Born in a musical family, Canadian singer-songwriter Madison Olds has been playing music for as long as she can remember. In her songs, she addresses topics such as anxiety, loneliness, and ‘mental disparity’ with lighthearted music to back her vocals.

In an interview with Beyond The Stage magazine Olds explains: “If I had to describe my music (…) I would say it’s gritty alt-pop that’s drawn from lots of personal experience. I’m a pretty happy person as well, so I like to keep the mood relatively light and happy.”

2020 was challenging, but yet, the upcoming artist managed to put out an impressive six singles throughout the year. They are compiled on the new EP Drowning In My Thoughts. It also holds a new track: the bouncing tune If You Wanna. A great pop song with hands clapping and fingers snapping. Meanwhile a thumping bass and loud drum fills provide a fun groove.

Olds cites Julia Michaels, Ed Sheeran and Billie Eilish as her main influences. In my ears, her single If You Wanna is just as accessible and radio-friendly as those artists’ output.

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Luz isn’t a name you would expect from an Irish artist. Luz Corrigan is half-Argentinian however, so that explains it. Her name is to be pronounced as ‘Luce’, by the way, which brings her two blood lines together in a lovely manner.

During isolation last year, Luz put a piano version of Dua Lipa’s Don’t Start Now on TikTok. Her cover has now amassed over 8 million views and was officially approved by La Lipa herself. Apart from this one-off, the 20-year-old singer-songwriter also released three original songs in 2020. These have been streamed more than 30 million times in total. Even better, almost all of her favourite musicians (Ed Sheeran, Sigrid, Julia Michaels, Lewis Capaldi, Dermot Kennedy, Niall Horan a.o.) sent her their praise and support for her work.

With any luck, she can capitalize upon all of this with her beautiful new single Counting Houses. It’s a well-written track, built around sparse, atmospheric pop production. Luz meaning ‘light’, it’s only logical this is a tune about hope. She explains: “This song is about reassurance and hope to anyone who may be struggling with self-identity. Reassurance that there are people out there who will love you for you! And that you’re allowed to hang whatever part of your life you like ‘up on the wall’.”

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Abby J Hall, who turned 21 last month, is a Canadian singer-songwriter from Burlington Ontario. Taylor Swift, Julia Michaels, Alec Benjamin and Maggie Rogers are some of her musical influences. She started writing music when she was 11, and plays the guitar, keys and ukulele.

This year, after spending most of 2019 in the studio, she started releasing the new music she recorded. All I Wanted is her third single of 2020.

Abby describes the song as ‘an emotional plea to go deep and be vulnerable with someone you care about’. She further explains: “Sometimes it’s not the outcome that is the most important, but having the courage to say what needs to be said. All I Wanted encourages rolling your sleeves up and getting to the heart of past issues to rectify a relationship that you feel is worth rectifying. Tough conversations can lead to deeper friendship. (…) Life is short. If you’ve been feeling for a while like you need to tell someone something, tell them. But life is also long enough to spend the time with those who really matter to you. Let your guard down.”

For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.