“This is Not a Pop Song” - Sabina Estevez
Photo Credit: Artist EPK
There’s something instantly magnetic about Sabina Estevez — the kind of artist who doesn’t just sing songs, but conjures worlds. Hailing from Rio de Janeiro, Sabina brings a cinematic, witchy energy to the scene that feels both refreshingly anti-mainstream and hauntingly timeless. Her debut single, “This Is Not a Pop Song”, is less a rebellion and more an invocation — a spell cast against the cookie-cutter polish of today’s “disposable plastic tunes.”
This isn’t just another indie statement track. “This Is Not a Pop Song” sounds like it could’ve been pulled from an old reel-to-reel recording found in a candle-lit attic — minimalist in production, yet thick with atmosphere. Recorded at London Studios with collaborators Jarde Salase, John Loschiavo, and Nando Pettinato, the track feels alive, breathing in its own smoky, spectral way. Every synth shimmer and guitar tremor seems to hover just outside of reality, giving Sabina’s voice — that bold, trembling, otherworldly voice — space to haunt the room.
It’s easy to see the Kate Bush influence here. Sabina doesn’t imitate; she channels that same ethereal defiance, that refusal to play by anyone else’s melodic rules. The song moves in and out of the darkness, bending familiar pop structures until they sound like something brand new. It’s haunting, hypnotic, sometimes even witchy — a track that seems to shapeshift each time you listen.
Lyrically, “This Is Not a Pop Song” reads almost like a manifesto. Sabina challenges the gloss and formula of the modern pop machine, peeling back the layers to reveal something rawer, truer, and far more beautiful in its imperfection. It’s not cynical, though — it’s defiant. “This is not a pop song. So true,” she declares, a line that’s both tongue-in-cheek and completely sincere. You get the feeling she’s not just rejecting pop music — she’s redefining it on her own terms.
Photo Credit: Artist EPK
The production is deceptively simple — no big drops, no over-compressed hooks — yet it’s precisely that restraint that makes it so hypnotic. The haunting textures and minimal arrangement draw your attention straight to Sabina’s voice, which carries a sense of conviction that can’t be faked. There’s magic in that simplicity — the kind of quiet confidence that makes great art last.
Looking ahead, Sabina has live shows planned in Rio in early 2026, and if this single is anything to go by, her performances will be nothing short of spellbinding. It’s easy to imagine her commanding a candle-lit stage, that voice wrapping around the audience like smoke.
In an era drowning in algorithm-approved pop and shiny streaming fodder, Sabina Estevez has emerged as a genuine antidote — an artist who writes not for virality, but for connection, for truth, for that eerie, electric space between beauty and defiance.
“This Is Not a Pop Song” is darkly hypnotic, fiercely original, and gorgeously human — a debut that refuses to whisper when it can enchant.
“This is Not a Pop Song” is available now on all major streaming platforms
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Listen to Sabina Estevez and other similar artists on our Spotify Playlist ‘New Music Spotlight - Pop’
