The world is finally catching up to Erin LeCount.
There’s an undeniable alchemy to PAREIDOLIA, the sophomore EP by Erin LeCount - a magic now propelling the rising star toward the very clouds that inspired the project.
In 2026, it feels as if the whole world is starting to latch onto the 23-year-old. For some — such as us at undr the radar — LeCount has long felt like a cult obsession. Now, as Noah Kahan stops her at parties and Zane Lowe picks her brain on Apple Music, the Essex-born singer is on the verge of breaking the mainstream.
I wouldn’t dare take credit for unearthing LeCount when she debuted in 2022. It was Manny - or another of the under the radar gang - who put me onto the songwriter in 2024. But it wouldn’t have taken long to find her of my own accord.
Ever since the release of debut EP I Am Digital, I Am Divine, the hype around LeCount has steadily built. From a mutual friend labelling her a ‘genius’ on a walk to watching crowds spot her at another artist’s gig and beeline for photos, her rise feels ineffable.
On PAREIDOLIA, what’s clear is that LeCount’s trajectory echoes that of Charli XCX, Chappell Roan and Lola Young. Each found global fame by refusing to compromise the foundations of their sound and waiting for pop music to catch up. Enamoured as we are, we may be getting ahead of ourselves with those comparisons (but let us daydream about a BRIT Critics’ Choice Award next year). Still, what the songwriter whips up in solitary bedroom production sessions is rousing. There’s an enticing mystery to PAREIDOLIA.
LeCount has spoken about the influence of Alice in Wonderland on the project, and the metaphor of a rabbit hole couldn’t be more apt. Her trademark sonics often begin minimal, luring the listener in before spiralling into a world of their own. Lyrically, her curiosity mirrors that of Lewis Carroll’s Alice. “I went sort of down a rabbit hole with it,” LeCount explained of the EP. “It was so appropriate to everything that I was writing about in the sense of feeling like you see the world through a warped lens.”
The EP’s most explicit nod to that tale comes in closing track ‘ALICE’. Described as a ‘gut punch’ by the singer, it’s a break-up number years in the making. It’s perhaps her most head-turning release to date, as she dares to move beyond the loneliness that has so often defined her work — both in self-production and lyrical introspection.
On ‘ALICE’, it’s impossible not to feel the presence of an ex. The music video sees LeCount intertwined with a ghost of her past. It’s a track steeped in hurt and unhealthy codependence, yet its sucker punch lies in a love that still lingers. “We can’t be friends, but I wish you the best,” she repeats.
The EP ends with LeCount at her most helpless, but the journey there is laced with a hunger to learn. PAREIDOLIA opens on ‘I BELIEVE’, the songwriter forcing herself to grapple with religion — the result is more questions than answers. Her willingness to revel in introspection without resolution makes the EP so moreish. ‘I BELIEVE’ bleeds into ‘DON’T YOU SEE ME TRYING’, that same hunger for answers taking centre stage.
“I’m gonna dance ’til I’m dead, god it feels nice to be this careless again,” she chants as PAREIDOLIA shifts up a gear, straddling destructive habits and the fight to break free from her past. In moments like that, there’s real grit within the ethereal world she creates. That is most evident on ‘808 HYMN’. Its songwriting reminds me of first hearing 2025’s ‘Silver Spoon’. I could’ve written a dissertation on that breakout single, and ‘808 HYMN’ is in similar territory as LeCount tackles sexual harassment on a late walk home.
Laced with forensic detail, she brings fight-or-flight to life over an 808 kick drum. “God, it’s quiet, and it’s violent, and it’s everywhere I go [...] I promise I’ll believe, if you could just get me home,” she pleads.
Before the project closes on the corporeal battle of ‘ALICE’, there are hints of the ending to come. There’s a dissociation running through both ‘AMERICAN DREAM’ and ‘MACHINE GHOST’ as LeCount seems to transcend her body. The former sees her grapple with newfound stardom in the dark of a hotel room; the latter tells the story of a struggle with intimacy. “It hurts to stand, it hurts to stand,” she repeats on the EP’s most intimate moment.
No matter how big she becomes, songwriting like that is the jewel in her crown. Listening to a LeCount song quietens the outside world — it’s just you and her in the studio. The result is stirring and deeply endearing, whether through headphones or in an arena.
It’s hard to call Erin LeCount under the radar any longer, but we’ve never been gatekeepers. This is the real deal - and the music world is right to be catching on.
9/10
Erin LeCount’s ‘PAREIDOLIA’ has been added to under the radar’s Elite Picks.