A and R Factory

Bars as hypnotic as the melodiously cadenced verses of pure lyrical wit in what’s mine is yours by UK rapper tea with friends are tragically hard to come by, but this mischievous hit more than makes up for the shortfall. Returning older, wiser and clearly still amused by the absurdity of it all, lyricist and producer T. Trueman brings his eponymous comeback LP into focus with a track that lets fans of frayed-at-the-edges, soulful-at-the-core hip-hop find a cornucopia of tongue-in-cheek mantras.

As a nod to Hole’s iconic Live Through This LP cover with a tiara and streaked mascara, the cover art for LOSER by Nicole Dash Jones signals that it is time for a new woman to disrupt the alt-rock scene. The British artist, now based in Los Angeles, sets the headline single from her forthcoming album LOSER inside a breakup with the self: the old reflection and the promise it failed to keep.

Sigg gives good reason to source the soul of old-school hip-hop from a new voice on There It Is, the standout single from his LP, Aquarius Rising, SZN 1. Formerly known as Self-O.N.E., the Columbus, Georgia rapper now works under a sharper moniker while keeping his pen locked on meaning, reference-heavy writing and bars designed to reward repeat listens.

Somewhere between 80s boom-bap, lit-hop, motivational hip-hop and nerd rap, Mic Rocca’s Salty Powers rides in with a funk-driven lo-fi instrumental and a chip on its shoulder that has been worked into wisdom. The up-and-coming emcee and Randumb Enterprises founder built his path the hard way: writing at home when studio time sat outside the budget, then living in the booth once a workable rate finally opened the door.

Chicago deep-house artist and producer I Am Me, the renewed creative identity of Carmen Fiorentino, opened a portal to an interstellar drift with Starseed. Long known in Chicago’s underground house and techno circuits as Twitchin Skratch, Fiorentino has lived inside club culture since childhood, from turntable obsession to Spybar residencies.

Few artists take the concept album as seriously as Son Kuma. With Keep That Energy, the Inglewood songwriter, producer, recording artist and Stanford Mathematical Physics graduate built a multidimensional narrative, using his background in physics to make every feat of RnB hip-hop elemental. It is cinema that needs no screen. Once the opening single, Inertia, hits with its high-vibe, melodiously fresh catharsis, you are fully locked into the arc Son Kuma sets in motion.

The Canadian indie-pop breakthrough sensation ISHANA delivered a reverie-rich synth-pop dream with The Odyssey, a slow-burning single written, recorded, produced, mixed and mastered entirely by the Montreal artist herself. Shaped from the raw emotional state of an almost-relationship reaching its finale through crossed wires, the track turns self-doubt, low self-worth and the search for clarity into something delicately immersive.

Ty 615 took the gospel of hip-hop through the streets to the pew in his EP, 1 of 1. The Nashville independent hip-hop artist rooted the project in authentic storytelling and spirituality-conscious rap, using his personal awakening as the emotional charge behind an EP built around healing, faith, resilience and learning to love the person God created. Kicking off with the stylistic smorgasbord, Rainy Days/Shine on Me, the EP instantly asserts Ty 615’s mind-bending versatility.

Solo Ronin tethered hearts broken by missed timings together in the diehard romantic melodies of Will You Wait. The Tokyo-based emo and alt-rock project, led by Kris Thiesen, followed his debut, 10,000 Miles, with a release produced by Aaron Johnson, whose work with The Fray and Secondhand Serenade makes him an ideal match for a song built around guitar-driven confession.

Von’Jai’s latest single, Mystique, is the ultimate femme-fatale RnB Afro-pop reckoning with a bassline plotting for your submission and surrender. The London-based artist is fully in command of the solo spotlight she stepped into with her debut single, No Angel, in 2024 after moving away from harmonising under stained glass in church and wowing X-Factor judges as part of a mixed group. Mystique carries a club-lit heat that reaches beyond surface seduction.