by Jane Lambert

Ending the Year on a High Note: Amana Melomé’s “Con C.ALMA”

Amana Melomé closes out the year on a bright, soul lifting note with “Con C.ALMA,” a track that feels like both a celebration and a gentle exhale.

It’s the kind of song that fits perfectly into that reflective space between years. It’s upbeat without being frantic, warm without trying too hard and grounded in a sense of gratitude.

Listen here:

After several years away from releasing music, Melomé returns with a sound that’s joyful, relaxed and quietly confident. The groove carries an easy bounce, while her vocals glide with a calm assurance that suggests she’s exactly where she needs to be. Rather than pushing for attention, she lets the song’s energy speak for itself.

The title translates from Spanish as “with calm,” hints at the song’s deeper intention. By highlighting alma, the soul, Melomé frames the song as a reminder to move through life at your own pace, especially as the year winds down and reflection sets in. It’s an upbeat message delivered with softness – stay present, trust the timing and don’t let the noise rush you.

Jazz pianist Deron Johnson adds an elegant sparkle to the track, his playing light and responsive, giving the song lift without overwhelming its relaxed mood. The collaboration between Melomé and Johnson feels effortless, even more impressive knowing it was recorded across continents. Together they create a sound that is open, sun-touched and quietly celebratory.

“Con C.ALMA” works beautifully as a year end release. It’s a track that invites dancing and introspection in equal measure. It’s hopeful without being naive, joyful without being loud. As the first single from Melomé’s upcoming album Recalibration to be released in the new year, it sets the tone for what feels like a new chapter rooted in balance, ease and intention.

Follow Amana Melome’ on Instagram

Stream music on Spotify and Apple Music

12.12.25

by Jane Lambert

ИΞOlicious Bends Time and Temperature on “Entropic Cycle”

“Entropic Cycle” swirls into the room like a cold draft from a door you didn’t realize was open, bringing with it the uncanny feeling that something in the atmosphere just shifted.

ИΞOlicious, the 18 year old avant-pop experimenter from Glendale is already known for making music that feels like emotional weather, but this new single pushes that instinct into a sharper, stranger and much more focused form. This is the sound of someone willingly stepping into the mess and discovering something almost comforting inside the chaos.

Built on stacked panned violin recordings that bloom into something cosmic, the production moves like a breathing organism.

The track rises with star lit synths and falls into verses that feel raw enough to bruise, while airplane like textures buzz underneath as if the whole thing is in motion even when you’re still.

If there is a thesis to “Entropic Cycle,” it’s hidden in the contrast. In the push and pull, the optimism and dread, the night and the thin glow of the approaching morning. ИΞOlicious has created a pop track that behaves more like a dream or maybe a recurring thought you can’t shake.

What makes the song though, is its sincerity. For all the glitchy shimmer and lunar strangeness, there’s a core belief running through it: that everything matters. Even the parts that feel like static. Even the parts we wish we could fast forward through.

You can hear this philosophy in the way the track lifts, breaks and reforms itself – in the entropy and rebirth stitched together not as a contradiction but as the natural order of things. It’s the kind of music that feels like it was made at 3 a.m. not because the artist had to but because the night is the only time when these thoughts feel safe enough to surface.

“Entropic Cycle” is the opening chapter of the upcoming album LΞT IT BΞ ИIGHT, and ИΞOlicious is quietly setting the stage for something bigger – something conceptual, personal and defiantly experimental.

This isn’t just another debut single trying to get your attention. It’s a signal flare from a new, weird and wonderful corner of the underground.

Keep up with everything ИΞOlicious here

11.12.25

by Jane Lambert

George Collins’s Latest Single “Houston” Captures the Fragile Art of Holding On

Sometimes, the quietest songs say the most. George Collins’s new single “Houston” is one of those rare songs that sneaks up on you. It’s a slow, steady pulse of emotion. It’s a song about distance, but not just the kind that separates planets, but the kind that grows between two people who can’t quite find the same orbit anymore.

Written during a songwriting retreat in Spain, “Houston” takes its cue from an unexpected place – the Apollo 13 mission. Collins and his co-writers were challenged to write a song about “space,” and instead of leaning into the literal, they turned much more inwards.

The final track is one that uses the language of exploration and crisis – “Houston, we have a problem” – to reflect on something deeply human. Namely, how communication can break down when love starts to drift.

The opening lines “You don’t seem to notice, maybe you don’t really care, I’m lost and lonely, floating around you somewhere”, Collins sets the emotional tone with honesty. There is a kind of accpetance that makes the pain more poignant. He is not blaming, but describing what it feels like to lose a connection one quiet moment at a time.

The production which is arranged and produced by Grammy nominated composer Jeff Franzel, suits the theme perfectly.

Collins originally wrote the song on acoustic guitar, but here it’s transformed into a delicate piano and cello arrangement. The piano moves patiently beneath the vocals, while the cello drifts in subtly and full of texture. Each note echoes the theme of communication across distance.

Collins’s vocals are what truly carries the song. When he reaches the chorus “If we’re ever gonna cross a chasm this wide / We’re gonna have to pass through our dark side” is a quiet revelation. He does not need to raise his voice to make the point.

Overall though, “Houston” feels real. You can see the dim light of the room, two people not talking, and the sense of something beautiful slipping away. Collins turns that small, human moment into something much bigger. His writing shows craftsmanship for language and melody.

By the end, when Collins sings “And time is running out,” it’s recognition – the kind that comes when you finally see how fragile connection really is.

Listen to “Houston” on Spotify now.

Follow George Collins Band on the Website

11.07.25

by Jane Lambert

Theatre Meets Pop Perfection in Ian Ward’s “Ocean Eyes”

With “Ocean Eyes,” Ian Ward delivers a solid cinematic slice of pop. The track develops like a memory which is soft at first, reflective and tender, before swelling into a chorus that hits with grandeur. It’s the kind of song that sneaks up on you and reveals its depth in layers.

Built on shimmering synths, echoing guitars and Ward’s commanding voice, “Ocean Eyes” captures the bittersweet space between heartbreak and healing.

Each lyric feels lived in as if he is narrating a scene from real life. When his falsetto breaks through in the chorus, it is fragile and soaring and is a rare balance of polish and authenticity that wants you to listen on repeat.

Ward has described the song as “the bridge between my Broadway theatricality and the pop stage,” and thats exactly how it feels. It’s intimate storytelling told on a wide screen. This is in the way that “Ocean Eyes explores the pull of memory which is the quiet moment when someone’s face suddenly drifts into focus long after you thought you had moved on.

“Theatre trained me to tell stories through other people’s words … my original music lets me tell my own.”

“Ocean Eyes” is a moment of emotional honesty captured in motion. It reminds us that love does not always end cleanly. Sometimes, it lingers soft and shimmering, like light reflecting on water.

About Ian Ward

Ian Ward is a Brooklyn based singer songwriter, actor and creative entrepreneur with over two decades of experience in the entertainment industry.

He made his professional theatre debut at just eight years old and has since performed on Broadway, toured internationally, appeared on television and film and even earned a Golden Ticket on American Idol.

As a songwriter, Ward layers pop melodies with a rock edge and the depth of a Broadway vocalist. His debut EP One Shot displays his soulful voice and fearless storytelling, echoing his belief in taking chances and living boldly.

Ward is the founder of Mutual Street Entertainment and Hitmaker Collective, where he mentors emerging songwriters and helps artists to develop their creative vision. Having collaborated with icons like Idina Menzel, Pat Benatar, Kristen Bell, Sir Tim Rice and Ryan Murphy, Ward is creating and inspiring one song, one story and one unforgettable performance at a time.

Keep up with Ian Ward on his Website

10.29.25

by Jane Lambert

KiTe Turns Reflection into Art on “Shadows”

The Singapore born, Melbourne based artist delivers a tender and cinematic RnB moment that explores what lingers when love fades.

On “Shadows,” KiTe proves that restraint can be its own kind of power. The Singapore born, Melbourne based R&B and pop artist strips things back to the essentials with a gentle beat, hazy guitar textures and a voice that sounds like it’s caught somewhere between a dream and a memory.

This is a track that you will want to play on repeat just to catch the details you missed the first time.

“Shadows” unfolds slowly, like light seeping through half-drawn blinds. KiTe’s vocals are smooth and his phrasing carries an emotion that is intriguing. When he murmurs lines about love’s lingering ghosts, you can almost see the late night streets, the flicker of neon and the empty spaces that once felt full.

Listen here:

“Shadows” sits in that sweet spot between R&B sensuality and minimalist pop. The production feels handcrafted with each layer adding on to the next, and a slow burning atmosphere building. What makes this track stand out is how KiTe leans into vulnerability, and turns solitude into something more cinematic in structure.

KiTe is emerging as a promising new voice in modern R&B. And he is an artist who understands that connection is not build on perfection per se, but on presence. This is music for the moments in between, for the long drives, quiet nights and the spaces where reflection becomes its own kind of comfort.

About KiTe

Singapore born and Melbourne based, KiTe is a rising R&B / Pop artist who beings smooth and soulful melodies together with early 2000’s inspired emotion.

Influenced by Keshi, ASTN, DEAN, Junny, and Bryson Tiller, his music balances contemporary production with timeless sentiment.

A former engineering student turned now full time musician, KiTe began producing at sixteen from a simple dining table setup. His journey from Mando Pop singing contests, where he earned a Top 5 finish, to performing live and writing for other artists including K-pop groups, has shaped his signature sound.

Stream KiTe’s music on Spotify and Apple Music

10.27.25

by Jane Lambert

Zoey Tess Opens the Door to Revolution on “Knocking at Your Front Door”

zoeytess-knockingatyourfrontdoor-coverart

There’s an unmistakable sense of reckoning in Zoey Tess’s new single, “Knocking at Your Front Door.” Tess doesn’t hide behind any metaphors or soften any blows. Instead, she steps forwards, steady and to say what too many are afraid to.

The song opens with Zoey’s voice front and center. “I had a dream the world was burning, no one cared, the earth kept turning” is a lyric that lands like a hard truth that nobody wants to hear.

Recorded at the legendary Clubhouse Studio in Rhinebeck, New York, the song captures a kind of analog immediacy that sounds live. Produced by Spencer Hattendorf and engineered by Paul Antonell, “Knocking at Your Front Door” brings together a sharp and intuitive band with Teddy Kumpel on guitar, Reed Sutherland on bass, and Nate Mondschein on drums. All of them work together to serve the emotions of this song.

After the initial sessions, Grammy winning engineer Mario J. McNulty (David Bowie, Prince) handled the mix, giving it a clean and open feel that allows each lyric and texture to breathe. Dave McNair’s mastering gives it that final polish. This is protest music, after all. It’s supposed to make you a little uncomfortable.

What makes “Knocking at Your Front Door” so effective isn’t just its political bite, but its clarity. Tess reckons with the present moment. With the noise, the hypocrisy, fatigue and the flickr of hope that refuses to go out.

It’s the first single from her upcoming debut album, There’s Gonna Be a Reckoning, which was written earlier this year amid a growing sense of civic and spiritual unease.

The album, according to Tess, was born “from a need to speak out against rising authoritarianism, religious hypocrisy, and deep inequality.”

By the final verse, Tess sounds more like a mirror than a messenger and reflects back the chaos we have all grown a little to accustomed to. The revolution she is calling for is not just political, but it is moral, emotional and deeply human.

About Zoey Tess

Zoey Tess is an American singer songwriter, producer, and musician whose work bridges the confessional edge of 90’s era singer songwriters with the fearless spirit of 60’s folk protest music.

Born in Coral Springs, Florida and raised in Newtown, Connecticut, Tess began studying piano and violin at a young age before attending the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan and later Berklee College of Music.

Leaving Berklee after a year to pursue her own artistic path, Tess worked under the mentorship of producer Vic Steffens (Whitney Houston, The Blues Brothers) and performed with the jazz fusion group Artful Soul. Her 2020 single “Late Night Thoughts” highlights her R&B and soul influences, but her forthcoming debut album, There’s Gonna Be a Reckoning marks a bold creative leap into folk rock territory.

The album, which was recorded at The Clubhouse Studio in Rhinebeck, New York, features production by Spencer Hattendorf, collaborations with Dave Eggar (Coldplay) and mastering by Chris Gehringer and Dave McNair. Taking inspiration from Bob Dylan, Townes Van Zandt, Fiona Apple and PJ Harvey, Tess has a sound that is fiercely contemporary and one that refuses to look away from the world as it is.

Keep up with Zoey Tess on her Website