140. Fifteen Minutes of Fame Spotlights: June 6th
Originally Published on June 8th, 2025
Spotlights
This publication will feature music released by artists on the date of June 6th. Sleep Station by Zeynep Sophia, Makeup: After Midnight by Rockstar & Elise, Hypnotized by Isey, and Maze in my Mind by Georgie Najar.
Sleep Station by Zeynep Sophia
About the Artist
Zeynep Sophia didn’t actually submit for the June Campaign. She first submit for a review by Fifteen Minutes of Fame in September and I have been following her music since then. Sophia, out of Lancashire, is a pianist and her instrumental releases are often very ambient, imaginative, and create an entire plane of sound, in spite only incorporating the playing of one instrument.
Zeynep Sophia has had many releases in the last year. Dating back to April of 2024, she first released the single Chambers and would subsequently release 1-2 songs per month until September when she released Dreams of Violet, an 8 song EP. Then in December, she released a 10 song LP, Bittersweet Daydreams.
She wasn’t finished there. In January, she released Fragment, a new single. In February, she followed Fragment with Lost in Life. Then, in May, she released her 3rd single of 2025, Panic Room.
About the Song
Sleep Station is the 4th release by instrumental recording artist, Zeynep Sophia, in 2025. This singe, running at two and a half minutes, released on June 6th and features a piano arrangement composed, performed, and produced by Zeynep Sophia.
About the Music
Sleep Station is a musical composition that plays out like a thought stringing together. As the song progresses, it seems to learn more about its identity. As it’s called Sleep Station, perhaps it was inspired by the idea of a dream sort of doing the same thing; first existing as fragments surrounded by nothingness, then growing to universes existing within the constructs of one’s mind.
Sleep Station doesn’t have traditional structure. It’s not constructed at all, really. It doesn’t operate from a blueprint that will eventually become a building. It performs more like a seed that is blooming and will eventually become a flower. It moves like a ballerina who isn’t dancing a dance but in the moments before they start doing their choreography. When they are stretching, warming up, and watching themselves in the mirror to decide on the perfect formation their hand will take once the performance begins.
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Makeup: After Midnight by Rockstar & Elise
Rockstar & Elise, out of Madison Wisconsin, is the project name of Emily, who is a singer/songwriter, engineer, and producer. Once a “fixture in the industrial music scene of Jacksonville, Fl.” (rockstarelise.com/about), “she then vanished.” Her bio goes on to say she pursues music to “make right what once went wrong.” Reading that, it’s safe to say Rocktar & Elise are heavily motivated to make music.
Rockstar & Elise debuted the song Makeup one year ago, in June of 2024. In July, she released Cry, an electronic-driven, motivating pop track. I love how deeply personal the lyrics are, while also tying how relatable the circumstances of the topics are.
In August, she would release Mixtape, which takes a nod to 80’s synth-pop. This song would be a fitting new spin to a soundtrack to a show like Stranger Things, which is a show being produced in 2025, but takes place in the 1980’s.
In September, Rockstar & Elise released her first official multi track project, the future EP, a 3-song extended play featuring the title track and a fantastic opener in Push, which is produced to perfection. I love the phase effect of the synths that drive a clear and precise rhythm of the song.
The following month, she would release an EP that is called The Haunting of Emily (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack). It doesn’t seem like the movie has premiered, but I hope it does one day!
2024 would conclude with the December release of Push then, in 2025, she would release a cover of Cruel Summer, the March single Time Machine, and May’s more organic sounding freeway, which even features a fiddle solo.
About the Song
Makeup: After Mindnight is the 4th single released by Rockstar & Elise in 2025, a remix of her debut single that released a year before (almost to the day). It has a run time of around three minutes and forty seconds and is a fresh, industrial remix of the original song.
About the Music
There is no question about the talent that Rockstar & Elise possessed as an engineer and producer. This song is expertly mixed and edited. Vocally, her strengths lie heavily towards the lyrical content. A proud trans woman who found the courage to come out and transition at 44, her lyrics serve as an inspiring biography about being happy in your own skin. This topic is incredibly important to me, as I am the father of a trans boy (man now), who makes me more and more proud every day. I am assured his bright future by the courage of artists and people like Emily. Those who pave the way to a nation that will not only be tolerant, but accepting.
The groove of Makeup: After Midnight is so completely solid. I love that she also included an Instrumental track to this song so I can really focus on what she’s done. Every build, fade, and pan are done with such precision. She has a gifted ear for production.
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Hypnotized by Isey
About the Artist
Isey, an Austrian-based pop artist, is a diverse musician who shows the capability of performing in a number of genres. She heavily focuses on pop and R&B but she also has voice that could perform well in blues, alt-pop, and other genres as well. She shines in slower, darker vibes, but she is definitely not pinned down to these styles.
She debuted in June of 2024 with her single 4AM, an R&B ballad featuring her vocal performance fronting an ambient-produced instrumental track that fades in and out throughout the song. It almost has the feeling of a dream as it bounces in and out.
4AM was followed by What My Heart Desires, a dissonant, progressive R&B track ballad. Isey performs in a whisper, almost similar to Billie Eilish, but she tends to stay at home in a specific range. There is a lot of emotional feeling in her vocals, she doesn’t often tend to move to the ends of her range though.
The next month she would release wanna be your woman. This song is significant because there are elements that can be heard where she is taking risks in the production. The quality of the production is also very elevated and the vocals are a bit clearer.
In 2025, Isey would release LNAIMY (late night and i miss you), her most impressive release to date. This song is vocally her most dynamic performance, showcasing the beat produced instrumentals thus far, in her young career. I love the guitar element, tying in an organic feel to the music. This is an incredible song.
About the Song
Hypnotized is the second release for Austrian-based artist, Isey, in 2025. Following from her March release of LNAIMY, this pop R&B song shows an elevation in production. It has a run time at around two minutes and forty-five seconds, just shy of three minutes.
About the Music
There are clear indicators that Isey is getting more and more comfortable with the production process with her music. Every single release seems more polished than the last. What I like about Hypnotized is that is seems to be a continuation of LNAIMY, which I feel is her best produced music to date.
I think Isey is a talented musician, I don’t think we have seen nearly all of what she is capable of. I would love to hear song with an uptempo. I love that she is starting to experiment with stretching her range of performance vocally. I would really love to hear more of that in her next releases, as she does this very well.
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Maze in my Mind by Georgie Najar
Georgie Najar, an emerging artist from New York, is showing incredible promise in her young career. At just 17 years old, she is already garnering more than 16,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. This with only 4 releases in her catalog!
Najar debuted in 2024, with the November release of Skin and Bone, an alt-pop, alt-folk, mid to uptempo release that serves as good a debut as one can release.
In 2025, she would come out right away in January with the release of Cyclone. Cyclone would lean more heavily into the alt-pop sound she showcases, as this raw performance is emotionally charged, a little dirty and grungy, and all too powerful. Then, in April, she released Comfort in the Pain, a harder lean into the alt-pop sound of Cyclone.
The production value of each of these releases are very high quality.
About the Song
Maze in my Mind is the 3rd single release of New York Artist, Georgie Najar, in 2025. It has a run time of just over three minutes. Maze in my Mind was released by Sugar Pine Records.
About the Music
Maze in my Mind signifies a step back to some of the more organic sound of Najar’s debut, Skin and Bone. It still has the alt-pop presence of her other releases, but embraces the more alt-folk sound she originally showcased in her debut.
I think this was a very good step back because I think Najar is in her element bridging these two genres. Maze in my Mind is her strongest release since Skin and Bone.
Lyrically, Maze in my Mind takes a mature observation to contemplating the consequences of every day life. Things she sees, things she responds to. The questions she has about what happens and why they happen. It is thought provoking, happy, and sad, all at the same time. It is a very well written song.
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