Charles Costa returns with “Emilie,” a luminous yet emotionally charged single that captures the aching beauty of longing, disappointment, and quiet resilience. Having shed the stage name King Charles, Costa steps forward with renewed clarity, offering a track that feels both deeply personal and strikingly relatable. “Emilie” is a standout moment from his recently released self-titled album — a record shaped by physical endurance, emotional introspection, and a desire to reveal the man behind the music.
At first listen, “Emilie” floats like a dream — all soft textures, gentle guitar lines, and subtle synth flourishes that lend the track a light, summery feel. But beneath its shimmering indie-pop surface lies something weightier: a quiet grief for something that might have been, and the complex relief of letting go. “To me you were different / a kind of cure,” Costa sings in his smooth, velvety tone, embodying the bittersweet tension between love and disillusionment.
Lyrically, “Emilie” balances intimacy and universality with ease. It reads like a confession — not to accuse, but to understand. “When you say you got a dark soul / But all I see is sunlight,” he offers, echoing the compassion of someone who’s loved deeply and lost slowly. Later, the pointed question “Where were you when I needed you?” pierces through the song’s dreamy tone, grounding it in lived experience. Costa’s layered vocals add to that emotional complexity, wrapping the listener in both warmth and melancholy.
What elevates “Emilie” isn’t just its textured soundscape or poetic lyricism — it’s the weight of Costa’s real-life transformation behind it. Having completed a staggering 90 marathons in 90 days to raise awareness for men’s mental health, his commitment to healing — both personal and collective — pulses through the track. The production, shaped with longtime collaborators Jesse Quin and Tom Hobden, creates space for that honesty to land. Drawing on influences from Bon Iver and RY X to classic pastoral folk, they strike a delicate balance: expansive but intimate, polished but raw.
If “Emilie” is any indication, Charles Costa’s current era isn’t just a creative rebirth — it’s a reckoning with self, memory, and the quiet courage it takes to keep going. Wholesome, reflective, and emotionally unguarded, it’s indie pop that refuses to hide behind irony or artifice. Instead, it offers connection — soft-spoken, but unmistakably sincere.
Purchase tickets for Costa’s headline show at London’s the Grace on June 12 here.
Keep up with Charles Costa: Spotify | YouTube | Instagram | TikTok
