Alternative Pop from Michellar

Hailing from San Francisco, Michellar is the musical alias of singer-songwriter Michelle Bond, an artist who’s quickly found her place within the city’s indie folk scene. In just a few years, she’s built a catalogue that speaks to a passion for storytelling, where personal reflection becomes something shared, something gently relatable. Her music forms where folk, pop and atmospheric country meet, guided by emotion but always based in a sense of thoughtful understanding that keeps each song tethered to real experience.

Influenced by the poetic writing style of artists like Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan, she employs diaristic lyricism to distil personal thoughts, relationships and emotional contradictions. Michellar’s artistic offering isn’t confined to sound alone; her acceptance into the de Young Museum’s Open Call Exhibition in 2023 signalled a broader creative vision that sees visual art and music as part of the same conversation. It’s a perspective that feeds back into her songwriting, where imagery and atmosphere play just as vital a part as melody, structure and rhythm.

Despite the relatively short time since she began releasing music, her output is already impressive in both scale and consistency. More than 140 original songs form a body of work that reflects not just productivity, but a genuine need to create. Collaborations with artists including Helen Walford, Gracie Lou, Frankie El and Rad Datsun have added new textures to that journey, resulting in the release of her debut full-length record Reverie… From then till now.

Now, with her latest single titled “Do We Love Us,” Michellar subtly shifts her sonic approach to reveal yet another side of her versatile sound. The track revolves around the complexities of relationships, examining the fragile space between intimacy and distance, a theme that sits naturally within her catalogue, but here it feels more expansive, more fluid in its execution. Originally conceived as a slower, guitar-led piece, it developed into a lively alternative pop jam, taking on an infectious energy that reshapes its emotional context.

Recorded in San Francisco and later produced and mastered in Romania by Marius Alexandru, “Do We Love Us” carries a subtle sense of movement within its creation, echoing the broader ideas of connection and distance that define the song itself. Jumping into a bright scene of soft synth stabs and steady percussive shots, Michellar’s rhythmic vocal delivery flows over the pulse of bass as she spins catchy hooks above.

Full of memorable melodic writing, meaningful writing and a deft balance of dreamy aesthetic and invigorating energy, “Do We Love Us” sees Michellar offer a charming musical moment that’s guaranteed to put a smile on your face. Once again presenting a catchy pop outing, her new single showcases her strengths as a songwriter but also hints at an artist able to continually evolve, to reshape her sound while retaining the sonic imprint that fans have come to know and love.

Listen to Do We Love Us below

More from Music

---

Editor Picks

---