Estella Dawn Turns Romantic Chaos Into Alt-Pop Gold on “Can You Believe”

There’s a very specific kind of romantic disaster where you know you’re losing the plot, you can actively watch yourself losing the plot, and yet somehow that knowledge does absolutely nothing to stop you. Estella Dawn captures that feeling perfectly on “Can You Believe.”

The New Zealand-born, San Diego-based artist has always had a knack for turning uncomfortable emotions into sharp, addictive pop, but this one feels especially relatable. “Can You Believe” is basically the soundtrack to staring at your phone, overthinking a text, drinking too much coffee and wondering when exactly you handed another person this much power over your mood.

And Dawn knows exactly how ridiculous it all is. That’s part of the fun.

“I’m a tough little bitch until I’m not” might be the song’s unofficial thesis statement. One minute she’s confident and self-aware; the next she’s admitting, “Truth is I don’t ever feel like I’m enough.” Instead of trying to make heartbreak look glamorous, Dawn lets it be needy, funny, impulsive and occasionally embarrassing — which is also what makes it feel real.

The killer line, though, is “I got nothing on you / And you got everything on me.” Simple, brutal, effective.

Musically, “Can You Believe” lives comfortably in that increasingly interesting space where alt-pop meets soul, indie and confessional singer-songwriter music. Dawn has the vocal presence to make the bigger moments land, but she never oversells them. The conversational quality of the writing keeps everything feeling intimate, like we’re hearing thoughts she probably should have kept to herself — and thankfully didn’t.

With more than 30 million streams already behind her, Estella Dawn hardly needs an introduction at this point. But “Can You Believe” is another reminder of why her independent rise has been so compelling: she doesn’t just write about heartbreak. She writes about all the weird, contradictory and deeply human behavior that comes with it.

Messy? Absolutely. A little unhinged? Sure. But painfully relatable and ridiculously easy to like? Can you believe it?