What’s Playing in the Studio: Daring to Stay Soft

Atila, HouseHoe-TraditionalJun 30, 2026
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Step into What’s Playing in the Studio, my playful music check-in—part experiment, part time capsule, and all about the joy of sharing what’s on repeat.

This one is the soft / low-stimulation side of the menu—pretty, moody, lyrics-forward comfort listening with a tender edge.

What this post is

A tight little menu for soft comfort + tender ache + melodrama-as-release.

Pick a section, press play, and let it be what it is.

Content note

Low-stim, lyrics-forward comfort. Nothing heavy, just “feel your feelings” music.

Full projects (listen front-to-back)

Whole-world albums:

  • Extraordinary Machine — Fiona Apple (bright-messy comfort)
  • The Idler Wheel… — Fiona Apple (raw + grounding)
  • Melodrama — Lorde (big-feelings theatre)
  • Chris — Christine and the Queens (glitter melancholy)
  • MAGDALENE — FKA twigs (holy-body ache)

Six mini-playlists

Some sections are short on purpose. This is a menu, not homework.

1) Ground — low light, slow breath

  • Sea of Love — Cat Power
  • Be Gentle With Me — The Boy Least Likely To
  • I Love You Always Forever — Donna Lewis
  • By Your Side — Sade
  • Vienna — Billy Joel
  • I Feel It All — Feist
  • First Day of My Life — Bright Eyes
  • Every Single Night — Fiona Apple
  • Anything We Want — Fiona Apple
  • Paper Bag — Fiona Apple

2) Tender spiral — indie ache, safely contained

  • Chinese New Year — SALES
  • Needs — Verzache
  • If She Wants Me — Belle and Sebastian
  • Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying — Belle and Sebastian
  • Does He Love You? — Rilo Kiley
  • Werewolf — Fiona Apple
  • Regret — Fiona Apple
  • Jonathan — Fiona Apple

3) Cry pretty — melodrama with a backbone

  • Sober II (Melodrama) — Lorde
  • Writer In The Dark — Lorde
  • Liability — Lorde
  • Supercut — Lorde
  • Kiss of Life — Sade
  • No Ordinary Love (Recorded at RAK Studios, London) — Christine and the Queens
  • People, I've been sad — Christine and the Queens
  • Tilted — Christine and the Queens

4) Float — numb, blank, autopilot

  • alone — WILLOW
  • Born Tired — Jhené Aiko
  • Palace — Tora-i
  • Ophiuchus — Bairi
  • unavailable — Joey LaBeija
  • Miss Understood — Monaleo
  • Sertraline Gang — Trannieb0i, Shurk
  • Let Me Go — Ogi
  • Pale September — Fiona Apple

5) Body electricity — tender feral catharsis

  • cellophane — FKA twigs
  • home with you — FKA twigs
  • mary magdalene — FKA twigs
  • Meet Me At Our Spot — THE ANXIETY, WILLOW, Tyler Cole
  • LIE LIE LIE! — SadBoi
  • JD's REVENGE — Jean Deaux
  • Back 2 You — Jean Deaux
  • My Bad, My Fault — clothegod

6) Loud-soft girls — queer indie-pop comfort

  • You're a Lot — SISTRA
  • new friends — flowerovlove
  • Can we talk about isaac? — Rachel Chinouriri
  • Down to be wrong — HAIM
  • Everybody's trying to figure me out — HAIM
  • Smooth Operator — Sade
  • Heels — Sir Babygirl
  • Over You — HOLYCHILD
  • I Know A Place — MUNA
  • Crying On The Bathroom Floor — MUNA
  • Eyes of a child — Christine and the Queens

Track stats (because I’m nosy)

  • Total recs: 54 tracks + 5 full projects
  • Artists (songs): 25 (ish)
  • Repeat offenders (top): Fiona (9), Christine (5), Lorde (5), twigs (4), Sade (3)
  • Genre swirl (rough, overlapping): art-pop, indie pop/rock, alt-R&B, singer-songwriter, electronic
  • Vibe spread:
    • low-stim comfort
    • tender ache
    • big-feelings theatre
    • floaty numbness
    • catharsis

Your turn

Drop 1 “soft side” track you’ve been replaying (or a full album you live inside)

— Atila Martin

Blog: atilacore.pckt.blog

Bluesky: atilacore.bsky.social

Contact: [email protected]

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