Music
Stephan Folkes tugs at the soul with new single “Is this paradise?”
Stephan Folkes’ new single “Is this paradise?,” is one that stops you in your tracks. “Is this paradise?” the evocative lead single from his upcoming album Hazard, is a moving and thought-provoking meditation on loss, remembrance, and hope. Folkes weaves an all-encompassing landscape that’s closer to stepping into memory than pressing play on a song. His voice, sweet and rough, threads through the production with a subdued urgency, summoning the kind of questions that don’t require answers.
What elevates this track is that it feels heavy with emotion and the way it’s conveyed with maturity. Whereas some might have leaned into melodrama here, Folkes finds space for every note, every word a willingness to let you sit in the ache, if not drown in it. It’s a musical slow burn, gorgeously held in check but profoundly felt, like the glow of an old photograph that you never quite have the nerve to hide away. The lyrics do the heavy lifting with grace, telling a story of someone clutching the past not from weakness but from preference. There’s suffering in the mix here, yes, but there’s also power, a reminder through recollection to heal. At a time when culture craves authenticity, Folkes provides it in spades, peeling away the slickness to reveal something real, something human.
“Is this paradise?” is at once as intimate as a journal entry and as anthemic as anything else out there. It’s music designed not just to be heard but felt in the quiet spaces, the late nights, the silent drives, and the moments when we reach for what has been lost and touch something sacred in our longing to remember. In this debut, Stephin Laing introduces himself as an artist and offers listeners a hand through the fog of grief, lighting the way toward a brighter place. If Hazard keeps this up, that will not merely be an album. It will be a turning point.
Artist Spotlight
Lana Crow turns challenges into a celebration with “Laugh With You”
“Laugh With You,” the latest single from Lana Crow, is a sincere rallying cry to embrace life in all its messy, beautiful mess. In the song, indie pop and alt-pop combine to deliver an emotional blow that feels both personal and universal.
“Laugh With You” feels like an instant connection, and Crow is telling you stories of hard times with a cozy, knowing smile. This song is as much about struggle as it is about how strong you are. It serves as a reminder that these struggles are simply what give us the strength to keep going, even when life is tough.
Crow encourages people to welcome them, create happiness in the cracks, and laugh even as the world gets heavy. The result is a song that delicately nudges you to love and embrace yourself. It is an anthem for anyone experiencing tough times who refuses to give up hope. Lana Crow continues to demonstrate her songwriting skills, both musically pleasing and emotionally rich, with “Laugh With You.”
It’s a reminder that it’s how we respond to tough times, rather than how they affect us, that’s key. With this song, not only does Crow provide us with music, but she also lets us know that sometimes a laugh is what we need to remember that there is always something to smile about and that, even when it feels like life has waged war against you, laughter can still be found.
Artist Spotlight
Lisa Boostani creates a mesmerizing tidal realm in “Ocean”
Lisa Boostani’s “Ocean” takes you deep into a sensory world where body, spirit, and myth come together, beyond the surface of genre. Boostani makes a soundscape that is both ethereal and deeply human by combining the broad essence of psychedelic pop with the strong appeal of alternative rock.
Her voice rises as if it is coming from deep within her, shaped by emotion rather than action. She intentionally channels the intangible, turning weakness into strength rather than a source of pain, and “Ocean” tells people to get involved in this inner world, not just watch it. This release is an integral part of her first EP, “One,” which will come out in March 2026 and is based on love, sensuality, and unity.
If “Ocean” is any indication, the EP will show sensuality not as something pretty, but as a kind of spiritual intelligence, a way to know yourself by connecting with others. The song’s textures and structure have an aquatic quality, moving between clarity and delirium, rhythm and freedom. Its emotional focus is on immersion instead of resolution.
The striking quality of “Ocean” is the blend of the mystical worlds. Boostani understands that strength often shows up as gentleness and that deep feelings are better expressed through frequencies than words. She wants people to see consciousness as immediacy, sensation as truth, and openness as an undeniable strength.
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