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Cloe Wilder Embraces Her Imperfections In "Overthinking" Music Video

13-year-old pop artist releases dark-pop single in honor of Mental Health Awareness month.

Dark-pop's newest powerhouse, Cloe Wilder, demands your attention in her debut music video for her single "Overthinking."

The 13-year-old writes and sings with a maturity beyond her years, crafting melancholic yet fiercely relatable songs that touch the deepest parts of the human psyche. Championing the concept of accepting one's mental illness and embracing imperfection, the young musician is on her way to stardom, starting with her introspective visual.

The video begins with Wilder walking alone in a neon-lit house, wearing a black dress and a pensive look. The mystique synths chime in with alternating scenes of her sitting in a graveyard singing about being lost and asking for someone to help her get out of her head.

"I've been pretty open about my mental health and I'll continue to do that because it's important," says Wilder. "That's why this song will always stay with me because I know that mindset will always stay with me."

The visual then shifts to scenes of Wilder walking on a pier in the early grey light of morning. After one final chorus the track ends abruptly and we see Wilder gaze out into the oceanic distance before cutting to black. "I made this song almost a year ago, and I'm in a completely different place now - lyrically, and just as a person, I'm different. People evolve, but some things don't change."

According to Wilder, the video doesn't have a clear storyline and its up to the audience to interpret what happens. She goes on to express that the visual developed a meaning as they filmed it. "We didn't go into it thinking, 'This is the video, and this is the meaning/logic behind it' because there's none of that. We shot it in Grand Cayman, which is a really special place for me. I wanted the video to be special. For me, it's just how I felt at the time. I'm excited to hear how it makes people feel."

Check out Cloe Wilder's dark-synth pop video for "Overthinking."

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Waterstrider Takes Listeners on a Journey in New Single "Way Out"

Experimental indie singer-songwriter channels hardships of the last year into new single.

Bay Area singer-songwriter Nate Salman, better known by musical moniker Waterstrider, has returned to the experimental indie scene with a new mysterious guitar and synth-fueled track, "Way Out."

The song comes ahead of his upcoming EP of the same name, which is set to be released May 31st.

Following a series of personal ups and downs, including his home in Santa Barbara being threatened by fire and flood, a painful breakup, a persistent illness that landed him in the hospital, and even being bitten by a potentially rabid bat, Salman began working on the album. "When things hit hard, they hit really hard," said Salman. The singer harnessed the negative energy in those hardships and turned them into something beautiful with his upcoming EP.

The track begins with a hypnotic guitar line that seems to pull the listener into a pool of sound before washing them in a wave of entrancing vocals and synths. "Way Out describes a journey away from everything that is known and understood, in the hopes of finding meaning and truth outside of the self," says the singer. His effervescent vocal delivery drips with vulnerability, especially in poignant lyrics like, "Nobody asked for me to answer, now I'm shaking from inside."

For the rest of the song, listeners follow the track's journey with Salman's lively vocals as the guide as they euphorically float smoothly over a sonic background full of rich textures. "Way Out" then takes a more intense turn with a full-bodied sound collage that combines the previously introduced elements of shimmering guitars and persistent percussion with Salman's intensified vocalizations.

The track closes with a subtle stripping away of the many digital and acoustic components that made up the whole experience, ending the journey that the song took listeners on and showing them that they have made their "way out."

Check out Waterstrider's latest single "Way Out" below!

Alessandra Rincón is a journalist, writer, and photographer from Baton Rouge, Louisiana living in New York City. She loves covering music, art and culture news and you can usually find her at a show or with her nose in a book. In her spare time she is a musician, comic book nerd and wannabe cook.

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