In Rotation: Ella More

Ella More didn’t spend her teenage years chasing A&R meetings. The Birmingham native came to the game later than most, but she skipped the awkward developmental phase entirely, jumping straight onto tour bills with Jorja Smith and Sipho. You hear exactly why on her latest drops. She operates in that sweet spot where R&B vocal stacking meets indie-pop guitar work, anchoring her sound in a deep reverence for soul music. Take a track like "Sweet Rose." She linked up with Jake Gosling for this one. Gosling usually builds massive, stadium-sized pop records for the likes of Ed Sheeran and Paloma Faith. Here, he pulls the drums back and lets Ella’s vocal tone dictate the groove. The production stays out of her way. The bassline walks right in the pocket, leaving room for her to flex a subtle, jazz-inflected delivery. Then you have "Hate You For Good," which leans into a sun-drenched, funk-heavy bounce. It feels directly descended from Willie Hutch’s roller-rink anthems, updated for the modern London scene with a sharp indie edge. My favorite thing about her pen is the emotional pragmatism. Pop music right now is obsessed with trauma-dumping. Every breakup song has to be a devastating spectacle. On "Never Even Happened," she writes about a clean break. She just walks away. It takes a seasoned writer to make closure sound this compelling without manufacturing extra drama. I'll take a well-written song about moving on over a forced tearjerker any day of the week. The industry is finally catching up to what the live crowds already know. "Sweet Rose" and "Die For Us" just crashed Spotify’s Fresh Finds UK & IE, and her monthly listeners doubled in a matter of days. Even stateside, Tampa’s WMNF just threw her in rotation. She has the pen, the voice, and the stage reps to back up the streaming spikes. Check it out below.