Emerging from the vibrant San Diego indie scene, Poems have created an EP that captures the complex experience of young adulthood, exploring self-discovery, vulnerability and the quiet battles we face with our own minds.
From the first notes of “Placebo”, lightly fuzzy guitars and nuanced, commanding vocals pull listeners into a world of reflection and emotional honesty. Half-Life conveys a lived experienced, and a sense of wrestling with internal tension and the fragile beauty of confronting one’s own anxieties.
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“NFS (Naked For Science)” builds on this foundation, exploring the interplay between identity, medication and personal vulnerability. Sparse and carefully chosen lyrics leave room for reflection, while the vocals have a cool detached energy reminiscent of early 2000’s UK indie rock.
“Afterparty” is a track that ties the narrative together with more depth. It portrays the inner dialogue of someone navigating anxiety and self expectation, set against shimmering and pulsing guitar lines that underscores the tension inherent in the song. Produced by Billy Foster (Fontaines D.C., Wet Leg), mixed by John Catlin (Inhaler), and mastered by John Greenham (Billie Eilish), Half-Life gives the band’s vulnerability a lot of space to breathe while retaining a crisp and professional sound.
Poems turn personal struggle into music that resonates beyond just their experiences. Each track is a careful balance of tension, reflection and hope, proving that indie rock can be both introspective and captivating.
This is a band growing into its identity, unafraid to explore the messy, complicated terrain of the mind.
About Poems
Poems began releasing music in 2021 and expanded in 2022 with two new members, solidifying their sound as a full indie rock outfit.
The band has performed at venues across California, including Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach, The Music Box in San Diego, and Brick and Mortar in San Francisco, opening for acts such as The Never Ending Fall.
Their first EP West Coast was released in 2024, followed by Half-Life in 2025. Poems explore themes of anxiety, identity, and coming of age themes blending UK-inspired indie rock textures with personal storytelling.
Kenzy Kyx has never been afraid to bare her soul, but with “I’m So Glad” she proves that empowerment can be just as powerful as vulnerability.
Where her earlier work leaned into more melancholy, this new single bursts with cheeky confidence. It’s a glitter coated reminder that joy can be the sweetest revenge.
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From the first shimmering notes, “I’m So Glad” struts in like the soundtrack to your best post breakup night out. The production, which is helmed by Kyle Delfatti and Max Bunster at Wildwood Sound, sparkles with playful details. It has tight rhythms, buoyant melodies and flourishes that keep the song light on its feet. You can feel the late night studio energy baked into every bar, a mix of laughter, creativity and a shared obsession with pop done right.
At the center of it all is Kenzy’s voice. Sultry yet soaring, carrying both the relief and the sass of the lyrics. There’s a interesting blend of influences here. Sabrina Carpenter’s wink, Gwen Stefani’s bite, and just a hint of Stevie Nicks’s timeless edge. But Kenzy is completely unique with her vocals. She is in control, playful and unafraid to poke fun at a chapter that once felt heavy.
What makes the track stick, though, is its universality.
“I’m So Glad” captures that euphoric moment when the weight finally lifts and you realize you’re free. It’s not about heartbreak – it’s about release. And in a pop landscape that sometimes takes itself too seriously, Kenzy’s tongue in cheek liberation song feels like a breath of fresh air.
With cover art shot by Athena Khalifeh, the single looks like freedom too. Together, the visuals and the music form a bold statement. Kenzy Kyx isn’t just moving forward, she’s dancing forward and is inviting the rest of us to join her.
With its bittersweet lyricism and warm Americana tone, George Collins’s “By the Time” has already earned praise as one of his most evocative tracks to date.
Now, the newly released music video gives the song a cinematic heartbeat, placing Collins in a dimly lit Prague steakhouse as he strums, sings and pens a final farewell letter to a soon-to-be ex.
Directed by Thomas Cruz and Jarda Malina, and featuring a cameo by Max Munson – the real-life owner of Max’s Steakhouse – this video is full of intimate details. From the half-finished whiskey glass to the knowing glances of a friendly bartender.
Look closer, and you’ll even spot a Dave Matthews Band poster tucked into the scenery, a nod to one of Collins’s lifelong inspirations, and hear his previous single Open Up drifting faintly in the background.
In this conversation, Collins opens up about the song’s origins, the creative choices behind the video and why capturing its acoustic, roots-driven soul on screen was just as important as getting every chord change right.
Watch the Official Music Video here:
Tell us the story of this song, why did you choose to visualize this song specifically in this way?
I came up with the riff while I was noodling around on my acoustic guitar many years ago, and it immediately struck me as extremely catchy.
The opening line, “By the time you’ll be getting ’round to reading this,” popped into my head at the same time, as those lyrics seemed to fit the riff very well in rhythmic terms.
I filed it away for a long time and started writing the song in earnest last year.
The chord changes are quite interesting, full of unresolved tension by deliberately moving outside the key and employing lots of seventh chords, to match the troubled tone of the lyrics.
From the outset, I was hearing the influence of Tom Petty on this tune, and when I started working with my producer to bring the song to life in the studio, I specifically suggested we aim for a similar Americana vibe as Tom Petty’s “Wildflowers,” which was produced by the legendary Rick Rubin, who is an absolute genius and one of my favorite producers.
As we developed the track, the influence of other great songwriters such as Chris Stapleton, Steve Earle, Johnny Cash, George Strait, Ray Davies (one of the finest storytellers in all of music) and Jimmy Buffett (ditto) also became apparent.
Although I have written almost all my songs on my acoustic guitar, this is the first fully produced acoustic track that I have released. In the past, we took my acoustic demos and fleshed them out with a band in the studio, and I have recorded stripped-down acoustic versions of my previous singles, but this is the first time I deliberately kept the track close to its acoustic roots, to better capture the Americana/Outlaw Country vibe of the song. So you’ll hear many influences in this song, but I also hope that “By the Time” is recognizably me.
What was the inspiration behind this new video (visuals, storyline, etc.)?
In my mind’s eye I imagined a scene like that of the cover art for Led Zeppelin’s last studio album, “In Through the Out Door,” in which a man is sitting on a stool in a dingy dive bar burning a “Dear John” letter.
With the phrase “By the time you’ll be getting ’round to reading this” in my head, I realized that the narrator of my song would not be reading or burning a “Dear John” letter, but rather writing one to his soon-to-be-Ex.
In a bar, of course.Once I imagined the scenario, the lyrics flowed quite naturally — fortunately, and unlike most of my other songs, this one has no autobiographical connotations whatsoever!
What was the process of making the video?
One of my closest friends in Prague, Max Munson, owns Max’s Steakhouse, a classic steakhouse modeled on those from his native Chicago.
He runs a lot of great ads for his establishment, which are created in conjunction with Thomas Cruz of Thomas Cruz Studio and Jarda Malina of Moneyshot Studio in Prague.
Once I decided that I wanted a live music video for “By the Time” (rather than the animated lyric videos for my other tracks to date), and that I wanted it to be shot in a bar, I knew that Max’s Steakhouse would be the perfect location, and that Thomas and Jarda, with their previous experience of filming in the Steakhouse, would be perfect for creating this video.
I met with Thomas several times to discuss the song and exchange ideas for the video, and I invited Max to make a cameo appearance as the friendly bartender. We agreed early on that there would be two major features of the video: Me singing the song with my guitar, and me writing the letter at the bar.
I arrived early at the Steakhouse early on a Saturday morning, when the restaurant was closed. Thomas and Jarda were already setting up lights in the main dining room, and I helped move tables and chairs away to clear a space for my solo performance. I’d brought several of my guitars and a variety of shirts, which Thomas tested under the lights before choosing a creamy color that would match the warm hues of the room.
With Jarda handling the lights, I sat on a barstool and sang “By the Time” over and over as Thomas filmed me from a variety of angles – I probably played the song fifty times before Thomas was satisfied that he had enough to work with.
Then we moved into the barroom. Max and I chose a bottle of Elijah Craig as a prop – I actually drank apple juice during the filming, though Max did have to pour several glasses of whiskey so we could show the bottle getting progressively emptier. I enjoyed those glasses, however, only after the filming was completed.
I had written several versions of the lyrics on parchment, each showing the “letter” in various stages of completion. Again, with Jarda manning the lights, Thomas filmed me from numerous angles as I sat and sipped and wrote and pondered: Close-ups of my hand moving across the page, close-ups of me stroking my chin and staring off into space, long shots of Max carrying a rack of glasses from the kitchen to the bar before offering me a refill of my bourbon.
Overall, we must have filmed for eight hours for what was eventually edited into a video that clocks in under four minutes.
In the editing process, Thomas had the brilliant idea to have my previous single, “Open Up,” playing in the background as I’m sitting at the bar. That song, about remaining vulnerable and open to love in spite of disappointments, is the perfect setup for “By the Time,” which is ultimately about liberation and moving hopefully into the future.
I am grateful to Thomas, Jarda and Max for capturing this vibe and helping me bring my song to life so beautifully.
There’s a moment in “Manchild”,Gun-Shy Butterfly’s scathing new single, when the sarcasm curdles into something darker.
It’s the sound of the last straw breaking, the laugh you let out after being underestimated one too many times. It’s also the moment you realize this song is a reckoning of sorts.
Philadelphia based duo Julie Exter and Andrea Tarka White take no prisoners on this fuzzed-out, fire breathing alt-rock track that drips with wit, indignation and undeniable hooks.
What starts as a pointed eye-roll becomes a full on evisceration of entitled mediocrity, all set to a soundtrack that echoes the raw honesty of Hole and the punch of L7, with a melodic sensibility entirely their own.
But “Manchild” doesn’t just about calling out bad behavior—it’s about the emotional labor women are expected to do in response to it. The song’s brilliance lies in its refusal to smooth over that exhaustion. Instead, it puts it front and center, lets it roar and dares you to look away.
The lyrics are needle sharp here and they balance bitterness with clarity – there’s no vagueness and no metaphor to soften the blow. Just bold, clear language that hits like truth tends to – suddenly and without apology.
Production wise, it’s lean and loud. Every instrument has room to breathe, but it never lets up in intensity. The guitar tones snarl, the bass stalks just beneath the surface and Exter’s vocals command every inch of the mix.
“Manchild” then is a torch song for the pissed off and perpetually talked over. It’s a reminder that sometimes, the most powerful thing that you can do is tell the truth and crank the volume up while you do it.
About Gun-Shy Butterfly
Gun-Shy Butterfly is the Philadelphia based alt-rock duo of Julie Exter and Andrea Tarka White.
With a minimalist setup and a maximalist sound, the pair craft raw and riff-heavy anthems fueled by feminist fire and unfiltered emotion. Blending the grit of ’90s grunge with sharp lyrical wit, Gun-Shy Butterfly tackles everything from cultural exhaustion to personal reclamation. Always loud, always honest.
Their debut singles “Dark Side” and “Manchild” announce the arrival of a band unafraid to rage, reflect, and rip the volume right off.
“Comeback Morning” doesn’t beg for your attention. It doesn’t try to dazzle with clever production tricks or polished perfection. It feels more like that quiet, electric moment of survival.
MASSEY is not your typical frontman. He is more of a conjurer, someone who pulls whole arrangements out of thin air with nothing but his voice.
Listen here:
And the stellar line up of musicians on this one is no joke. Charlie Wooton’s bassline has weight, Oravetz and Groover on guitar keep it lean and expressive, and Doug Belote’s drums give the whole track its steady heartbeat. Then there is Lemmler’s Hammond organ – warm, wide and grounding and the 504 Horns who elevate it even further.
But more than any single performance, what sticks is the overall vibe.
“Comeback Morning” very much sounds like it was built on real trust between players, and on MASSEY’s belief in second chances. That message that “The comeback is always sweeter,” a phrase borrowed from his father, is the kind of line you believe because you can hear that MASSEY does.
It’s a big hearted, soul driven reminder that even after the darkest nights, the light still shows up and sometimes its in a song.
About MASSEY
MASSEY showed up like a spark — fully formed, voice first — when producer JoeBaby Michaels caught wind of something wild, soulful and unmistakably original.
At the center of it all is MASSEY who sings, hums, whistles and scats every idea into being. Think James Brown if he built the bones of the song from the air.
There’s something visceral about the way MASSEY approaches music. Songs begin as voice memos — grooves and hooks born of walks, dreams, gut feelings — and get fleshed out by a tight circle of trusted collaborators, especially his guitarist and writing partner Peter Oravetz. The result is music that feels lived in but alive, rooted in New Orleans funk and soul, laced with rock grit and retro R&B swing.
In just a handful of releases, MASSEY has already made noise. His first few singles have racked up over 600,000 views collectively, with each new track carving out more of his singular identity.
With his debut album Reason For Being dropping soon and a slate of live performances kicking off with NOLA JazzFest, MASSEY is stepping fully into the spotlight.
Debo Ray is well known for her powerhouse vocals, and for her ability to command stage presence, but with her latest single “Take That,” the Boston based artist opens a new chapter. Vulnerable, raw and fearless, the song marks a turning point in her music journey – one where personal history, healing and musical innovation come together.
In this exclusive interview, Debo shares the story behind “Take That,” the emotionals that shaped its lyrics, and the process of bringing her past and present selves together on screen.
Filmed in collaboration with Vano Projects, the music video captures the emotional weight of childhood memory, the struggle to reclaim identity and the ultimate act of self liberation.
Watch the Official Music Video here:
1.Tell us the story of this song. Why did you choose to visualise this song specifically in this way?
“Take That” is about reclaiming your power. It’s about what happens when you face down your past, especially the parts that tried to define you, and choose to stand in your truth anyway. I (and my writing partners Jerry Velona and Prince Charles Alexander) wrote this song from the perspective of someone who’s walked through emotional fire and come out the other side with scars and strength.
We chose to visualize this story by weaving together my past and present selves: child Debo and adult Debo, because I truly believe our younger selves never leave us. They’re witnesses. They’re roots. They hold the earliest versions of our dreams. Showing both timelines in the video allowed us to bring that emotional journey to life. I wanted people to feel the transformation.
The video team at Vano Projects helped us bring this vision to life with so much creativity and care, even within the constraints of an indie artist budget (which, let’s be real, is always a part of the puzzle!). We shot everything in just a day and a half across three nearby locations, and somehow, it all came together like magic.
2. What was the inspiration behind this video? (visuals, storyline etc.)
I’m a first-generation Haitian-American, raised in a deeply religious and traditional household. My upbringing was filled with music (both my parents are gifted singers and instrumentalists) but it was also filled with strict expectations, unspoken tension, and emotional volatility. My father had a temper that shaped a lot of my early experiences with fear, shame, and silence. Those patterns followed me, even into adulthood.
For years, I buried that part of my story. I thought if I just kept performing, kept achieving, I could outrun the pain. But when I began writing this album, I knew I had to be honest. “Take That” became a turning point: a declaration. Not of vengeance, but of truth. A way of saying: This happened. It shaped me. But it doesn’t own me anymore.
The visuals reflect that healing arc. There’s resistance, confrontation, but ultimately, release. And that’s the legacy I want to build; not one of hiding pain, but transforming it.
3. What was the process of making the video?
Creating with Bojan and Laura of Vano Projects is always a joy. They’re not just brilliant visual storytellers, they’re collaborators who really see me. We’ve done several videos together now, and they understand my vision, my aesthetic, and my need to tell the whole story from styling, setting, emotion, all of it.
Jerry (my husband, co-writer, and creative partner) and I brought them a loose concept rooted in the lyrics: this idea of a young girl running toward herself. I told them I was finally ready to show more of what I’d been holding back. From there, the four of us sculpted the vision: Laura sourced the two phenomenal actors — Jaelyn Francis, who played little me, and Jimmy Jules, who played my father — and Bojan found the main location. Jerry suggested the Harvard Stadium for the final running shots, which gave the video that haunting sense of endurance and triumph.
We shot most of it in one powerful, emotional day and wrapped up with a quick sunrise shoot at the stadium. The result is something that feels both deeply personal and universally human. It’s one of the bravest things I’ve ever created.
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