#DALEYPOP X AUGUST 2026
Starring: Orville Peck, James Indigo, Amanda Lepore, LVL1, Charli xcx, ADONXS, Mýa, Too $hort, from20, Natalie Imbruglia and Evanescence!
Music has been embedded in my life ever since I was in the womb, my mum and dad basically raised me on music, especially POP music! I grew up listening to Madonna, Mariah Carey, Kylie Minogue, Spice Girls, Britney Spears and even AQUA and I’ve always been obsessed with pop culture and Eurovison! I love yapping about my favourite songs and album of the month every month with the world from Scene HQ!
Orville Peck - Too Little, Too Late
Orville Peck has returned with Too Little, Too Late, a gorgeous slice of country-pop heartbreak that reminds us exactly why he's become one of the most distinctive voices in modern country music. Taken from his upcoming album Mule, the track pairs classic themes of love lost and lessons learned with Orville's rich, velvety vocals and erm, hawt vocals which should come with a health warning at this point.
What I love most about Too Little, Too Late is its emotional honesty. There's no dramatic begging for someone to stay and no lingering what ifs. Instead, Orville reflects on a relationship that's run its course with a sense of clarity and hard earned acceptance. It's bittersweet and incredibly relatable, especially for anyone who's reached the point where they realise the apology arrived just a little too late. I think this is probably the most contemporary track he's ever released? The polished production gives it a modern country pop sheen while still allowing Orville's unmistakable voice to take centre stage. It's the kind of track that longtime fans will instantly connect with but it's also accessible enough to pull in plenty of new listeners.
James Indigo, Amanda Lepore, LVL1 - BORN FAMOUS
Fresh from opening for the legendary Peaches at London's O2 Forum Kentish Town queer rap trailblazer James Indigo is back and ready to remind everyone why he's one of the UK's most exciting independent artists. Born Famous is an electrifying burst of confidence, glamour and pure main character energy.
Joining James on the track are nightlife icon and queer culture legend Amanda Lepore alongside Spanish electronic producer LVL1 creating a dream team of boundary pushing talent. The result is a high energy electronic anthem packed with attitude, pulsating production and a fierce message about embracing your star power and taking up space unapologetically. If James Indigo isn't already on your radar, he should be! As the UK's most streamed gay rapper and with more than four million streams across platforms, he's steadily carving out his own lane. By blending rap, dance and electronic influences into a sound that feels both fresh and unmistakably his own. He's a big Madonna fan too, just saying. With every release he's continuing to champion queer visibility while proving that independent artists can make a major impact.
Charli xcx - Wink Wink
Released as the third single from her seventh studio album Music, Fashion, Film, Wink Wink might just be my favourite Charli XCX track in quite a while. Actually that's not totally true because I was pretty obsessed with Rock Music too but there's something about Wink Wink that immediately grabbed me. It just sounds so effortless and packed with the kind of razor sharp pop energy that Charli does better than almost anyone.
To accompany the release Charli dropped an official music video directed by Aidan Zamiri who also helmed Charli's mockumentary movie, The Moment which I'm still yet to see! Based on an original concept from Charli herself, the film sees her playing a fictionalised version of herself as she navigates the pressures, absurdities and expectations that come with life as a global pop star. Charli is in one of those creative eras where she seems incapable of making anything boring and Wink Wink is further proof that she's still one of pop's most inventive and unpredictable artists. WINK!
ADONXS - Cherry On Your Cake
If you're a Eurovision fan like myself then chances are you'll remember ADONXS who flew the flag for Czechia at Eurovision 2025. Well Czechoslovak pop export is back! Unveiling Cherry On Your Cake Adam Pavlovčin is serving up another dose of sensual, Troye Sivan-esque cinematic pop with his latest single Cherry On Your Cake.
On the new track ADONXS once again proves why he was one of Eurovision's most magnetic performers. Cherry On Your Cake is dripping with confidence, charm and cinematic pop polish balancing flirtation and vulnerability with effortless ease. With its glossy production and infectious hooks, the song feels like the soundtrack to a romantic daydream.
Following the release of earlier 2026 single Rituál, COYC arrives as the final taste of what's to come before ADONXS unveils not one, but two new EPs this autumn, one in Slovak and one in English. If these recent releases are anything to go by, he's definitely entering a thrilling new era defined by confidence, creativity and complete artistic freedom. In a world that can often feel weighed down by negativity, ADONXS delivers something gloriously refreshing and uplifting with COYC. It feels like a celebration of love, self worth and embracing exactly who you are. As an openly queer artist, he's creating pop music that feels authentic, empowering and joyfully free from compromise. Sweet, flirtatious and deliciously camp, COYC feels like more than just a catchy pop song, it feels like a statement of self confidence and queer joy and if this is any indication of what's coming next, ADONXS isn't just entering a new chapter, he's thriving.
Mýa, Too $hort - Just a Little Bit
Is it just me that immediately gets transported back to the early 2000s when they hear Mýa? Between the iconic Case of the Ex and of course Lady Marmalade alongside Christina Aguilera, P!nk and Lil' Kim she gave us some absolute classics. Good news for the nostalgia lovers because Mýa is back with Just a Little Bit featuring Too $hort and I'm obsessed.
The track is a slick, groove filled slice of retro R&B that sounds like it was tailor made for a neon lit roller rink. Co produced by Mýa and MyGuyMars Just a Little Bit leans into shimmering synths, playful flirtation and old school funk influences creating a feel good atmosphere that's impossible not to move to. It's effortlessly cool, with Mýa and Too $hort engaged in a teasing game of musical cat and mouse that feels straight out of a latenight skate party.
from20 - BIG BOY
I'm still firmly in my K-pop era and former BIGSTAR member turned solo artist from20 aka Kim Rae-hwan is giving me yet another reason to stay there. BIG BOY may have started life as a joke but it's turned into a bold anthem about confidence and unapologetically owning who you are. That message runs right through the self directed music video where from20 leans into charisma, empowerment and individuality with his trademark flair.
While the track raised a few eyebrows, including earning a ban from Korean broadcaster KBS over what it deemed "excessively sexual" lyrics, from20 isn't backing down. In fact he seems to be embracing the controversy. Rather than shying away from conversations around sexuality, he's using them to encourage self acceptance and authenticity. When was the last time you saw a male public figure shout out their gay fans so much in a song?! I'm here for it. Having previously spoken about creating a welcoming environment for fans, from20 continues to position himself as an artist who values genuine inclusivity over performative allyship.
Natalie Imbruglia - Just Drive
Oh Natalie Imbruglia really understood the assignment with this one. The Aussie pop icon has unveiled Just Drive, the third single from her upcoming album Algorithm and it's an absolute gem.
Co written and produced alongside MyRiot, the track pairs shimmering electro pop production with pulsating synths, delicate piano touches and the kind of emotional release that was made for late night drives and dramatic main character moments. What Natalie has always done so brilliantly is wrap heartbreak in beautiful melodies and Just Drive is no exception. On the surface, it's an irresistible pop track that makes you want to move but beneath the glossy production is a deeply vulnerable story about navigating life after a breakup. It's about putting one foot in front of the other carrying on when your heart isn't quite ready and wondering whether you'll ever truly move on. Honestly breakups are the worst! Nat's coming to Brighton by the way....
Back to Just Drive though, none of it would hit quite as hard without Natalie's voice. Dreamy, powerful and full of emotion, she brings a warmth and sincerity to every line that makes the song feel incredibly personal. While the subject matter is bittersweet, there's an underlying sense of hope running through the track. The woman who gave us Torn is essentially offering a gentle reminder that even the most painful endings don't last forever. As Natalie explained: “I wrote Just Drive about a breakup, and about something I think a lot of us do, which is hiding how we feel to make other people feel better. Sometimes you'd rather go through it on your own, as hard as that is. You love the other person so much, you don't want to put them through it too.”
AOTM: Evanescence - Sanctuary
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I'm so excited to get to write that my album of the month is Sanctuary by Evanescence because this feels especially fitting as November marks five years since I first started writing this column. Sharing my favourite music with our readers from Scene HQ has been a real joy and the occasion feels even more significant as this is Evanescence’s first studio album since 2021! Most bands spend the rest of their careers desperately trying to recreate the album that made them famous but not Evanescence. When Amy Lee and Ben Moody released Fallen in 2003 they didn't just drop a successful debut album, they unleashed a full blown cultural phenomenon. Bring Me to Life was absolutely everywhere. If you existed in the early 2000s, you've definitely heard that piano intro. Even if it's against your will. It was on the radio, on all the music channels, in film trailers and somehow permanently embedded into the brains of an entire generation.
Then there was My Immortal which convinced millions of teenagers like me that staring dramatically out of a rain covered bedroom window was a perfectly reasonable hobby. I still remember hearing the band version for the first time and being totally unprepared for that swell of guitars and drums near the end. It transformed an already emotional song into a full blown cinematic event and teenage me absolutely ate it up. Going Under brought the angst, Everybody's Fool dragged fake perfection long before influencers somehow turned it into a career and deep cuts like Imaginary, Torniquet, Haunted and Taking Over Me gave the album its delicious gothicness.
As a closeted gay teenager Fallen wasn't just an album for me. It was practically a personality trait. Bring Me to Life made me feel seen at a time when I was trying very hard not to be seen. Meanwhile Everybody's Fool was the soundtrack to my Oscar worthy performance as definitely straight and absolutely fine and normal. Spoiler alert, nobody was winning an Oscar! The funny thing is that Amy never seemed interested in living off Fallen forever. She could've spent twenty years writing Bring Me to Life 2: Still Being Brought To Life but instead Evanescence kept evolving. From the orchestral drama of Synthesis to the heavier, more confrontational The Bitter Truth, they've always seemed more interested in moving forward than cashing in on nostalgia.
Synthesis saw Evanescence giving some of their biggest songs the full dramatic orchestra treatment because apparently regular levels of drama weren't enough. Then came The Bitter Truth which was heavier, angrier and proof that Evanescence still had plenty left to say annnnnnd now five years later, we have Sanctuary. The good news for those of us whose personalities are still at least 30% Fallen is that the Evanescence DNA is all still here. Amy's piano remains a secret weapon and her voice can still go from delicate and vulnerable to absolutely flattening you emotionally in a matter of seconds.
There are little flickers on Sanctuary that will remind longtime fans why they fell in love with the band in the first place with flashes of the drama and intensity that made songs like Hello and Taking Over Me so special but this isn't Fallen 2. In fact, one of the album's biggest strengths is its refusal to spend forty five minutes winking at 2003. Trust me, nobody wanted another classic Evanescence album more than me. I'll admit that I secretly spent the build up to Sanctuary wondering if anything could ever give me the same feeling as hearing Bring Me to Life for the first time. The answer, thankfully isn't trying to recreate it.
Sure, traces of Fallen still linger but Sanctuary feels like a band that's completely comfortable with its legacy while still finding new places to go. Evanescence could have become a nostalgia act years ago and sold us variations of the same album forever but instead they're still evolving, still taking risks and still refusing to do the easy thing which I'm super grateful for. For a band whose debut remains one of the defining rock albums of the 2000s, that's impressive. There will only ever be one Fallen and that's how it should be and exactly why Sanctuary works. Evanescence's story was never supposed to end there.
The context surrounding Sanctuary is as important as the music itself. Across the three plus years of its creation, the world outside shifted into something Amy describes as a period of manufactured confusion. An era of political disorientation, misinformation and social fracture that made the search for genuine human connection feel both more urgent and more difficult.
Speaking to Kerrang! she described the record’s central preoccupation as finding each other, dark as it may be, because you cannot fix what you refuse to face. That impulse to name the darkness before insisting on the light animates every track on Sanctuary and gives the record a moral seriousness that separates it from most of what passes for hard rock in 2026. One of my favourites on the album is Afterlife and I think there's a reason it became such a huge hit and helped launch this era.
It's dramatic, cinematic and emotionally huge and feels nostalgic yet modern and industrial. The chorus has that same goosebump inducing quality that made tracks from Fallen so memorable in the first place. It's one of those songs that somehow feels enormous whether you're listening through headphones or imagining it being performed in an arena. I'm also obsessed with Who Will You Follow. It feels like one of the album's defining statements, tackling confusion, division and misinformation without ever sounding preachy.
Musically it's classic Evanescence too, beginning with Amy's piano before exploding into something much bigger and heavier. The contrast between vulnerability and power has always been one of the band's greatest strengths and this track captures that perfectly. The official music video is epic too. Ooooh and then there's Beautiful Lie which might just be one of the strongest album openers they've written in years. The tension builds beautifully throughout and immediately establishes the darker, more reflective themes running through the record. It feels like the opening chapter of a story. For sheer emotional impact, though, it's hard to look past How Do I Heal and Forever Without You. The latter feels destined to become one of those fan fave deep cuts that people connect with on a deeply personal level. Amy has always excelled at writing songs that sound intensely personal while somehow feeling universal and both tracks showcase that gift gorgeously.
I also found myself returning repeatedly to the album title track Sanctuary and not because it's the heaviest or most dramatic song on the album (well maybe) but because it perfectly captures the record's central message. Amid all the noise, confusion and division the song argues for connection and community. It's hopeful without being naive and uplifting without feeling forced. That's what makes Sanctuary so addictive. It carries many of the qualities fans fell in love with on Fallen....the huge choruses, the haunting piano, the emotional honesty and Amy's unmistakable voice but it never feels trapped in nostalgia. It honours Evanescence's past while continuing to push forward.
At a time when social media algorithms, misinformation and political division seem determined to push people further apart, Amy argues on Sanctuary that genuine human connection has become a form of resistance in itself.
Amy's songwriting has always spoken to people who feel a little out of place, and as a closeted 15 year old gay teenager that was very much me. Bring Me to Life captured the loneliness of not quite knowing who I was and being terrified of anyone finding out. Everybody's Fool became the soundtrack to my teenage masking era as I tried, unsuccessfully, to be less gay and somehow magically neurotypical. More than twenty years later, Sanctuary feels like the next chapter. Where Fallen sat with the darkness, Sanctuary reaches for the light offering hope, healing and connection. For anyone who has ever felt like an outsider, that's a message that feels more powerful than ever.
Scene was founded in Brighton in 1993, at a time when news stories about Pride protests were considered radical.
Since then, Scene has remained proudly independent, building a platform for queer voices. Every subscription helps us to report on the stories that matter to LGBTQ+ people across the UK and beyond.
Your support funds our journalists and contributes to Pride Community Foundation’s grant-making and policy work.
Member discussion