CASTLE HUGHES’ CRASHED OUT TURNS HEARTBREAK INTO MIDNIGHT MOMENTUM

Thursday February 26, 2026

Castle Hughes doesn’t release Crashed Out so much as drop the needle on 2026 and watch it spark. This is an electrified, no-filter diary of coming of age while everything feels like it’s cracking—politics, money, mental health, the social noise, the constant pressure to hold it together.

Fresh off the high-tension breakthrough Run, the 21-year-old Perth artist turns that spiralling mess into pure motion: major-league house/pop built for dancing through the apocalypse, glittering on the surface and gutting you underneath.

Without You hits like sunrise after a sleepless night—acoustic guitar over a steady kick pulse, a descending progression that lets Castle’s melody bloom in slow, meditative arcs, then a lift so sweet and certain it feels like a vow shouted from the front row. The hooks tighten, the groove deepens, and the chorus lands with hands-in-the-air inevitability.

Then Spinning Faster throws you back into the bright lights. A hypnotic ambient wash and melodic flare set the trap, Castle’s vocal hovering with calm control before the track surges into strobe-lit confession.

 " Glossy, hook-forward and restless underneath, it’s anxiety turned into propulsion—midnight momentum with a pulse you can’t ignore."

Glossy, hook-forward and restless underneath, it’s anxiety turned into propulsion—midnight momentum with a pulse you can’t ignore.

Co-written by Castle and Kain Kardell, produced and mixed by Kardell, Crashed Out is the soundtrack to spiralling and surviving: the beauty in breaking, the clarity after the crash, and the truth that even in your messiest moments, you’re still whole.

This isn’t an artist “emerging.” This is an arrival—loud, luminous, and undeniable.

---