Written by: Manisha Rekhi ARTIST: Sasha Alex Sloan ALBUM: And The Crowd Goes Mild (2026) GENRE: Singer-Songwriter RATING: 9/10 Album Artwork for Sasha Alex Sloan's And The Crowd Goes Mild I first started hearing Sasha Alex Sloan’s music around 2018–2019, when her debut EP, sad girl, came out. ‘Faking It’, from her second EP, Loser, and ‘Dancing With Your Ghost’, later included on Self Portrait, became songs I’ve kept returning to. That history makes listening to And The Crowd

Written by: Manisha Rekhi Photo By: Joseph Okpako/WireImage for ABA The moment I walked into London’s O2 Arena on the 10th of September for Hilary Duff’s Lucky Me Tour, I was swept up in a wave of Y2K nostalgia. La Roux, fronted by Elly Jackson, set the tone for the evening, taking me back to 2009, when I first heard “In for the Kill” and “Bulletproof” from her self-titled album. My highlights from La Roux’s set were the striking imagery for her latest single, “Lose Myself,”

Written by: Manisha Rekhi ARTIST: Ellie Goulding ALBUM: I Know Too Much (2026) GENRE: Pop RATING: 7/10 Ellie Goulding is best known to me for the shimmering pop sound of her debut album, Lights. Earlier songs such as “Starry Eyed” and her cover of Elton John’s “Your Song” showcased the airy, captivating vocals that first drew me to her music when I was a young teen. On her sixth studio album, I Know Too Much, I hear a more personal side of Goulding as she balances acoustic te