I really like Help by Nashville based singer songwriter Nia Hendricks. It’s deep, not shallow, lets call it thoughtful pop. It works great for a sad playlist. I threw it on our Indie Invaders Playlist but it’s not a melancholic playlist, it has a mix of everything. Indie invaders is the 2020 answer to Spotify’s Fresh Finds. As far as Nia Hendrick, the track Help is her third release of 2020, details how difficult it can be to ask for help when we need it the most. A new five-song EP is in the works. Give it a stream.

London artist Beth Duck drops the uptempo track Text. It’s pure dance pop and it’s hard to imagine she started off as country. She cites John Mayer as main influencer that got her into writing because his songs sound like poetry. It appears she’s garnering a following as she currently clocked over 5 million streams while landing on Spotify’s Peach (Indie Pop) Playlist. Give it a listen.

If you’re a fan of indie folk, you’ll love Sterre Weldring. I may have said this before but I really love the influx of melancholic songs right now. We are in a time of self reflection not an era of dancing and twerking, that’s very dated now. Plus, her music makes total sense if you dig into her eclectic background. At 18 she started studying in Brighton at BIMM (British Institute of Modern Music) – the same school James Bay attended. She immersed herself in Brighton’s vibrant music scene before settling in Amsterdam where she took up philosophy. Her tracks landed on several Spotify editorial playlists including Acoustic Summer, Walk Alone, New Music Friday (NL), and Melancholic Melodies.

I really like the debut track Get Out Alive from Canadian artist Alex Frew. Inspired by Bon Iver from Khalid, the 18 year old comes out of the box more or less like a seasoned artist. He notes, “I’m singing of a previous love lost, navigating my social anxiety and wondering if I’ll ever be the same again”. The track landed on Spotify’s New Music Friday Canada and It’s a Bop. Give it a stream on Indie Invaders Playlist.

Look out for Los Angeles/Boston pop artist Caye and the track Happy? It’s a cool track that comes off the just released EP Isa. Before the new EP release he started making some noise while attending the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music. He played hundreds of shows, clocked nearly 46 million streams and collaborated with Wiz Khalifa, and written and produced for artists like Alessia Cara and Meghan Trainor. He notes, “it would be dope to work with Anderson Paak, Chance The Rapper, J Cole, and Kendrick Lamar. If anyone can get Drake on a song, then they made it. So that would be dope too.”