The Canadian singer-songwriter turns early romance into an intimate acoustic single from her forthcoming album "A Thousand Stars". Some feelings arrive before language is ready for them. They hover at the edge of a room, glow across a lake after sunset, or sit in the small pause between a glance and a decision. Love, in its first bright stage, often has that strange outline: visible, but...

There’s a curious sort of old-soul gravity to Amelina’s single, “Step by Step,” one that defies the pop-rock sheen and the artist’s young age. The track opens with a resolute, almost stern, string and piano line that feels less like an invitation to a party and more like the sound of someone tying their shoelaces before a long journey. This is the sound of...