Melissa Kacar

"No One Noticed" by The Marías explores themes of longing for human connection and isolation in the digital age, while yearning for someone to finally see her the way a lost love once did. Lamenting for the past and what could have been she sings, "No one tried to read my eyes," she sings in the second verse, "No one but you, wish it weren't true". This song poignantly captures the distinct sense of isolation that comes from being surrounded by room full of people, yet still feeling completely alone, as well as the notion that others may never fully grasp the depth of your inner thoughts and struggles in those moments. It was featured as the eleventh track on The Marías' 2024 sophomore album,  Submarine ,  which was one of my favorite new music discoveries from last year. "I remember just waking up one morning and sitting on my bed grabbing the guitar and just starting to play. The windows were open the birds, were chirping like it was just a...

With N ot For Radio , María Zardoya of  The Marías steps out on her own for the first time with her debut solo release, Melt . As the name of her side project suggests, this music was not made with the intention of it receiving any mainstream attention or commercial success. Instead, Melt became a deeply personal refection, one that fully embraces intimacy and vulnerability in ways she has never explored before. Written over the course of just three weeks in January 2024 in Upstate New York, María collaborated with Luca Buccellati and Sam Evian to craft the record against the backdrop of cold, isolated winter snowscapes. That distinct environment seeps into the music, shaping a gorgeous and atmospheric exploration of love, all centered around the overarching question: "Is love worth all of the pain?" María described Not For Radio as "…my alternate reality" and a pursuit of rediscovering a part of herself and exploring, on her own terms, the act of loving and losing...

  CINEMA captures so much of the soft and glowing intimacy that has defined so much of The Marías ' music from the very beginning. The gorgeous sonic universe within this album became a signature for them, one that has only grown more fully realized with each subsequent release.  The origins of many of these songs predate the band itself, evolving over years before their official debut. Alongside the announcement of the CINEMA  track list, they wrote in the YouTube description: "A couple of them were written years ago in our bedroom, before we even released our first song. One of them was written at the start of 2020, a grim foreshadowing of the year that followed. Another was written in our tour van in between Washington, D.C. and Boston. All of them were written with everything we had." The entirety of the album was created by frontwoman María Zardoya alongside core producer, co‑writer, and longtime partner Josh Conway . After CINEMA' s release, The Marías nearly di...

"What Was That" by Lorde Lorde summer is officially here! The lead single from her forthcoming album, "What Was That", feels like a true rebirth for Lorde as an artist. Collaborating with Jim-E Stack and Dan Nigro for the first time, she's brought a fresh yet deeply emotional energy with this new song, and I couldn’t be happier that she's back. Listening to this gave me the same joy and euphoria I felt when I first heard Melodrama at 17 years old. It's hard to put into words right now, but this is such an exciting time for pop music and Lorde is one of the key voices that are really shaping this transformative and exciting new era for the culture.  "Egg" by Djo An early contender for my favorite album of the year is absolutely The Crux by Djo . Every song is incredible, and I can't recommend checking out the entire album enough, but one that really struck me is "Egg". It is such a profound and thought-provoking exploration of ide...