Rianah - EP 1. Smoke Break Radio FINAL

The speaker reflects on how music has always been a constant presence in their life, providing comfort and emotional release. They discuss the transformative power of music and how certain songs capture specific feelings and memories. They mention their favorite artists and songs that have deeply resonated with them. The speaker also mentions their Cry Baby playlist, which they have made public for others to enjoy. They invite others to listen and appreciate a diverse range of musical genres. If I think back to my earliest childhood memory, music was always present in my home, like an extended family member who always knew how to gauge the room and say the right thing. Meatloaf, Fleetwood Mac, Donell Jones and Sade were among some of the first visitors I can remember. Music is quite literally the one intangible constant in my life. In the moments when I feel low and forlorn, my crybaby playlist is the weighted blanket that cocoons me until I'm ready to face the world again and emerge anew. I'm one of those people that need to let myself deeply feel whatever I'm feeling until I hit the bottom of the pan. The only way I know how to snap out of it is to lean into it, and music cushions the fall tremendously. I could write 10,000 words on music alone, it's just that much of a transformative vice for me. Here's a piece at some of the tracks I've been rinsing on repeat to combat the S.A.D. Sad Girl Spring Blues. When you don't know who you are, you fuck around and find out, and it feels good to be known so well. I can't hide from you like I hide from myself. I remember who I am when I'm with you. Lucy's voice is one of those that rings in your chest in the best way possible. It's melancholic and confessional, so much so that you almost feel like you've lived in every word she sings. For me, this song captures that transitional feeling at the end of summer, when you're 16 to 18 and truly, madly, deeply in love with friends you'll never be this close with again. Feeling like together we'll grow old. They said I won't rise. Yeah, that's a lie. I guess we found love. I could wax poetic about all the things I love about Cleo's sound until all the seeds run dry. Her voice is pure orchestral honey, as sultry and seductive as you could get. For me, this song is about what it feels like to find your person and what it means to have them in your corner. It's a beautiful ode to love and tenderness that's accented by operatic, soulful notes. Cleo is simply a gift to this world. Your favourite artist's favourite artist. I can feel myself becoming somebody I'm not. Can we make it up as we go along? I'm 27 and I don't know who I am, but I know what I want. I don't know if it's the fact that our birthdays are so bloody close we're practically twins – she's one day older – or that her artistry is just that transcendental that I'm head over heels in love with Phoebe. She sings with such emotional gravitas, it's impossible not to sink into the pictures she paints in every record. The moments when a song grabs you by the throat are so rare, yet Phoebe has done that several times for me. Moonsong, Funeral, and Demi Moore. You are my Achilles' heel, the weakness only I can feel. I've been a liar and you've been a pill, but I'd still have to think about it. I found life on TikTok after they teased a portion of the most beautiful song I've heard on the platform yet. This track is equally as stunning. I'm constantly in awe of live penmanship, their ability to capture a snapshot of love and intimacy with all its loss and imperfection in 150 seconds is astounding. There's a certainty in their lyrics and a wealth of life weaved between them. I can imagine IHTTAI as a letter penned to a lover but never sent, a heartbreaking tale of lost love with just enough hope for you to cling on to. Maybe I'm lonely, maybe it's true. Maybe I'm falling for the feeling of falling for you. What does it matter if the water is blue? If you are the ocean, then the river will lead me to you. Rachel has an alternative indie sound that's so uniquely captivating. This track is so gentle in its composition that you could liken it to a lullaby. Can I see this be in the backdrop to a post-breakup scene where the character is contemplating their lost love on their lonely commute to work? Yes. Rachel has such a raw yet soft quality to her voice that fills every song with diary entries of sentimentality. You can't help but hit repeat before the song even ends. I'm obsessed with her. Because music is meant to be shared, I've taken the liberty of making my Cry Baby playlist public for all you beautiful people to scrub through and devour. So without further ado, please enjoy 20 plus hours of blended neo-soul, R&B, plinky-plonky indie, sultry noughties and slutty nineties music. Sing at your leisure, of course, but don't shame me for songs I added in 2021. A banger's a banger. I don't make the rules, baby.