Caroline Polachek

Caroline Polachek emerged as pop's most technically adventurous architect, transforming avant-garde impulses into radio-ready confections. Initially known as half of Chairlift, the Brooklyn duo whose "Bruises" soundtracked an iPod Nano advertisement in 2008, she has since established herself as a solo artist unafraid of melodic acrobatics and production maximalism. Her 2019 album Pang synthesised flamenco cadences, baroque strings and pitch-shifted vocals into something simultaneously alien and intimate, whilst 2023's Desire, I Want to Turn Into You expanded her palette further, incorporating everything from bagpipes to Balearic trance.

Polachek's voice operates as both instrument and thesis statement, capable of leaping octaves mid-phrase whilst maintaining an unsettling emotional precision. She has collaborated with Charli XCX, Oneohtrix Point Never and Dido, positioning herself at the intersection of experimental electronic music and mainstream pop ambition. Her work reflects a generation comfortable with genre as costume rather than constraint, treating the pop song as a site for genuine sonic investigation rather than mere commercial transaction.