Sometimes you just gotta crash out.
At just 18 years old, Western Australian artist Castle Hughes has already lived enough emotional lifetimes to fuel a dozen debuts.
The 2022 WAM Youth Act of the Year arrives with Crashed Out, a stunning 10-track project that delivers on every ounce of promise her early singles suggested.
It is an album that wears its heart on its sleeve while simultaneously making you want to move your feet.
Castle Hughes has carved a unique space in the Australian house/pop landscape, blending the shimmering, confessional intimacy of indie-pop with the high-energy pulse of EDM.
What makes Crashed Out so compelling is how it refuses to let the production overshadow the pain. The beats are propulsive, the synths are cinematic, but at the core of every track is a songwriter wise beyond her years.
This is music for the club and the bedroom floor simultaneously, a duality that defines Gen Z storytelling.
View this post on Instagram
The album is a masterclass in emotional whiplash, chronicling the chaos of growing up too fast. Tracks like ‘Too Good’ and ‘Spinning Faster’ capture the anxious thrill of desire, while the Ellie Goulding-esque vulnerability of ‘Slipping Through My Fingers’ cuts deep with its exploration of distance.
The collaboration with ELLEKTRIK on ‘I Can’t Stay Here’ is a standout, injecting a raw, electro-infused urgency into the narrative of leaving.
Elsewhere, the brilliantly titled ‘Mattress Actress’ and the closing ‘Fever Dream’ showcase her fearless lyricism, unafraid to dissect intimacy and identity with surgical precision.
Ultimately, Crashed Out is about surviving as much as it is about the spiral itself.
Castle Hughes has crafted a soundtrack for the messiness of meaning, proving that even in the wreckage, vulnerability is a superpower.
If this is just the beginning, Australian house music is in very safe, very exciting hands.
