fiction – Modern Mystery

There are some heartbreaks that linger long after the person who caused them has disappeared. For award-winning Americana/Folk-Pop singer-songwriter Randie O’Neil, that feeling became the inspiration behind her latest release, “Ghost of Me”, a haunting song about loss, loneliness and finding your way back to the part of yourself that can feel lost when someone walks away. Released today alongside its atmospheric new music video, the track finds Randie exploring the darker side of emotional abandonment while still holding on to the resilience that has become such a defining part of her songwriting.

The video was filmed at dusk in New Hope, Pennsylvania, a town with its own reputation for ghost stories, making it the perfect setting for a song about being haunted by someone who is no longer there. Walking through the fading light and shadows, Randie captures the searching quality of the song, while the visual echoes the emotional journey at its heart.

Randie has never been afraid to explore the experiences that shape us. Here, she talks about the personal story behind “Ghost of Me”, creating the video without her usual team, filming at dusk in one of Pennsylvania’s most atmospheric towns, and turning an experience of rejection and hurt into something hauntingly beautiful.

Tell us the story of this track. Why did you choose to visualise it specifically in this way?

I was literally ghosted on my birthday. I felt so empty and lost. You think you found someone, take that chance and they just can’t give it back.

What was the inspiration behind this new video (visuals, storyline, etc.)?

I just wanted it to be haunting, searching so we waited until dusk in New Hope PA (a truly haunted town).

What was the process of making the video?

I didn’t have my usual team so I took a chance and they were great. Two videos in one day. This was the end of the day dusk shot. Tried to emote as I walked. “Shadows know your name” is an angry line that he will get what’s coming.

Keep up with Randie O’Neil on her Website

Kristy Chmura’s “Wake Up” is not just a song but is a reckoning wrapped in ethereal sound.

With the cinematic sound that you would expect from a composer raised on both classical training and emotional intuition, Chmura has created a track that pulses with purpose. This re-imagined version, which was released on Earth Day this year, hits differently.

From the moment the track opens, there’s an atmosphere of awakening – of something slowly rising from within. Christian Eigner’s haunting percussion and Niko Stoessl’s textured production create a sense of vastness, while Damien Musto adds a grounded, human pulse.

Lyrically, “Wake Up” is deceptively simple. Each phrase carries a gentle but unmistakable plea about our responsibility for Planet Earth and a desire to reconnect with both the planet and ourselves.

But what truly gives “Wake Up” its staying power is the integrity behind it. Kristy not only sings about the Earth from a distance, but she lives the experience. As a decade long member of her local Shade Tree Commission, she has spent years helping to preserve the tree canopy in her New Jersey town, advocating for native species, fighting invasive ones and reminding neighbours of the quiet power of trees.

When wildfire smoke from Canada blanketed the East Coast in an eerie, apocalyptic glow, it was not a headline for Kristy. It was much more personal and close to home. That moment pulled her back to “Wake Up,” and from that tension this new version was born.

And Kristy Chmura is not just an artist reacting to a world on fire. She is actively tending the garden so to speak. Her music is that extension of her roots in the soil.

As “Wake Up” swells into its final chorus, there is hope. Not the shiny kind of hope, but the slow and stubborn kind that quietly grows. This song invites the listener to feel, but also to act, to plant, to listen and to love what is left and protect it fiercely.

About Kristy Chmura

Kristy Chmura is a singer-songwriter, harpist and environmental advocate. Classically trained, her songs bring introspection with social consciousness, inviting listeners into spaces of reflection and transformation.

Beyond the music studio, Kristy serves on her town’s Shade Tree Commission, where she helps preserve and protect the local tree canopy.

Her upcoming album “Inner Solstice”, explores the tension and healing found at the intersection of inner life and outer world. With each new release Kristy is continuing to bridge art and advocacy, offering music that resonates beyond the moment

Find out more about Kristy Chmura on her Website

Stream music on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube Music.