Meet XTINE, the New Alt-Pop Healer We Didn’t Know We Needed
If you’ve ever felt like your emotions might swallow you whole, XTINE gets it. On her new single “Nobody Stays,” the rising alt-pop artist delivers something raw and quietly devastating—a cinematic breakdown disguised as a ballad. The track may not be charting (yet), but it hits, especially if you’ve ever tried to hold onto love while battling your own mind.
Equal parts orchestral heartbreak and glitch-pop unease, “Nobody Stays” dives deep into the messy reality of borderline personality disorder, fear of abandonment, and the kind of spiral you don’t just sing about—you survive. “Will I keep you—or will I end up pushing you?” she asks, and the question lingers long after the music fades.
But let’s rewind. XTINE’s story starts way before sweeping strings and finely tuned choruses. At 11, she was dealing with bullying, learning challenges, and the feeling of not quite fitting in. That changed when she transferred schools and discovered GarageBand. A laptop. A mic. A quiet obsession. By 12, she was writing and producing her own songs — not for clout, but for survival.
She even reached out to Sia. And Sia responded — danced to her track, even. A small moment, maybe, but it gave XTINE the confidence to keep going through depression, anxiety, and the creative chaos that would define her teen years. Her early YouTube release “Beautiful Has No Cost” became a lifeline for others just like her — proof that vulnerability could be strength.
Now, she’s channeling that same energy into a darker, more refined sound. Think Sia’s emotional bombast meets Björk’s left-field textures, with the tender honesty of Sleeping at Last. With collaborators like Yoad Nevo and Megan Wilde behind the boards, XTINE’s work feels intentional—built for headphones, heartache, and the kind of late-night overthinking that turns pain into poetry.
“Nobody Stays” is her most personal work yet. “I wanted to create something that feels cinematic yet intimate,” she says. And she did. The music video doubles down on the emotion—part breakdown, part performance art—while a growing online campaign under the hashtag #NobodyStays invites fans to share their own stories of mental health and healing.
XTINE is building a body of work that feels. She’s not just making music — she’s making space. For grief and resilience. For anyone who’s ever felt like too much and not enough at the same time.