It’s been said that when you look at someone through rose tinted glasses, all their red flags just look like flags. You can become so besotted with the wrong person that you can no longer see them for who they truly are. You’ll keep getting hurt time and again, yet still believe every insincere apology. Your friends will worry about you, call out the toxicity for what it truly is, and in response you’ll just keep making excuses for the one who hurt you and say “you don’t know them like I do”. Eventually some transgression will be the one that tips the scale and causes their glamour to drop, finally letting you see the way they’re treated you. “I know what you’re like, now that I’m on the other side“. Our favourite pop rock powerhouse Cristina Hart crushes those discarded rosy glasses beneath her boot heels on her fierce new single ‘Little Crimes’. Full of fire and confidence, it’s all about calling someone out for the pain and frustration they’ve put you through, all the time and energy you wasted telling yourself they were right for you, and making a promise to yourself never to welcome them back into your life. I’m loving the edge, energy, and self-assuredness woven into Cristina’s recent singles; keeping the momentum going, and growing the anticipation for what the next era has in store for this rising star.
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Top Tracks: Cristina Hart – Thank You For Leaving
Absence doesn’t always make the heart grow fonder, sometimes it provides the step back necessary to see everything in perspective. A chance to finally recognise all the pain and manipulation that you’ve put up with for far too long. An opportunity to put yourself first and realise that you deserve to be treated better. With her new single ‘Thank You For Leaving’, Belwood favourite Cristina Hart delivers a break-up anthem that bounces back brighter than ever from the ashes of heartache. Positively buzzing with Olivia Rodrigo vibes, fusing pop earworms with a hefty helping of edge and venom, Cristina’s new single has all the cathartic satisfaction of being the one left standing tall after a break-up. They say that the best revenge is a life well lived, and this pop-rock powerhouse is living her best life right now. After being handpicked to open for One Direction’s Louis Tomlinson in Zurich, and garnering support from Radio 1’s Future Pop show, this first taste of her forthcoming EP could be your last chance to join the hype train before she becomes a household name.
Top Ten EPs of 2024
While our Listmas celebrations as a whole aim to reflect on what the past year has given us, our annual EP list is often more about looking forward into the years ahead. It’s about the promise heard in these collections, and the excitement they instil in us for what the road ahead may have in store from the acts which crafted them. Listening to a great EP often feels like a fateful first meeting, hearing your next favourite artist before you even realise it. Perhaps your next fav is just waiting to be discovered in this very list, so let’s dive right in to the best EPs that 2024 had to offer. Continue reading
Top Tracks: Cristina Hart – Crash
Things often have to get worse before they get better. Sometimes it takes that final drop to rock bottom for you to finally admit to yourself how bad things have gotten. Being at your lowest brings those unhealthy coping mechanisms into full view, and can be just the push you needed in order to ask for help and stop suffering in silence. ‘Crash’ is about life at its darkest, but it’s also a song about climbing your way back towards the light. In her most raw and vulnerable offering to date, Cristina Hart reflects on treading water against numbing waves of grief and anxiety. That forlorn feeling of having no one to lean on, fearing you’ll disappoint them or become a burden if you let the mask slip. Building upon the darker, edgier pop sound we heard on ‘Never Be Her‘, this latest single is a reminder that admitting there’s a problem is the first step to fixing it. Cristina delivers intimate and visceral lyrics, wrapped up in fiery alt-pop instrumentation and heady infectious hooks, in a cathartic anthem that breaks you down only to lift you up again. A stunning track to start the year with, and one that sets the benchmark for new pop in 2023.
Top Ten Songs of 2022
As we leave the most vibrant visuals of 2022 behind us, it’s now time to dive right in to the best music to grace our ears this past year. The songs that soundtracked our ups and downs; that we belted out at the top of our lungs, that we took comfort and refuge in while they played on repeat, that took pride of place in our playlists and became an almost constant companion. Here are the songs that best capture this past year for us: Continue reading
Top Tracks: Cristina Hart – Never Be Her
If the measure of an emotion is in how hard it is to keep contained, then jealousy is surely one of the strongest. Raw and seething, like a broiling cauldron set to overflow, drawing on all your fears and deepest insecurities for ammunition, it can all too easily overcome you if you let it. Belwood favourite Cristina Hart instead manages to channel all that fire and venom into forging her best single to date. ‘Never Be Her’ takes the relatable self-aware lyricism and irresistible hooks we’ve come to know and love, and just turns the passion and drive up a few notches with a snappy, volatile pop punk arrangement reminiscent of Olivia Rodrigo at her very best. Offering a cathartic release for that awful toxic feeling that burns in your veins upon seeing your ex with someone new, it also serves as a welcome reminder not to put others on a pedestal, especially when you find yourself putting your own flaws under the microscope. A toxin as potent as jealousy needs to be cleared out before we can find room to grow, and there’s no better release that comes to mind than this electrifying indie pop anthem.
Belwood Music Awards 2020
It’s time to celebrate not only the blog’s 6th birthday, but also the chance to say a wholehearted “fuck you!” as we finally leave 2020 behind. It’s been a deeply challenging year, and the road ahead is still rough and uncertain, but if there’s anything we can take away from our time in quarantine, it is learning to better appreciate the little things in life. Even a music industry left battered by the impact of Covid and incompetent governments has still been able to produce some incredible releases for us to cling on to. Before we put this crazy year in the rear view mirror, let’s take one last look back at the music that helped us through it all. Continue reading
Top Ten EPs of 2020
The medium of choice for rising stars, an invaluable tool for up and coming artists, EPs are the oft overlooked lifeblood of the music industry. It’s always been our most hotly contested list as the wealth of great EPs often represents the very best and brightest new acts on the scene. In a music industry decimated by Covid-19 however, these artists are amongst those hardest hit. So as we reel off our favourite EPs from our least favourite year, if you stumble across a release that resonates with you, we ask that you do your bit to support the artists in whatever way you can. Continue reading
Spotlight!: Cristina Hart
The perfect person doesn’t exist, no matter what the media may say otherwise. We’re all constantly being bombarded with these manufactured little pockets of perfection that set impossibly high standards for ourselves and others, but beneath it all there’s always another side to the story. For every flawless portrait there’s a dishevelled mess stumbling out of bed that morning. For every budding romance there are the scars of rejection and heartbreak. For every golden success story there’s someone picking themselves up after they fell at yet another hurdle. Rather than shy away from the little moments of humanity that we’re all too keen to hide, Belwood favourite Cristina Hart makes sure to put them square in the spotlight. Her long awaited debut EP Sell a Dream plays like a journey of self-discovery and self-acceptance. An empowering pop powerhouse to remind you that your imperfections are part of who you are, and to embrace them unapologetically.
On ‘I’m A Mess’ Cristina pokes fun at her own flaws, as well as at our eagerness to pretend that we’ve all got our shit together, when in reality no one has a clue. Learning to love yourself is no easy task, but ‘Bad Girlfriend’ addresses the even more daunting prospect of letting your guard down for someone you love, and trusting them to accept you – baggage and all. The fiery ‘Vanilla’ meanwhile sees her come out fighting, taking a defiant stand against those who would have her be someone she’s not. Each stunning single is packed to the brim with the kind of euphoric pop production and infectious earworm melodies that make you want to cast all inhibitions aside and dance your worries away. Cristina saves the best till last though, with the beautiful balladry of ‘Will You’. It’s here that all the finery is stripped away, and against the elegant piano arrangement we get the chance to bask in her truly breath-taking vocals. Cristina’s stunning range, as well as her relatable lyricism and unwavering positive energy, put her in a class all her own. And while there may be no such thing as perfection, there’s still not a thing I would change about this brilliant debut.
Fans of Ariana Grande, Maisie Peters and Lauren Aquilina should check out Cristina’s debut EP Sell a Dream out now.
Top Tracks: Cristina Hart – Bad Girlfriend
Belwood favourite Cristina Hart is back with another brilliantly addictive hit of polished pop taken from her forthcoming debut EP. While her last stunning single ‘I’m A Mess‘ talked about how we try to flaunt some flawless facade to the world and hide all our struggles away, her latest liberating bop ‘Bad Girlfriend’ takes the idea a step further. At no point do we try harder to pretend that we’re perfect than at the start of a relationship. The stakes are never higher than when you have someone new in your life that you’re keen to impress, and so you strain to hide away all your flaws as you fear any one of them could tip the scales and scare them away. At times you may even find yourself dwelling on how past relationships fell apart, and end up focusing more on stopping history from repeating itself than on the new love that’s blooming right in front of you. Cristina shows wisdom beyond her years in embracing the honest, open and unapologetic approach to love; recognising that if it’s meant to be then they won’t run from emotional baggage, but rather help carry the weight. If you’re busy hiding away who you really are then they’ll never love the real you, and when you truly love someone you do so faults and all.
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