Norway's many fjords are responsible for the birth of a celebrity. Ella Lockert, with her boundless vitality and undoubted skill, has always been a force to be reckoned with from the day she was born. Imagine a little Ella illuminating the stage as the smallest Santa possible in the song "Putti Plutti Pott." Add to that her singing in the children's chorus at the Norwegian Opera,...

Balwako’s new single, "Bitch Please," doesn’t so much arrive as detonate – a burst of queer dark-pop that rattles the windows of expectation. This Amsterdam artist, trailing a "Slavic boy-core aesthetic" and a flair for the theatrical, isn't just making electro-pop; he's staging a minor opera in under three minutes, all bass-heavy beats and a synth line that feels like a velvet curtain dramatically...