PEPTALK x LUATÈ. Find Beauty in the Bruises of “Rancid”

By FusioNostalgia

When longtime friends PEPTALK and LUATÈ. come together, something deeply honest and beautifully unsettling happens. Their new single, “Rancid,” is the kind of song that sits with you long after it ends—a poetic confrontation with the music industry itself, wrapped in nostalgic warmth and raw emotion. It’s the kind of collaboration that could only come from artists who share not just talent, but years of friendship and shared experience navigating the very world they’re now calling out.

PEPTALK, the Australian trio made up of Jay-Lee Kwan, Lara Frew, and Phoebe Sinclair, have long carried a reputation for being unapologetically genuine—three best friends creating pop music that feels both comforting and real. They’ve written songs across continents, collaborated with artists from Los Angeles to Seoul, and even found themselves handpicked by Troye Sivan and Lucas Keller for the APRA AMCOS Pride Songhubs program. Their chemistry—two-thirds queer, two-thirds POC, and all heart—translates into a sound that’s both confident and deeply human. When Phoebe and Lara, who also produce under the moniker Middleman, teamed up with South Sudanese-Australian artist LUATÈ., it was more than a collaboration—it was a conversation years in the making.

LUATÈ., who describes her style as “existentialist pop,” brings a voice steeped in soul and substance. Her lyrics are thick with imagery and emotion, a kind of storytelling that feels both confessional and universal. She’s drawn comparisons to Lorde and Nao, but her tone is distinctly her own—a modern-day Tracy Chapman who doesn’t shy away from truth. Her poetic letter to the music industry became the seed for “Rancid,” a reflection on the intoxicating pull of chasing dreams in a world that often takes more than it gives.

“Rancid” isn’t angry—it’s honest. It’s about loving something that hurts you, knowing it’s toxic but staying anyway because of hope, ambition, or sheer inertia. PEPTALK’s lush, nostalgic production softens the edges of LUATÈ.’s cutting lyrics, creating a sonic space where reflection feels safe. Together, they balance vulnerability and power—warm synths, grounded bass, and ethereal vocals swirling around a truth every artist knows but few say out loud: walking away is easier said than done.

In “Rancid,” PEPTALK x LUATÈ. capture what it means to care too much about something that might not care back. It’s a shared sigh between friends who have seen the best and worst of an industry they still, somehow, love. And in turning that complicated feeling into music, they remind us that sometimes the most beautiful art comes from the hardest truths.