Introducing: Elle Músa
Hometown: Brisbane
Listen to: ‘Mango Pops’, ‘Bibi’s Bay’, ‘Lime Green’
We may be slowly approaching spring, but the temperature is still floating around the 0°c mark—for those of us in the UK, something that feels like summer wouldn’t go amiss right now. Enter Elle Músa: an Australian musician with cotton-soft vocals, giving us a bit of warmth with her sunshine melodies, ethereal harmonies and joyous storytelling. Drawing her inspiration from the sea, sun and summer, her music is a dose of unapologetic optimism.
If you have heard any of Músa’s music, it’s probably the hopeful anthem ‘Mango Pops’. Gaining her over 200,000 listens on Spotify, it’s understandable why this is her most popular song yet. A pure shot of serotonin, the building sense of joy throughout and lyrics like “It’s all gonna be okay / Why would we let it be any other way?” make the song a particular triumph in the current climate.
And Músa’s sun-soaked music doesn’t stop with ‘Mango Pops’. If you’re looking to be transported straight to the seaside, ‘Bibi’s Bay’ is your song. And that was precisely Músa’s intention. Speaking to Triple J, she says the song brings the image of “white sand and many people spending time at ‘Bibi’s Bay’ in colourful swimsuits, surfing small crystal clear waves on pastel mal boards, lovers gently playing together and kissing, people reading books and eating fruits and sandwiches.” Holidays feel a million miles away right now, but Músa’s music feels like pure escapism, a reminder that there are better days coming. We might not be on the coast of Australia, but one day we might be.
This new music, all released in 2020 alongside ‘Geminis’ and ‘Merman’, is a step away from her 2018 Apples for You LP. It was a rawer display of her musicianship, from the solo piano instrumental of ‘Rosa and Henry’, to the lullaby vocals supported only by a guitar in its sister song ‘Henry and Rosa’. The LP is a little more contemplative than her newer releases, but it still reflects Musa’s knack for unpretentious yet captivating songwriting. And her skill for melody is evident in ‘Lime Green’, where she literally just lists colours in the chorus and still manages to make it beautiful.
While she may have recently elevated her production and stepped away from the purely acoustic, one-take sound of Apples for You, the initially stripped-back sound of ‘Geminis’ (also released in 2020) suggests that her appropriately titled upcoming EP, sun sun sun may contain these slightly softer songs too.
sun sun sun is out on 18 February on Spotify and Apple Music.
Listen to Elle Músa on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
Follow Elle Músa on Instagram and Facebook
Words by Kat Smith
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