Simplicity can be a beautiful thing. In the age of complex music production, intricate scaling and enhanced auditory technology, listeners can forget how a simple acoustic rhythm can also be hypnotising. In her EP, For the lovers, city-based singer Diya Maeve strips indie-pop music to its bare essentials — lyrics, melody and vocals — to create a moody pleasant debut.

“I love telling stories, and the EP was my way of telling one such story close to my heart,” says the 21-year-old who began song writing at the age of 14 back in 2016. Having learnt Hindustani classical music since her childhood, Maeve was soon drawn in by the stronger influence of Bollywood music, before a global pop sensation took over her poetic imagination. “My indie pop journey began when I first started hearing Taylor Swift seriously. This led me to artistes like ColdPlay and Mitski in particular. Their song writing inspired me — the way all of them told stories and weaved words to connect to the audience,” she remarks.