My Top Five Tracks - Rexxy
Five Tracks For When You Want To Feel Everything...
You know the feeling: something is missing, and you can't quite say what. Rexxy's 'Could Be You' is built entirely on that ache, and it sits on this week's list for exactly that reason.
Rexxy layers dreamy vocals over melodic bass, in the world of her 'Futura' album and comic.
Press photo and cover art credit: Darby Kaighin-Shields
Longing is slippery. It can point at a person, a memory or nothing at all, and that uncertainty is the territory Rexxy explores on 'Could Be You'. "There is a constant desire to understand what our hearts are asking for," says Monica Velasquez, and the song gives that desire a shape: dreamy, romantic, yearning, cinematic, hopeful, seductive and nostalgic, all at once.
Listeners who love Electric Youth, Chromatics, Desire, Marsheaux and Still Corners will feel at home straight away. The track fits neatly into the world of contemporary, 80s-influenced synth-pop, and it has found a place on Spotify's New Synthpop, a public playlist curated by synth-pop artist Color Theory. The playlist has more than 42,000 saves and is updated weekly.
Rexxy's sound comes from a wide listening history. Velasquez was born and raised in Lima, and her songwriting draws on a lifelong love of music that runs from Spanish ballad singers to the darker, atmospheric corners of new wave and post-punk. Rexxy began taking shape in Los Angeles, where she taught herself bass, guitar, synthesisers, songwriting, recording, production and mixing.
Her catalogue has grown steadily since a 2013 debut, through 'Talk To Me' (2015), 'Mother Nature' (2023) and 'Velvet Lips' (2024) to 'Futura' (2026). Over more than a decade she has followed her own curiosity rather than any single genre, letting each project become its own world. 'Futura' is the most ambitious of them, a retro-futuristic concept album paired with an original comic book created with her husband, illustrator Darby Kaighin-Shields.
'Could Be You' is the point in that story where Futura begins to feel something for Jace, long before she has the language for it. That is why the song works so well on a playlist. It does not need the backstory to land, because the feeling is universal: knowing something is missing without knowing quite what.
Her top picks share its appetite for romance, nostalgia and big feelings, and between them they're the best way we know to spend a quiet evening with the lights down low.
The Standells - Girl and the moon
I’ve always loved The Standells and their songs from the movie “Riot on Sunset Strip”. In a way, this song feels like a flip of the coin for them because it shows that, beyond their cool punky 60’s garage rock, they could also create something incredibly sentimental.
This song is dreamy, and it creates such vivid imagery in my mind. The music is incredible, and there’s something about how simple the song is that makes it so powerful. It’s stayed with me ever since I first heard it. There’s a beautiful interplay of highs and lows that connects perfectly, along with a wonderful melody and an unforgettable mood. It’s one of those songs that haunts you and never leaves you.
Yazoo - Nobody’s Diary
I’ve been a fan of Vince Clarke for a long time, from Depeche Mode to Yazoo and, my inner dance lover adores Erasure. So I had to pick this song!
It’s such a vibe. The emotion and sentiment Alison Moyet conveys are incredible. Despite the relatively minimal production, with fewer synths and layers than you hear in so much music today, the song feels incredibly powerful, raw, and sincere.
There’s something about the way her voice carries the emotion that really gets to me. It’s a feeling I can relate to, and I’m sure many other people can too. It’s definitely proof that you don’t need a massive production to make something deeply moving.
Joy Division - Love will tear us apart
Peter Hook has been a huge influence on my own bass playing, so I had to include this song.
What makes it so beautiful to me is that, beneath its gritty, raw post-punk sound, there’s so much emotion. And although it might not seem like it at first, there are so many layers to this song, both musically and emotionally. And Ian captures those feelings so perfectly, both through his lyrics and the way he delivers them vocally.
To me, it’s clearly a pop song, even if it came out of the post-punk world. Maybe it’s one of the most perfect examples of post-punk and pop coming together, whether intentionally or not. There’s something about it that keeps pulling you back. You could listen to it a thousand times and still feel the need to hear it another thousand, as if you’re trying to satisfy some inner anguish or despair. Wow!
French Kicks - Trial of the Century
I remember the first time I heard this song. It was during college, back in 2004 when French Kicks opened for one of my favorite bands at the time, The Get Up Kids. I had never heard of French Kicks before, and they opened their set with this song. From that moment on, it was etched into my memory forever.
It starts with a simple note, followed by a drumbeat and a beautifully understated vocal melody. Then the chorus comes in with this sweet melodic twist that hits you with such a powerful wave of emotion. There’s something so special about the way the lyrics weave together gratitude and blame, as if both feelings can coexist, leaving you with this bittersweet mixture of sadness and romance.
It’s one of those songs that takes you right back to a specific moment in your life, yet somehow feels just as beautiful years later. There’s a simplicity to it that makes the emotion feel even more real. It’s still such a beautiful song.
Jeanette - Corazon de Poeta
Jeanette’s music has this dreamy quality that captures the innocence and romance of an earlier time. Her lyrics feel like poetry, she has such a beautiful way of painting pictures with words. I have so many fond memories of listening to her music when I was young, and I think discovering her at such an early age helped shape my love for romantic ballads, something I’ve grown to appreciate even more over the years.
In “Corazon de Poeta”, she sings about a boy with the heart of a poet, using beautiful imagery and allegory to create what feels like a true poet’s love song. With her soft, delicate, almost innocent voice, she makes the song feel like a love letter written to a crush or to someone she loves deeply, but who may not even know how she feels.
There’s something so tender and sincere about the way she expresses that kind of longing. It captures the beauty of loving someone quietly, of having all these feelings inside you and finding a way to express them through poetry and music. It’s the kind of romantic sentiment that has always resonated with me, and I think that’s part of why her music has stayed so close to my heart.
