Casey McQuillen’s single “Better” arrives not with a bang, but with the quiet, decisive click of a well-made lock securing a door. It’s pop music, certainly, groomed and gleaming, yet beneath the surface bubbles a fierce kind of self-possession that’s less about demanding attention and more about curating who gets past the velvet rope of your own contentment. Coming from someone known for empowerment...

Ellakate brings Atlanta's heartbeat to the world of alternative pop with her latest single. An emerging artist whose sound is prepared to push and redefine the traditional confines of the alternative pop genre was born in Atlanta, the city that gives her name to the artist's hometown. Ella Greenbaum, better known by her evocative stage name Ellakate, has recently published a compelling musical piece that goes...