Where The Heart Is
🔀 Shuffle Sundays #83 • Sweet Pill, Shuffle Guest Nikhil Rajagopalan, Christy Lee Rogers, and more!
💼 As I recently shared on Twitter, I was recently laid off and am looking for new opportunities in the creative world. Besides Photography, I’ve been writing this newsletter for the past 1.5 years and I also love being behind the scenes, working with databases, organizing information, managing files, etc. I can picture myself doing that for different creative projects like podcasts, youtube channels, other newsletters, and more. Know someone who is hiring or an opportunity I could be a good fit for? Please let me know! 🍀
💽 » Where The Heart Is, by Sweet Pill
emo / rock • 10 songs • 29 minutes
I first came across Sweet Pill through the newsletter What’s Curation?, when Nikhil featured their single Blood, and it was love at first listen.
After tasting their music, I jumped right into their recently released full-length debut album Where The Heart Is, which exceeded all my expectations, in a way that I was definitely not expecting. While a lot of artists are trying to emulate 2000s pop-punk these days, Sweet Pill takes things even further, embracing more emo and less pop-punk, in an album that sounds like an homage to lots of different bands, while being able to still imprint a strong identity, especially through the autobiographical and confessional lyrics of lead singer Zayna Youssef.
📣 » Shuffle Guest: Nikhil Rajagopalan
Back to inviting guests here, today I’m bringing copywriter, music enthusiast, and fellow Substack writer Nikhil Rajagopalan with some personal recommendations to you.
🗣 » Tell us a bit about yourself:
I’m Nikhil, a creative copywriter in Toronto. I help individuals and companies market their products and services by writing copy that’s true to their values and tone of voice. I write What’s Curation?, a music newsletter on Substack.
👨🏻🎤 » A recent album/artist that you discovered and you can't stop listening to?
Toronto's own Georgia Harmer. Her debut album, Stay in Touch is a gorgeous mix of adult alternative, country, and indie-folk music. The theme is centered around finding oneself amid chaos.
🙌🏼 » An underrated artist/band that more people should be paying attention to:
It definitely has to be LAUREL from Southampton. She's an alternative-indie artist making some soul-haunting music: think Laura Marling's voice with the energy of Lana Del Rey.
🏆 » Your favorite album of 2022, so far:
I have to thank you, Leo, for pointing me to Beach Bunny's album, Emotional Creature. Rolling Stone was right on the money when they said this album is "Nineties rom-com core at its finest".
💽 » The first album you remember buying it. Do you still enjoy it?
That was Bon Jovi's Crush, released in 2000, on cassette. Some days I think the album spreads itself too thin over the pop and rock genres, but other days, I think nostalgia removes all doubt. It's still one of my favorite albums to date.
⚡️ » Some cool content you want to share with more people, not necessarily music-related:
I listen to 2 podcasts religiously: Huberman Lab and The Writer's Voice. The former is a healthcare podcast that features interviews with reputed scientists and professionals. The latter is run by The New Yorker and features long-form fiction read by the authors themselves.
Make sure to check Nikhil’s newsletter What’s Curation? here on Substack, if you’re craving more music recommendations!
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⚡️ Visual Inspiration
Christy Lee Rogers is a visual artist from Kailua, Hawaii, whose obsessions with water as a medium for breaking the conventions of contemporary photography have led to her work being compared to Baroque painting masters like Caravaggio. Check out her website or Instagram for more. Here are some favorites:
🎶 » New Music
this week’s new albums I'm curious to check out
Also, new singles from Zedd, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sohn, and many more. If you’re curious to hear some of these songs and more, make sure to follow my 2022 playlist on Spotify, updated weekly with new releases:
 | A guest post by
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Wishing you the best in finding new gigs, Leo! If I hear of anything, I’ll be sure to let you know.
Now HERE'S a great mashup! Great seeing y'all together — another excellent issue!