Submission Spotlight

Helen Evans — Sat, 19 Sep 2026 10:00:00 +0000

This feature spotlights artists who have submitted their tracks/videos to She Makes Music. If you would like to be featured here then please send an e-mail to helen@shemakesmusic.co.uk. We look forward to hearing from you!

Cosvar

Romanian trans artist, producer and singer Cosvar creates dark, alternative electronic music where spirituality, embodiment and queerness intersect. Balancing introspection with movement, their work explores identity, presence and transformation while creating something that can be experienced both emotionally and physically.

‘Stripper’ is the focus track from new album Exuvia, a project rooted in that same relationship between inner reflection and outward expression. With a simple message at its heart – “love yourself” – the track embodies Cosvar’s interest in self-awareness and acceptance while retaining the danceable energy running throughout their music.

Strawberry Punch

Winnipeg all-femme queer band Strawberry Punch blend the sweetness of ’60s girl-group pop with ’90s indie rock and riot grrrl garage punk. The four-piece rotate instruments during their live shows, bringing together shimmering guitars, four-part harmonies, raw energy and an ear for memorable pop hooks.

Closing their self-titled debut album, ‘Bathsheba’ begins in the territory of unrequited love and obsession before building towards an eruption of female rage. Drawing parallels with the biblical figure Bathsheba, the song considers the ways lust and desire have historically been used to villainise women, turning a haunting album finale into an exploration of blame, obsession and femininity.

Strawberry Punch by Strawberry Punch

Isla Mae

Based between Leeds and Cambridge, singer-songwriter Isla Mae moves freely between pop, indie, folk and jazz, using songwriting to transform both personal reflections and everyday observations into stories. Her latest work continues that genre-fluid approach while returning to the fictional storytelling she explored on her first EP.

Self-recorded and produced by Isla, ‘Round and Round’ observes the kind of relationship where two people seem unable to stop finding their way back to each other. Blending pop with folk, jazz, soul and R&B influences, the track looks at the repetitive pull between a couple whose story never quite seems to reach its ending.

Facelift

Sydney pop-punk band Facelift grew from vocalist and songwriter Sarah Bonnet’s desire to recapture the community she remembered from the city’s pre-COVID scene – house shows, record-store gigs and friends simply getting together to play energetic music. Joined by Marty Cornford, Tahlia McLennan and Joshua Mackay, Facelift bring that DIY spirit into everything they create.

Debut single ‘Ceiling Fan’ explores feeling trapped while everyone around you appears to be moving forward. Sarah began writing the song during an earlier period of stagnation, only to find its meaning resurfacing years later as her long-term band ended and other parts of her life shifted. Forming Facelift and finally releasing the song became her own first step towards moving on.

Shy Blossom

Southwest Florida indie alternative band Shy Blossom blend rock, folk and pop into atmospheric music made for self-described deep feelers, overthinkers and hopeless romantics. Fronted by singer Adriana McDonald alongside bassist Nicole Alberti and drummer Julie Copithorn, the band centre emotionally raw songwriting within a cinematic alt-rock sound.

Written during the isolation of COVID, ‘Eternity’ was the first song Adriana ever wrote on guitar and eventually became the foundation of Shy Blossom itself. Exploring loneliness, reflection and the search for connection through atmospheric instrumentation and vulnerable vocals, the track now introduces the band’s next musical chapter – and marks the first Shy Blossom song created with a producer.

Ragnara

British-based cinematic pop artist and songwriter Ragnara blends contemporary production with orchestral textures and subtle folk influences. Her songwriting explores the ways people process emotion through memory, symbolism and the stories they construct around themselves.

Dark-pop single ‘Afterlife’ began with its opening synth before developing into a cinematic exploration of desire, illusion and the unknown. Its protagonist enters a world that resembles a film set, where everything feels staged, while questioning whether she has found the afterlife she imagined or something altogether darker. Rather than offering an answer, the track sits within the uncertainty between surrender and self-preservation, questioning whether what we desire is always what we actually need.

Amy Aytchi

Glasgow independent artist Amy Aytchi builds her forthcoming album around an ambitious narrative: an overwhelmed young woman runs into a storm, is struck by lightning and develops a mysterious illness called cyclosis, forcing her to revisit buried trauma as she gradually transforms into a tornado that unleashes itself upon her town’s wrongdoers.

‘Young Girl’ explores the difficult transition from childhood into womanhood and the realisation that, despite remaining fundamentally the same person, others begin to perceive you differently. Inspired by Amy’s childhood relationship with her great-grandfather – when gender roles felt largely absent from their time together – the track reflects on growing older, changing expectations and the eventual distance that developed between them.

Nordly

Swedish/Danish duo Nordly turn towards their most personal story on latest single ‘LEO’, written directly to their son Leonel. The track captures the collision between intense anxiety and overwhelming love that accompanied their journey towards becoming parents.

After receiving confusing and unclear information from healthcare professionals during pregnancy, the couple found themselves navigating a period filled with uncertainty and worry. Those emotions fed directly into ‘LEO’, alongside the profound connection they already felt with their unborn son. Rather than smoothing over the difficult parts of the experience, the track holds fear and love alongside one another, ultimately celebrating the strength and life that emerged from such an uncertain time.

Claudia Tripp

Originally from Kalgoorlie and now based in Perth, singer-songwriter Claudia Tripp brings contemporary pop production together with country storytelling. Having begun writing songs as a child, she continues to centre emotionally recognisable experiences within her country-pop sound.

‘High Stakes’ explores the gamble involved in opening yourself up to love when you know exactly how much it could hurt if everything falls apart. The central lyric – “loving you is high stakes” – came to Claudia during her early days in Nashville and became the starting point for a song about vulnerability, excitement and deciding that some emotional risks are still worth taking.

daschan

London-based artist, songwriter and producer daschan creates ethereal alternative pop built around atmospheric production, layered vocals and introspective storytelling. Her work explores presence, memory, heartbreak and the ways our minds can become caught between what has already happened and what might happen next.

Written in Kazakhstan while daschan was ending a relationship, ‘time’ initially felt like a message of strength intended for somebody else. Looking back, she realised she had written the reminder for herself. Inspired by ideas around living in the present, the track reflects on the tendency to become lost in past pain or future anxieties while overlooking the beauty that exists now, turning heartbreak into a meditation on gratitude, presence and emotional renewal.

Check out more of our recent submissions via the playlist below!

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Submission Spotlight