Today is a big day for indie music releases, which is why Popfad has decided to use today’s roundup to highlight two stellar releases. Today, October 10, 2025, Violet Love released their 3-track EP, “Destined to Fail”, a somber pop-punk and emo-influenced deep cut. There’s also the release of “Orbit” by ROSS 248 and Vanessa Murray. This EP includes the track “Say It Louder”, which serves as an atmospheric and somber synth-driven indie cut that matches the emotional level of Violet Love’s EP in its own way.
Violet Love – Serpent
‘Serpent’ is a crisply produced alternative emo track that starts with soft clicky percussion and an addictive guitar riff that floats around the stereo before introducing glitchy synths and evolving to add some buzzy held-out bass. It has a bit of a hyperpop influence with its electronic sounds, but it has a bit of a reserved energy. That being said, the rhythm and how it builds keep it interesting. The vocals do well at taking the forefront of the mix without taking from the track, and they have a lot of control and emotional depth in their sound. The lyrics in this track offer a relatable type of pain. It’s about living with anguish in one’s mind, even though the current state of things is no longer in a bad spot. The feeling it captures is one of getting out of a traumatizing relationship and how that can infect the future with new mental struggles to cope with.
Violet Love – Apple
‘Apple’ does really well with its atmosphere, reverby guitars resting in the background in the instrumentation throughout much of it, and this one gives the bass a great opportunity to take the stage. But when the guitars do take the forefront, they have a really nice thrash to them. There’s also a really nice pickup moving toward the latter portion of the song, as a strong bass lead then drumline ushers in a high-octane, forceful instrumental outro. Lyrically, it’s about overthinking in a sense. It offers up introspection on one’s own perceived destiny of failure and an overall pain that comes from over-self-psychoanalysis. The instrumental breakdown at the end ends up playing well into the lyrics, as overthinking can lead to breaking down.
Violet Love – Artist
‘Artist’ starts with a more stripped-back sound than the other two tracks, with an acoustic guitar playing along with vocals. The vocals are beautifully full, and they have a bit less of that emo grit. That being said, it’s extremely emotive, and this assists in the introspection of the lyrics. Then, the middle of the track cuts in with a gritty guitar solo that evolves into an addictive thrash before introducing the bass, percussion, and more of the brighter buzzy vocal tone to be heard in the rest of the EP. This then leads into an instrumental outro with an underlying bass buzz and some dreamy synths on top, a voice seemingly hiding behind it. Then it ends with, “Stop. 3, 2, 1, open your eyes,” spoken out. The lyrics get into ideas such as the pain of love, having to save oneself, feeling stuck, and trying to find one’s own purpose.
ROSS 248 – Say It Louder (feat. Vanessa Murray)
‘Say It Louder’ keeps up with the depth of emotion as heard in “Destined to Fail,” but it has a calmer and more pulled-back sound. It’s incredibly somber and atmospheric, and the slower tempo helps the emotion to stand out. There’s a bit of a lo-fi vibe to it, and using said vibe, it builds a feeling of thoughtfulness and emotion. The vocals are beautifully soft, and the synths utilize a bit of reverb to resound in a spacey kind of way. This track is really pretty, and every aspect of it feels like a lot of thought was put into crafting the exact vibe that it’s going for. Lyrically, this track is about breaking up with someone, but still feeling love for that person. It captures an essence of pain and yearning for something that was but will never be again.
Written by Sage Plapp
Cover image by Char
FOLLOW VIOLET LOVE
FOLLOW ROSS 248
