebrated for her fearless authenticity and raw, emotional storytelling. Originally from the suburbs of Philadelphia and now based in Los Angeles, she is carving out a distinct place as one of the most compelling voices in modern rock-pop.
Her single, Dirty Habits (2025), marked the beginning of a bold new chapter in her solo career. Produced by Grammy-winners Justin Miller (Jazmine Sullivan, Zach Bryan) and Tim Sonnefeld (Usher), the track is a haunting rock-pop ballad exploring the idea that sometimes our dreams feel more real—and more comforting—than reality itself. The song garnered rave reviews and surpassed 30,000 streams in its first week. As LADYGUNN wrote, “With Dirty Habits, Gina Zo lays the foundation for a career that doesn’t play by the rules. It’s bold, messy, deeply felt—and that’s the point.”
In late September 2025, Gina released her highly anticipated debut album, Burn Me Into Something Better—a searing, vulnerable exploration of transformation, heartbreak, and rebirth. The record was featured on EARMILK, which awarded it a 9/10 review and praised its unfiltered honesty: “What makes Burn Me Into Something Better stand out, though, is its refusal to sanitize. These songs aren’t neatly packaged pop; they’re jagged, raw, and proudly messy, mirroring the real-life transformations that shaped them. It’s a record that validates every stumble as part of the climb, every scar as part of the story.”
February 18th marks the release of her special extended album Burn Me Into Something Better (Deluxe). The 14 track album includes intimate acoustic “Miner Street Sessions” renditions of her hit songs “Dirty Habits”, “Bad Men” and “Manchild”.
Gina first captured national attention as a contestant on The Voice, where she joined Team Blake. It was Gwen Stefani’s mentorship, however, that became transformative—encouraging Gina to embrace vulnerability and authenticity both on and off stage. That lesson shaped her artistic identity and inspired her to become a voice for the LGBTQIA+ community. Her 2023 single Faking It was a bold declaration of her bisexuality and an anthem of self-acceptance that resonated deeply with fans around the world.
After early experiences in the industry that exposed its challenges, Gina reclaimed her creative independence and formed Velvet Rouge—a rock band embodying defiance, freedom, and soul. Their 2024 debut EP, produced by Brian McTear and Amy Morrissey (The War on Drugs, Sharon Van Etten), fused early 2000s rock grit with unflinching emotion. Standout tracks like Lonely Since The Day We Met and I Don’t Know Why highlight her raw vocal power and storytelling prowess.
Velvet Rouge quickly gained recognition as Philly’s Best Rock Band (2022) and was featured in Philly Style Magazine as “Philly’s Hottest Rock Band.” They’ve performed at XPoNential Fest, MusikFest, and Beardfest, and were spotlighted on NPR’s National Public Radio Day and WXPN’s Free At Noon series.
From childhood performances with flashlight strobe lights to national television appearances and critically acclaimed records, Gina’s career has been defined by a refusal to conform. Whether performing on stage, walking a red carpet in a custom Lauren Schuler gown, or mentoring emerging artists, she continues to champion women and underrepresented voices across all creative spaces.
Now based in Los Angeles, Gina finds balance in cooking from scratch, reading murder mysteries, and walking around the Silver Lake Reservoir. With Burn Me Into Something Better ushering in her defining era, Dirty Habits setting the tone, and her holiday songs showcasing her versatility, Gina Zo stands at the forefront of a new generation of rock-pop artists—bold, untamed, and unapologetically real.
Michael Gilas is a San Diego-based chart-topping Adult Contemporary artist whose music has touched listeners around the globe. The acclaimed artist is known for his fearless storytelling, soulful vocal delivery, and ability to create pop music without borders.
Gilas has collaborated with Grammy Award–winning producer Brian Kennedy, acclaimed producer Allan Phillips, and veteran songwriter/producer Stephen Wrench (recognized for his work with Lynyrd Skynyrd, Tom Petty, and Toto). These high-level creative partnerships have helped shape a sound that bridges classic influence with a fresh, modern edge.
Growing up at 231 Kensington Road on Long Island, New York, the title of his debut full-length album, Gilas was inspired by legendary acts like Eagles, Steely Dan, and Fleetwood Mac. From Motown and R&B to pop and classic rock, those early influences formed the melodic backbone of his sound. “It’s my origin story — 231 Kensington Road is where it all started,” he says.
Before fully committing to music, Gilas built two successful businesses with his brother. That entrepreneurial grit now fuels his artistry. “You have to roll up your sleeves and actually get the work done,” he explains. “The funny thing about creativity — you don’t know when it’s going to come. But the work? You can put that in no matter what.”
In 2021, Michael Gilas’ life had shifted dramatically following a catastrophic horseback riding accident that left him with a broken neck and wrist. Bedridden and barely able to move, he could use only his thumbs. Instead of surrendering to pain, he began typing melodies and lyrics into his phone. He set aside the pain medication and leaned into the music. “Music slowly guided me out of this dark hole,” he reflects.
What began as catharsis became calling. By 2024, Gilas had devoted himself fully to music, releasing a series of singles and an album that collectively garnered millions of streams. His songs explore love, loss, change, and renewal, while celebrating resilience and the unbreakable bond of human connection.
That resilience became the runway for national breakthrough success. In 2025, Gilas earned multiple Billboard chart entries, beginning with “Working with the Rain,” a soul-baring anthem featuring the lyric, “I’m betting on sunshine, and working with the rain.” The single debuted at #21 and climbed to #13 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary, marking his first Top 15 hit. Follow-up single “Can’t Hide Beautiful” reached #21 on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary and peaked at #37 on Adult Contemporary, while “You and Me and Miami” hit #29 on the Billboard Adult Pop Airplay. His single “Sigmund Freud’s Girlfriend” is sharp, clever, and unmistakably current. The track takes aim at today’s social-media “experts,” inspired by a passing moment that struck a nerve: “Saw all these people on a YouTube video, beta waves listening, and now they’re experts.”
His new single “Convenience Store” pairs shimmering pop rock production with the quiet ache of one-sided love – bright on the surface, bruised underneath. Stadium-worthy melodies sung with a striking confidence signals an artist stepping into his most global and compelling era yet.
Recently releasing their acclaimed sophomore album The Beast In You, which they’ll be bringing to major cities across the U.S. in the coming months on their largest tour to date, ULTRA SUNN have been hailed as leaders of the new darkwave movement and have quickly carved their own space between heritage and modernity by blending Belgium’s electronic legacy with the present moment. ULTRA SUNN’s sound draws from the DNA of the Sound of Belgium, EBM, New Beat, and Coldwave but distills it into sharp modern anthems undercut by baritone vocals and has seen them make waves whose ripples have crossed genres and have been felt across underground dancefloors around the world, earning them millions of global streams.
Joining the stages of legendary acts such as Front 242 and DAF, teaming up with famed drag icon Violet Chacki for “LA Drags,” and performing at some of the biggest rock, electronic, and metal festivals in the U.S. and throughout the world on their meteoric rise, ULTRA SUNN’s Sam Huge (vocalist and multi-instrumentalist) and Gaelle Souflet (keyboardist and producer) are united in a shared vision that electronic music can be as much catharsis and community as it can be entertainment.
fanclubwallet, the indie-pop songwriting project of Hannah Judge, has released a new single and video, “Moving Unison,” out today via Lauren Records.
“Moving Unison” is fanclubwallet’s first-ever love song. The lyrics came to Judge as she was driving on the highway.
“I wondered if most of the people in the carpool lane are lovers, and how when you’re with someone your life becomes so intertwined,” says Judge. “I also was thinking of the Who’s Line Is It Anyway? game ‘Helping Hands,’ where one person puts their hands behind their back and the other person stands behind them and becomes their arms. I think that’s kind of a metaphor for relationships in a funny way.”
Metalcore group ERRA has today shared their punishing new single “i. the many names of god”, out now via UNFD. The song – the first part of the album’s closing trilogy that includes “ii. in the gut of the wolf” and “iii. twilight in the reflection of dreams” – seethes with brutal discontent. Listen to “i. the many names of god” here: erra.lnk.to/silence.
On the new single, the band shares: “‘i. the many names of god’ is the first in what we consider the trilogy of silence outlives the earth. The trilogy represents a distinct shift in tone from the previous songs on the record. We wanted the aesthetic of the tracklisting to persuade the feeling of that shift. The record transitions to a darker place at this point, and many names serves to take the heaviest moods expressed in the preceding tracks and visceralize them.”
John-Robert makes his first release of the year with the new single “Anna.” With a honey-sweet voice forged in Appalachia and a sonic palette further expanded by his time on the West Coast, the singer-songwriter has entered an era rooted in authenticity. Now living back in Virginia, releasing the music that feels truest to him, and spending plenty of time out on the road, John-Robert has a new confidence about him.
“Anna” is a love song full of tender, yet confident, anticipation. Making use of a short window of time to confess his feelings, the night is held in suspense as he wants to hear if Anna feels the same way that he does for her. The song was produced by Torna aka Ronnie DiSimone (Del Water Gap, Daisy the Great) — Stream.
“It’s a declaration!” shares John-Robert.” “I had a big crush on someone, not naming any names, and wanted to address it in a direct way. That game of emotional chicken, who’s gonna blink first and confess they have feelings.”
Southern Rockers Hillbilly Vegas are sharing their new single & video for ”I Hope You Know”. The track is the 1st single from the Oklahoma based band’s upcoming album “A La Mode”, which is slated for release in May via Quarto Valley Records.
“I Hope You Know” is a song about the chaos of a relationship that’s deteriorated to the point of no return. The song is driven by guitars with a southern style, rocking blues groove – with just the right touch of grit that the band is known for.
The band’s Steve Harris says “I Hope You Know’comes from a very personal experience in my life, but it’s a moment a lot of people recognize. It can be a romantic relationship, a friendship, family, or even a professional relationship. In my case, it was a professional relationship and a lifelong friendship that slowly deteriorated due to substance abuse. It’s realizing the person you trusted isn’t in control anymore, and that you can’t fix it for them. Sometimes the only thing left to do is let go and hope it gives them the motivation to fix themselves.”
Bea Elmy Martin is quietly carving out a vital space within the UK alternative landscape. London born and bred, her music is defined by emotional precision, blending ethereal vocals, orchestral intimacy and brooding electronics. Raised on the sounds of classic soul artists like Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin and Donny Hathaway, Bea developed an early understanding of melody and feeling, using songwriting as a way to process life, love and loss from a young age. She describes songwriting as her journal, a way of breaking overwhelming emotions into something tangible and manageable, allowing moments of beauty, pain and connection to surface gently rather than being forced.
After the release of her 2021 debut single “Blue Escape”, which earned early BBC tastemaker support from Jack Saunders and Lauren Laverne, Bea began a slow, intentional creative journey alongside her producer Dominick J Goldsmith (HÆLOS). That collaboration led to Under The Yew (Vol. 1), released in May 2025, a luminous, grief-to-beauty infused meditation on loss and renewal. Rather than chasing momentum, Bea allowed the work to unfold over time, sustaining its emotional thread through subsequent singles “Lost” and “Born To Fly” from Under The Yew (Vol. 2), before returning in January 2026 with “Unscarred” a track that continued her exploration of transformation and inner strength.
Koko Love is a Montreal-born artist whose roots trace back to busking in the city’s metro, a raw beginning that still fuels his obsession with real connection. His debut album The Cost of Freedom earned a CBC Top 20 single and a North American tour with Kyle Dion, with whom he also shares production credits. All of that happened while the album remained largely off streaming platforms. After millions of streams and major syncs, he erased his past work as Miko to begin again under the stage name Koko Love. At its core, his mission is simple: to make the alternative mainstream.
As a French Canadian, Koko grew up navigating two languages and two worlds. Choosing to immerse himself in English songwriting opened a new dimension of expression, while his ability to move fluently between French and English gave him a unique voice and presence. Sharing a birthday with John Lennon, one of his most admired figures, has always felt like more than coincidence. Like Lennon, Love treats music as both a spiritual quest and a cultural act, carrying forward the belief that true artistry lies in honesty, humanity, and connection.
Early in his career, Koko Love garnered significant attention with his early releases, drawing praise from reputable publications such as Clash Magazine, Dork Mag, Earmilk, Alt-Press, and Notion. His versatility was further showcased when his pen was prominently featured in major syncs for ads with Yves Saint Laurent, Apple, and the NHL, alongside electronic artist Apashe. Sharing stages with celebrated artists like Kyle Dion, Laundry Day, and Renforshort, Koko Love has consistently been at the forefront of the live music scene.
Tiptoeing the lines between adventure and destruction, “Delirium” is a synth-boogie track inspired by the rhythms and melodies of Kpop. With a lush Fm synth lead, sampled kalimba and taepyeongso, the track bursts with flavor and candor. An LA-based producer and self-taught multi-instrumentalist, Robert Ruby is proud to present his new music project: Crimes of Passion. The rhythms and grooves that are to come from Crimes of Passion are infectious and will leave you wanting more.
Vancouver artist Ché Aimee Dorval returns with her evocative new single, “Carnal Needs,” available now on all digital streaming platforms via Fools Game Records. Blurring the lines between late-night electronica, dream pop, and alt-rock, Dorval continues to carve out a cinematic and transportive sound world where synth pulses and airy melodies meet contemplative, old-soul lyricism.
Following the release of 2025’s “Joyride,” “Carnal Needs” dives deeper into the tension between living in your head and listening to your body, and ultimately choosing instinct and desire over restraint. Drawing from the moody vulnerability of BANKS, the expansive emotional weight of London Grammar, and the subtle rhythmic pulse of Maribou State, Dorval’s sound favours atmosphere and emotional depth over spectacle.
“‘Carnal Needs’ comes from the moments when I feel awake and present in my body instead of stuck in my head,” says Dorval. “It’s about letting yourself want what you want, and trusting what feels right in the moment. I’ve never been someone who lets other people’s expectations shape how I live. For me, following instinct, intuition, and desire is a big part of experiencing life in all its chaos, mess, and beauty. I don’t feel that kind of freedom all the time. I spend a lot of time in my own head, but when I do feel that spark and that pull, I try to honour it because I know how fleeting it can be.”
artist and producer Austel (Annie Rew Shaw) reveals an impressive live video to accompany her latest single 30th Day. It arrives as a teaser ahead of her upcoming headline show on the 20th of March at The Harrison in Kings Cross. Get your tickets here.
Facing things head on, ‘30th Day’ sees Austel take back control. Powerful and compelling, it’s a brooding response to the relentlessness of being drawn to the wrong people.
Sharing more, Austel explained: “30th Day is about feeling tired of being drawn to bad things / people who hurt you. You know it’s a dead end, or a groundhog day of getting your hopes raised that this time it’ll be different, and you’re exhausted by the amount of space it’s taking up in your life. While the song depicts quite a bleak situation, I think there’s power in naming what is causing you pain or holding you back. Once you see it for what it truly is, you can start to work out a way to overcome.”
Montreal-based R&B artist Myles Lloyd reveals his new single, “DMC,” featuring Gemini, Karencici, and JUNNY. The track is a K-pop reimagining of his breakout hit “Drive Me Crazy,” born out of the song’s unexpected rise in South Korea. The original release has earned over 26 million streams, a co-sign from K-pop superstars ENHYPEN, and landed a spot on South Korea’s Top 200 charts, inspiring Lloyd to reimagine the track alongside some of his favorite artists from the K-pop scene.
“Seeing all the love coming out of Korea really reignited my passion for the high energy feeling that K-pop brings,” Lloyd shares. “I went back and revisited a lot of the songs I used to love and discovered some newer artists along the way like Karencici, JUNNY, and Gemini. Even though it felt like a long shot, I knew I had to find a way to bring them all together on one record.“
J.MYSTERY is a singer-songwriter from Portugal. He is an enigmatic artist who defies categorization, seamlessly blending various musical influences to create a captivating and ethereal sound. With a unique approach to songwriting and an unmistakable presence, J.MYSTERY takes listeners on a journey through mystery and introspection. His sound weaves alternative rock, electronic, and atmospheric pop elements, resulting in a beautiful and profoundly reflective sonic landscape.
The enigmatic persona of J.MYSTERY is reflected not only in his music but also in his stage presence and visual aesthetics. His captivating performances create an otherworldly atmosphere that envelops the audience. J.MYSTERY is carving a unique path in the music industry, challenging traditions and pushing the boundaries of sonic exploration. As he explains, “Music was always something deeply personal for me, something I loved rather than something I imagined as a career.”
rising alt-pop singer-songwriter Caroline Romano announces her new EP, it took me falling, arriving March 13, alongside the release of her new single, “Unsteady.”
Following recent singles like “Cruel and Unusual Punishment” and “Up the Stairs,” “Unsteady” offers a further glimpse into the emotionally expansive world of her forthcoming EP. One of the record’s more tender moments, the track is simple and sweet, unfolding like a sonic poem built around plucky guitar and delicately vulnerable vocals.
“It’s a song about falling in love and letting yourself do it,” Romano reveals. “I’ve learned that love has made me soft and brave and terrified and happy, and so much more myself in ways I never knew before. I wanted to capture that discovery in ‘Unsteady.’”
- Email: neill@outloudculture.com
Source: OutLoud! Culture – outloudculture.com
