Alt-pop in 2023 usually lives on the suburban road of simple-riffed electric guitar tendencies, mixed with saturated vocals, and a heartstring pulled plot line- though Nolan Barba touches on those, he does it different with his third drop, “80proof”.

If 2023 alt-pop is a plain road filled with white picket fences on each side, Nolan is the special HOV lane, capitalizing on the individual vehicles next to him that carry distort-y, gritty vocals, crisp guitar, and personable lyrics. As he speed through with all these factors, he creates the perfect alt-pop muddy ballad.

The theme of unrequited love tends to be a “this again?” repeat in the nature of the genre, but Nolan’s take feels like an instant replay, basically seamless, and a much wanted constant loop. Nolan’s voice is special in a familiar way. It’s hard to hear it and not instantly crave more. We are pumped to see what he has in store for 2023.