Sara Kendall is one of the most intriguing new voices to appear in 2018, having already impressed listeners with her dark, brooding, cinematic pop via singles ‘You Don’t Own It’ and ‘See Through’. Maintaining the momentum, the Brooklyn-based musician shares another emotive track. ‘Happily’ is the most stripped-back and theatrical song we’ve heard from Kendall thus far, certainly reminiscent of pop femme fatale Lana Del Rey thanks to those lingering lyrics, breathy vocals and mesmeric production. As with everything that this emerging artist does, ‘Happily’ is shrouded in a veil of mystery, encouraging the listener to take a closer listen to those piano-backed words. She carefully paints the image of a quiet coastal town in autumn, our protagonist contemplating her life, whether she’ll ever leave the place she was born into, whether she belongs here anymore. There’s also another element to this shadowy single, as detailed by the line “it breaks my heart, to see you standing next to me, but not happily,” and we wonder whether the town is a wider metaphor for a stagnant relationship entering its twilight era and soon to be extinguished. Sara Kendall allows the listener to impart their own experience onto her music, and that’s very much part of the beauty of this songwriter’s talent. - Hannah Thacker