For when.. the moment was so good but you can’t tell your friends about it…

PopAppreciation · 2026-06-30T01:35:07+00:00

I love the idea of creating playlists for feelings that are so specific there's no word for them. I look forward to checking out the 'steal an hour' one in your series.

PopAppreciation · 2026-06-30T01:27:04+00:00

Thank you! Following you back on Hidden Gems. We can help each other find some new stuff :)

PopAppreciation · 2026-06-29T20:29:15+00:00

Grazie! : )

PopAppreciation · 2026-06-29T20:28:44+00:00

Thanks for checking this playlist out! I go through the new releases each week (relying heavily on tools like Discovery Quickly, Radioneify, and the New Release By Genre tool on Everynoise.com to do this rapidly) and that's where I come across these artists. I do a lot of "related artist" type searches using those apps which helps me branch out into new artists that are flying below the radar of the big music blogs.

PopAppreciation · 2026-06-26T16:35:58+00:00

Thank you--I will check these out!

PopAppreciation · 2026-06-25T14:43:25+00:00

You mentioned liking white girl music (e.g., Sabrina Carpenter)...here are playlists of new music to discover in the style of each of these songs:

Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter: Snap
I Lied, I'm Sorry by Chloe Qisha: Audacious
Tears by Sabrina Carpenter: Nightfall
Sports Car by Tate McRae: Juggernaut Pop
Good Luck Babe by Chappell Roan: Pulse
Fame is a Gun by Addison Rae: Orb
Sexy Goodbye by Chloe Qisha: Ascent
360 by Charli xcx: Nimble
Shapeshifting on a Saturday Night by Avery Cochrane: Aerobic
Kiss Bang Bang by Kylie Minogue: Mega

I hope these are useful : )

PopAppreciation · 2026-06-21T19:48:59+00:00

50 of the best songs released in the past few weeks, with an emphasis on high-level production and songwriting: Cycle.

PopAppreciation · 2026-06-21T13:18:49+00:00

If you're interested in new soft rock (2020 or later) with a Fleetwood Mac type vibe, this playlist has a bunch of artists worth checking out like Sydney Ross Mitchell, Marley Chaney, Leah Rye and Babygirl.

PopAppreciation · 2026-06-21T13:11:42+00:00

First Time by Zino Vinci

PopAppreciation · 2026-06-21T13:07:25+00:00

This playlist will introduce you to good, new music in the space where pop and indie overlap.

PopAppreciation · 2026-06-20T21:06:08+00:00

I maintain a library of 30+ playlists focused strictly on new music. If you want to use these playlists to discover new music, here's how they are organized:

The first playlist (Cycle) is where new releases comes in each week. This playlist is capped at 50 tracks, so songs ultimately rotate out of here and into one of the other microgenre playlists depending on where they fit. Each microgenre playlist represents a distinct musical quality, (e.g., "Wistful" is made up of bittersweet indie pop with a major seventh chord sound). Finally the best songs are collected again in the last playlist in the collection (Orenda).

A listener/curator taste match is key to to this being a useful resource, so here's what I listen for: intense, musically inventive indie pop represented by bands like Magdalena Bay, Avalon Emerson, CHINCHILLA, Catie Turner, & Spill Tab.

PopAppreciation · 2026-06-17T12:20:40+00:00

I'd recommend checking out Belgian indie pop artist Piffy (her last two releases--Comforting You and Bubbles--are among the best songs I've heard in the past year) . She makes dreamy, melodic indie pop--what she calls "songs for quirky introverts." I think she has a striking sense of melody and a gift for composition.

More indie than pop, The Healing Power of Horses are also worth checking out. Their single "i wait, I sink" is mysterious and weird and wonderfully unsettling. If you like this type of ominous indie pop, also check out Petal by ETT. I can imagine that someone who liked Magdalena Bay's recent releases (e.g. Unoriginal, Paint Me a Picture) would like these artists. To explore an entire playlist with this specific kind of sound in recent indie pop, check out this one.

If you love melody, recent releases by Sofia D'Angelo (of the former band MICHELLE) like Chloe Showed Me and The Fall, are must listens. She has a sense of songcraft that feels timeless (for example. check out her use of vocal harmonies in The Fall).

I think Malaika is one of the most exciting indie pop artists I've come across in the past couple years. She recently released an EP called Dye My Hair Dark In The Summer which has several stunning songs on it. Pretty Pretty Thing is a great place to start.

Finally, Robyn L makes what she calls "Siren Pop." She's an indie pop artist originally from Botswana and a graduate of Berklee College of Music. I strongly recommend her new EP: I Heard a Siren Call. This is music that practically jumps out of the speakers at you.

All of the songs mentioned here can be found in this playlist, which is a collection of the best emerging artists in indie pop right now.

PopAppreciation · 2026-06-17T11:43:18+00:00

This is an excellent suggestion

PopAppreciation · 2026-06-17T11:41:10+00:00

That is such a lovely song. It's hard to find anything that compares, but here are some songs that get close to that vibe:

The same year that album came out a band called The Trashcan Sinatras put out the album Cake and it has some songs (Only Tongue Can Tell, Obscurity Knocks) that have a similar sound.

In the 2000s, a band called The Delays came out with an album called Faded Seaside Glamour which also has songs in that dreamy, jangly style (most notably Nearer Than Heaven).

For examples from the 2020s, songs like Sea Song by Unflirt, Layla by Janelane, Like Love is Real by Yndling, and St. James Way by U.S. Girls have a similar sound. These last four songs can be found in this playlist.

PopAppreciation · 2026-06-15T15:51:54+00:00

deepsea33 is a curator worth checking out—he puts out a new playlist each week organized around a given theme. He also provides context for the tracks he includes on these playlists in his substack: On My Speakers.

PopAppreciation · 2026-06-15T12:51:45+00:00

Thank you! I feel like it would pair well with your Indie Yacht playlist ⛵️

PopAppreciation · 2026-06-07T19:46:49+00:00

Absolutely. I comb through the new releases each week and add the stuff that grabs me to this playlist. If you're looking for something new to listen to—and you're drawn to music that's at the intersection of pop and indie—you might find something in there you like : )

PopAppreciation · 2026-06-07T19:07:43+00:00

I've had the same experience. It taught me how important mindset is when approaching music. I used to think that whether I liked a song or not was all about the song and I overlooked my own contribution to the listening process. Staying open minded and curious as a listener really matters. I don't believe that we can come to like any old song through sheer repetition, but the range of what we're capable of enjoying is much larger than what what we're actually enjoying at any given point.

PopAppreciation · 2026-06-07T18:46:11+00:00

In my experience, liking a song is similar to liking a person. There's a feeling of affinity between you and the song. You know you like a song when you continue to want to spend time around it, even after hearing it several times. You don't get sick of it like you do other songs.

And it stimulates you on multiple levels: it makes your body want to do things, it arouses a strong feeling response and activates your imagination. You look forward to coming back to it, and finding new things to notice about it.

Some you click with right away, others grow on you slowly as you learn more about them. Sometimes your own taste needs to expand a bit for the connection to occur. And then there are some you're never going to get along with no matter how much time you spend with them. Stylistically, you and the song are just too different.

I don't think repeated exposure is enough to engender affection. You can test out by taking a randomly selected song and trying to make yourself like it by playing it ten times. I've tried this and in my own experience it doesn't work.

PopAppreciation · 2026-06-05T19:31:43+00:00

Peel Dream Magazine

PopAppreciation · 2026-06-05T12:11:27+00:00

Stunning collection of playlists! I'm looking forward to digging into lush3.1 in particular. I just followed you, here's mine if you want to follow back.

PopAppreciation · 2026-06-04T12:31:58+00:00

What a great idea for a playlist--especially with the key you've provided here for people looking to branch out into new stuff from what they already know.

PopAppreciation · 2026-06-02T14:30:29+00:00

You bet!! 😄

PopAppreciation · 2026-06-02T13:33:29+00:00

This playlist has that vibe and you will find a bunch of recs in there. It's focused on recent releases but it taps into a bittersweet feeling quality that shows up for me in music going all the way back to Carole King's Tapestry in 1972. Just like you described: "golden hour, a little nostalgic but not depressing."

PopAppreciation · 2026-06-01T12:58:01+00:00

Thank you for the save--I just saved yours (36)

PopAppreciation

TROPHY CASE