Ever had a breakup so bad you thought you couldn’t go on? That’s what happened to Toni Sancho during lockdown. She started singing and playing ukulele to combat depression and process her heartbreak. The four singles the 25-year-old has released since then are brittle beauties from those lonely days, all showcasing her unique vocal – unshowy yet fabulously expressive, with a velvet dagger for a tongue.
Survive! is a catchy, guitar-led bedroom anthem, with Sancho’s aching, longing voice riding a sleepy-lidded beat, promising “maybe, baby we can survive”. It went mildly viral as the pandemic ended – it felt like an appropriately weird celebration. Recently, though (during a gig in her band’s dumpling shop), she introduced Survive! as a song about fake, delusional happiness: “When you realise that someone’s too good for you, and you’re the problem.”
