Toronto R&B artist Haley Smalls returns with sleek new single Don’t Touch, continuing to blend vulnerability, confidence, and emotional honesty into her signature independent sound. Toronto-based R&B artist Haley Smalls returns with her first release of the year, Don’t Touch, a sleek and emotionally charged single that continues to showcase the honesty and confidence that have defined her artistry. Blending smooth production with Haley’s signature vocal style, Don’t Touch fee

New York-based artist Michael Stolar transforms heartbreak, humour, and early-2000s pop-rock nostalgia into a debut album that feels both emotionally chaotic and sharply self-aware. Heartbreak has always been one of pop music’s favourite subjects, but on What’s Life Without a Little Heartbreak?, New York-based artist Michael Stolar approaches it with humour, honesty, and a refreshing lack of self-seriousness. Across his debut album, Stolar captures the emotional highs and low

Malmö duo MAMI UMAMI channel burnout, club culture and modern chaos into their restless new EP, AFTERwork. Malmö’s underground scene has always thrived in the space between tension and release and MAMI UMAMI sit right in the middle of that collision. On their new EP AFTERwork, the duo bottle the spiralling overstimulation of modern adulthood and shake it into something messy, magnetic and completely alive. Consisting of Jaquelin Elamiri and Leonard Furby, MAMI UMAMI have stea

PHOTOGRAPHY GRAY BRAME - CREATIVE DIRECTION + STYLING MAISIE JANE DANIELS - MAKEUP EMILIE LOUIZIDES - HAIR ASHLEIGH HODGES - STUDIO MASH CREATIVE STUDIO - WORDS TOBIAS FURLONG The journey to success is never entirely straight forward, it is easier to describe as a long and winding affair that requires unbelievable determination. For the London-via-essex star Ruti, the release of “I’ll Be Your Friend” marks a clear turning point for the musician. The track represents the culmi

WORDS MAISIE JANE DANIELS Amber Mark was raised between continents — from Tennessee to New York, Miami to Berlin, with formative years spent across Asia — her world has been shaped by constant change, cultural crossover, and a deep sensitivity to sound and feeling. With Pretty Idea, that sense of movement settles into something more intentional. The project feels like both a release and a reflection — a body of work that carries the emotional weight of time, quietly held and

Pop’s newest main character enters her “don’t text back” era F Word is back with IVY — fresh off the energy of our recent catch-up (read it here), IVY steps into a sharper, more self-assured lane with her new single “Text/Ex” — a slick, emotionally charged pop moment that cuts straight through the noise. Where earlier releases flirted with playful confidence, this one lands with intention. At its core, “Text/Ex” is about that all-too-familiar grey area: late-night messages,

Behind the Scenes with BombayMami at BBC Maida Vale BombayMami is a Swiss-Indian artist stepping fully into her own. With her latest album Peaceful Attitude, she delivers a sound that is as bold as it is self-assured, blending cultures, identities, and influences into something entirely her own. Rooted in honesty and driven by instinct, Peaceful Attitude marks a shift: a release defined by letting go — of expectations, of being palatable, of the need to be liked. What remains

WORDS ROB CORSINI When she was growing up, panicbaby was full of anxiety, with a feeling that the world was a terrifying place which she’d somehow found herself within. But now, raised on the internet and brought up by Tumblr, she’s taking hold of the fear so that she can destroy it - and replacing it with rage instead. Across her debut EP (playfully titled f u jonathan ) and her new single ‘ get naked ’, panicbaby explores the rawness of heartbreak and its inevitable co

WORDS MAISIE JANE DANIELS Born from the mind of London-based musician and poet Charley Palmer Rothwell, Truman is a project that exists somewhere between reality and reconstruction; an alter ego shaped by memory, environment, and the things left unsaid. His debut album Kid Raise Kid is an unravelling body of work rooted in working-class London, it traces inherited trauma, identity, and the systems that shape us - often without us realising. Through sharp lyricism and mome

Patience Please discuss their debut EP Miles Away in an exclusive F Word interview, exploring their indie sound, live energy, and rising London scene.

TALENT MIRIANA CONTE - PHOTOGRAPHY AZAZEL CHRISTIAN - STYLING JEANDOR FARRUGIA - HAIR ELIZABETT FOGEL - MAKEUP SERENA POLH Miriana Conte is a Maltese/Italian singer and performer carving out a distinct space within contemporary pop through her bold visual identity and emotionally charged sound. Blending high-energy pop with raw, expressive storytelling, her work captures the intensity of modern life, where confidence, vulnerability, and chaos exist side by side. Her late

WORDS MAISIE JANE DANIELS Since the age of fourteen, Olive Jones has been a poet... and her father knew it. His favourite song of hers is still the very first one she ever wrote, a reflection on the polarities of life on Earth - pretty deep, right? But then again, this was never a surface-level household. Raised on a soundtrack of greats like Jill Scott and Whitney Houston, Olive’s musical foundations were laid early, before she found her feet in the Leeds music scene - joi