Connect with us

Music

XTIE Unveils Latest single ‘frenemy’

XTIE shows off her shimmering bubblegum-pop prowess with her new track ‘frenemy’. Infinitely catchy with sugar-sweet, soaring melodies and smooth, understated vocals, the track fuses pulsating pop production with big beats and a euphoric soundscape for a seriously addictive, chartworthy track as XTIE builds suspense with her carefully crafted arrangement. Bringing a personal narrative to her lyrics, XTIE opens up about fake friendships and getting too comfortable with people too soon, something that many twenty-somethings can relate to.

Alongside the track, XTIE shares a hazy, ethereal video, full of metaphors and subtle nods to the lyrics; a teddy represents the toxic people who appear loving and as XTIE lets go of a red balloon at the end of the video, she is letting go of the past.

Discussing the meaning behind the new track, XTIE shares: “We used to be BFFs but suddenly we just grew apart and we can’t find a reason. We used to tell jokes, make fun of each other and share secrets. Now you know all my secrets but we are not friends anymore. 

I feel like social media could help make new friends but it sometimes make old friends grow apart, sudden jealousy on how good your life is now, compare this or that scrolling through the stories of our “friends”, we seems to get friend’s recent life updates through IG but not calling up each other to chat anymore.

New friends came into my life as well after I graduated from university, and they easily get jealous of your achievements and they will find ways to let you down. Sometimes it got me thinking, am I a bad friend because I am just too busy to keep updated and stay close with my friends? no time to hang out with them, be patient or listen to their stories anymore?”

Advertisement

XTIE is an independent singer-songwriter / electro-pop artist from Hong Kong. She weaves ear-candy pop beats with candid storytelling and her warm jazz-tinged vocals. As a self-produced artist, she writes, arranges, produces and performs her songs. As a female producer in the music scene, she hopes to bring ways to tell her story.

Since her debut in mid-2020, her tracks have reached over 300K streams on Spotify. Her hit single “Virgo” peaked 3rd for over 6 weeks on the Hong Kong largest radio stations. Already having garnered support from BBC Radio Scotland, RTHK, Commercial Radio Hong Kong, SCMP Young Post, LOCK Magazine UK, The Noise Gate UK, XTIE shows her ability to create shimmering candy-pop beats, sweeping melodies with vocal chops, mellow chill out vibes and euphoric dancefloor moments.

Effortlessly creating bubblegum-pop beats and sweeping melodies, her music will transport you to the euphoria of the dancefloor. 

Listen to ‘frenemy’ on all platforms here: https://fanlink.to/XTIE-frenemy

Advertisement

Natalie is a journalism major with a focus on Entertainment and Music who aspires to become a Content Creator For Honk Magazine. Eventually, she wants to be the Publisher or Editor-in-Chief of a major Publishing House. She loves helping people find their voice and passion for writing and journalism, and she can always be found with coffee in hand, editing another article.

Advertisement

Album Review

Cognitive Constellation Corps blurs humanity and technology on “Thank You for Your Feedback (I)” album

Cognitive Constellation Corps

In a world of notifications and automated responses, algorithms, and feedback requests, Cognitive Constellation Corps finds something unexpectedly human inside the machinery. “Thank You for Your Feedback (I)” is an alt-pop exploration of connection, isolation, communication, and the increasingly complicated relationship between people and technology, transforming familiar procedural language into something else.

Created by Brooke Tamsin Clevenger, a Belfast-based artist, the project’s principal composer, lyricist, producer, and conceptual director, the album is deliberately constructed around what happens to human emotion when our lives are increasingly structured by systems that process information rather than necessarily understand feelings. The album opens with “Opening Loop (i),” which introduces that world through the idea of repetition, linking software loops to the habits we humans learn in modern life.

Followed by “Signal Received (i),” the track becomes more fragile, a mix of bubbling electronic movement and the promise of waiting for a response. It picks up the strange emotional weight that can be behind something as simple as a digital signal. “Thank You For Your Feedback (i)” examines the pressure to be constantly evaluated, and “Echo Chamber (i)” reflects on how digital interaction creates intimacy and amplifies alienation. “The Curve of Clarity (i)” is a road toward understanding where data and human realization begin to converge.

On the production side, the project explores electronic textures without allowing its technological concept to overwhelm its emotional core. “Threadbare, Threadshare (i)” turns the fatigue of constant communication into an interesting concept. “The Response Loop (You’re Still Talking)” injects a sense of urgency with a faster, more club-friendly beat that mixes early-80s electronic music with state-of-the-art sounds.

Advertisement

“Harmonic Distortion (i)” continues the album’s obsession with emotion that has been filtered, and “Always (i) [Sevahem]” is an appropriate closer, reflecting on organic feeling and ancient human knowledge through the prism of digital sound. “Thank you for Your Feedback” is a tech-driven concept that is always aware of the person behind the screen. Cognitive Constellation Corps is cerebral and electronic and conceptually ambitious while remaining emotionally accessible.

Connect – | Website | FB | IG |

Continue Reading

Artist Spotlight

Shawn Brown raises the volume on love, loss, and survival in “What a Way to Go”

Shawn Brown

Shawn Brown’s new single, “What a Way to Go,” is a guitar-heavy rock-pop anthem that makes doomed young love, instability, and survival something ferociously cathartic. The single, produced by celebrated musician and producer Grecco Buratto, fully embraces the scope of its story. Brown doesn’t turn heartbreak into a quiet, inward experience, but he energizes it, giving it drive and urgency.

“What a Way to Go” is a relationship against impossible odds, and the emotional tension is the clash between a world that feels like it’s falling apart and the stubbornness of two people who won’t let go of each other. That tension is what makes the song dramatic, but it also allows Brown to aim for a bigger, more explosive sound.

Recorded at The Trench in Portland with engineer Gregg Williams and the full Shawn Brown Band and trusted creative team, including Ben Landsverk, Jeff Langston, Ned Failing, Tiago Becker, and Juan Garcia Petri. Their combined presence adds to the muscular, expansive character of the single that one would expect from an anthem of this magnitude.

Brown handles the emotional commitment with confidence, true to its survivalist spirit, and pairs the guitars with a performance that feels immediate rather than remote. “What a Way to Go” is one of Shawn Brown’s most electrifying releases, blending raw rock power with the emotional openness of a love story that won’t go quietly. It’s raw, loud, passionate, and unapologetically alive.

Advertisement

Connect – | Website | FB | IG |

Continue Reading

Video Of The Week

Trending