‘Heal’ is a tender turn in Lily Stiven’s musical identity, but the track does not waver from what makes her one of Aotearoa’s most exciting emerging voices.
‘Heal’ is a tender turn in Lily Stiven’s musical identity, but the track does not waver from what makes her one of Aotearoa’s most exciting emerging voices.
‘Heal’ is Lily Stiven’s first single of 2026, following her 2025 releases ‘NOT MY OWN’, ‘What’s the Worst I Could Do’ and ‘Williams Tragedy’.
At just 19, the Whangaparāoa artist has crafted an introspective, hopeful track with a fully realised artistic identity.
Stiven wrote the song the day after her first breakup.
“Writing it helped me make sense of everything I was feeling. It’s about the pain of losing someone you loved and finding the strength to let them go so you can start healing and move forward,” she said.
‘Heal’ has a tender, wistful quality, not only in Stiven’s words but in her vulnerable, almost hesitantly hopeful delivery.
Produced by Phodiso Moeng Dintwe, the track pairs steady, mellow drums with backing synths and soft, bright guitar strumming, creating a warm backdrop for Stiven’s layered vocal harmonies.
The arrangement remains restrained, allowing the emotion to gather gradually rather than pushing the song towards an overly dramatic climax.
It’s hard not to think of an artist like Olivia Dean when listening to Stiven’s vocal inflections, enunciation and layering, particularly when she reaches that especially stunning lower register at the end of the track.
The call-and-response of Stiven’s vocals at the tail end of the track feels like a satisfying release of all the emotions the indie-pop and R&B artist has allowed us to glimpse throughout the song.
Stiven’s lyrics capture a feeling that isn’t unfamiliar to many, with lines like: “Maybe I was blind to all the problems, but I didn’t want to face the idea of losing you. I just miss you.”
These feelings may not be new, but they still carry weight through the specificity of Stiven’s storytelling and her relationship to the hardships she is growing from.
Lines like, “Don’t know what I’m trying to say, just trying to let myself feel, it’s time to let it all heal,” hold onto a reflective tone that gives Stiven’s audience a glimpse into what songwriting really means to her.
While ‘Heal’ sits comfortably between indie pop and R&B, its strength comes from how little Stiven tries to disguise the confusion at the centre of it. There is sadness here, but also the quiet understanding that moving forward often begins with allowing yourself to feel everything first.
Stiven’s catalogue might still be growing, but the evolution of her sound and storytelling is already clear.
‘Heal’ will leave you with that feeling in your chest — one that carries the weight of past love and loss, but not without hope for a future where that weight feels a little lighter.
This level of rawness and introspection is Stiven at her strongest, and the future looks promising as the young artist continues to move forward in her career.
Listen to ‘Heal’ below.
