GENRE; Contemporary Pop

RELEASE DATE; 23 November, 2025

RATING; 4/5

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Soulshine841’s “Ten Years Old” is a quietly devastating single that plants its flag on honesty. Written, produced and performed entirely by the Illinois-based artist, the song strips production frills to reveal a voice that trembles with memory and hard-won resolve. Guided by influences like Lewis Capaldi, Alec Benjamin and Olivia Rodrigo, Soulshine841 leans into plainspoken storytelling: the lyrics avoid melodrama, choosing instead precise, heartbreaking details that make the trauma at the track’s core feel palpably real.

Suno, an AI music tool, helped shape the instrumental and arrangements (independent online verification of the release was limited).  Sparse piano and gentle electronic pads provide a candlelit backdrop, giving the vocal room to unfold without distraction. When the chorus arrives, it never explodes for effect; it opens wider, letting feeling spill rather than forcing a showy crescendo. That restraint is the song’s superpower: it invites listeners into a conversation rather than a performance. There’s a tenderness threaded through the record, especially in moments that pivot toward healing. “Loved Me Through It All,” a companion piece, works as the song’s soft landing proof that love can coexist with wounds without erasing them. Soulshine841’s delivery is intimate and conversational, the kind of voice that feels like a friend telling you something hard in the kitchen at midnight.

“Ten Years Old” succeeds because it trusts its material. It doesn’t dress pain up as spectacle; it renders it as texture, memory and, ultimately, possibility. Released November 23, 2025, under an alias to protect privacy, the single feels both personal and universal, recommended for listeners who seek intimate songwriting that honors pain while pointing toward recovery. A necessary listen.

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