Essie Holt is your Feature Artist all this week on Unearthed!

She’s a Melbourne songwriter who we’ve had our eyes on for a few years, thanks to some pretty special uploads like ‘Magnetise’, from 2018, or this year’s ‘Give Me The Night.’

She makes pop songs – unashamedly – and dressed them up in alternative accoutrements.

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“I’ve always loved pop music,” she told us. “That’s always been the grounding factor [in my music]. But I’m also getting more and more into the indie and alternative world. Lately I’m loving beat-driven [songs], which has completely changed my approach to writing.”

You can hear it in ‘Give Me The Night’, Essie’s most distinct release to date. It has all of the hallmarks of a considered pop song – the kind where the singer pilots an inviting melody through a familiar verse/chorus structure – but the breathy, beatsy vocal delivery, and the absence of lavish instrumentation take the track into some deeper water.

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“My favourite songs are the ones where you feel like you’re sinking and soaring at the same time,” she said. In her music, she’s able to do both convincingly, without once sounding saccharine or predictable. It’s what makes her a compelling artist.

“Pop is becoming a cool genre again,” she said. “Even a few years ago, I feel like if I told people I made pop music, I felt like I was being judged, a little bit. But there’s no shame in it for me now, I’m so happy to say I make pop music.”

Find more of Essie’s music on her Unearthed profile.