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...

There is a specific kind of exhaustion that comes from scrolling through endless bad news. It is a heavy, static feeling that makes it hard to care about anything. Then a track like "I Will Follow" hits your speakers and suddenly the air feels a little lighter. Jacob Chacko has managed to capture that exact moment when you decide to stop doom scrolling and actually...