Chloe Qisha Steps Back from Pop with ‘Surprise Surprise’

Chloe Qisha’s latest single pulls away from the tightly wound pop that defined ‘YDH’ and ‘So Sad So Hot’. ‘Surprise Surprise’ arrives as a deliberate shift toward balladry, a song she calls “just sad” rather than her usual “sad happy” formula. The track follows her 2025 second EP ‘Modern Romance’ and previews a project still taking shape.

Qisha describes the song as an attempt at a three-minute affirmation meant to break a toxic relationship, only to watch that resolve fall apart in real time. “She catches your self-sabotage out,” she explains. “It’s definitely a different side to me that I think is important to share.” That internal push and pull between instinct and reason, she says, has become a recurring theme in her newer writing. She’s not softening the rawer moments, even when they feel ugly.

Her recent run of singles earned Qisha a spot in DIY’s Class of 2026, and the festival bookings stacking up through summer and autumn reflect that rising trajectory. She’ll appear at Reading Festival in late August, followed by Austin City Limits in October, alongside stops at Wilderness, Boardmasters, Pukkelpop, Lowlands, and Japan’s Sonic Summer.