Artist Profile: Elaine
December is here. If you’re a resident of America or Europe, wintertime is in full swing. The same ten Christmas songs are on loop in every public place. Unless you reside in Miami like us, you may have witnessed your first snow of the year, and almost certainly have dusted off your winter coat. Interestingly, this is not the reality of Australia. To those in the land down under, Christmas will be celebrated with sweltering summer heat and poolside barbecues. The cooped-up toil of winter was six months ago, and their grass turned green again while ours turned yellow. Whether you’re an American, European, or another nationality looking for a relief from the winter blues, we present to you a captivating talent from Oz: Elaine.
Raised in Melbourne, Australia, by a Filipino family, Elaine has had a lifelong interest in music. She released “Ilby,” her first-ever single, in 2024. Since then, she has cultivated a subtle and folksy, yet still bright and optimistic indie sound that will be at home to fans of Kate Bollinger or Khruangbin.
Elaine’s first major success was her Chas-live EP, specifically the song “Painted Skies”. Since its release, the song has received nearly 1.5 million streams, which helped Elaine build a huge fanbase. Relaxing, consonant, and thoughtful in its delivery, “Painted Skies” is marked by light texture, soft vocal delivery, and acoustic guitar strums. The resulting sound feels like the distilled sensation of a peaceful summer night
Influenced by a mixture of R&B, indie pop, city pop, jazz, and other styles, Elaine’s catalog exhibits a wide variety of styles. “Our Summers” has a particularly notable influence from R&B, with its focus on a repetitive beat and louder, passionate singing than most indie folk songs. Elaine’s latest release, “infront of you,” blends that style of singing with breezier and melancholic indie pop beats. Perhaps one of the interesting and experimental tracks is “all this for you,” the first track off Elaine’s FSAS EP. Although it’s undeniably an indie pop song, the instrumentals and song opening exhibit a disco-like energy that seems particularly reminiscent of the Bee Gees.
Fueled by faith in her abilities and a growing, passionate fanbase in the Asia-Pacific region, we at Conundrum Nation believe it is time for Elaine to break into the indie scene north of the equator. You can find Elaine on Instagram and Spotify. To support independent musicians like her, be sure to check out our Conundrum Radio Playlist on Spotify.