Lauren Aquilina’s lyrical prowess has never been questioned, from her early days delivering emotive piano led ballads that soundtracked thousands of teenagers heartbreak to her anthemic pop anthems that a choral of fans would belt back out her word for word, feeling all the pain she felt when she crafted these eloquently phrased lyrics. Whether it be for herself or other acclaimed musicians like Demi Lovato, Rina Sawayama and Ava Max, she’s always been able to deliver earth shattering lows and euphoric highs through her passionate songwriting. Now she’s venturing out of her traditional pop sound and fusing it with a more hard and grungier edge to give her sound that all important kick that takes it to the next level.

The Knife explores the final step in cutting yourself free from a toxic situation, there are a lot of things you can forgive in a relationship but there’s always one straw that breaks the camel’s back and makes you realise you need to get away from this. The piece starts off quiet with a throbbing bassline complimenting the lighter timbre of Aquilina’s heavenly vocal, representing the bliss at the start of the relationship, before building into a cacophony of erupting guitar, drums and powerful vocal flourishes as she realises the hell she’s been enduring all this time. Her soundscape is constantly evolving and this grunge infused pop sound might be my favourite one of her reincarnations yet.