Every artist is performing a version of themselves. In psychology, it’s called impression management. It’s sort of like a show: there’s who you are under the lights, and who you are once you walk off. In music that front stage used to be built for labels, radio, and press. Now it’s built for the feed, in front of an audience that hears the snippets, weighs in on the drafts, and feels like part of the process. The performance never really stops, because the crowd never really

Amidst a music industry so fixated on virality and the future of what’s deemed “marketable” music, Nashville-based Emma Ogier has quickly grown in popularity by doing just the opposite. Known for her vulnerable songwriting and twangy vocals, Ogier blends indie-rock and Americana seamlessly. Notably inspired by icons like the Indigo Girls, Joni Mitchell and Aretha Franklin, her most recent single, “Hands Tied” is so humanly intimate, similarly to the work of her inspirations.

Samuel Norris lay down with his eyes wide open, yet all he could see was the darkness pressing in around him. It’s 2025 in the mountains of Estes Park, Colorado, the night his dad remarried. What was supposed to be a celebration for the family was the culmination of some of the darkest years for Norris. The wedding was a reminder that his family was reshaping itself around him, at the exact moment he felt most like he didn’t belong in it. The blackness he was witnessing wasn’