ON THE RISE
MAL€K (pronounced “Malik”) is an artist with a story to tell. In fact, he’s already told quite a bit of it. His latest project, The Never Ending Story III: The Encore is the third entry in an album saga that began in 2024. Through songs and creatively written skits with sound design, voice acting and more, MAL€K crafts his life story of trials, tribulations, love, happiness and more through his passion throughout it all: music.
In this entry, the story finds him touring across the United States and getting into all sorts of situations along the way. In one of the more sentimental moments of the album, he’s at a bar and this environment is the setting for his track “Toast To That.”
The track “Toast to That” which features DEZI MARIE, is one that MAL€K wants people to listen to and experience euphoric happiness. It’s a track that’s sentimental and he hopes people experience both relatability and nostalgia when listening to it.
“It’s like you’re toasting to that feeling of falling in love and love at first sight. Most people have been there at one point or another in life. And the phrase ‘I’ll toast to that’ is one we use for acknowledgement and agreement. I’m sharing that we can all relate to being there.” he said.
“Toast to That” is one of several tracks on the album from the country genre. Furthermore, it specifically sits in the traditional country lane due to its subject matter and production. However, MAL€K prides himself on fusing other genres with country and this is showcased across the album too.
“Growing up in Houston, Texas and the South, I was exposed to both country and rap. Rap was my first love. I’ve listened to people who make country rap fusion songs as well as those who make country pop fusion songs. Both of them inspired me directly.” he said.
However, the album not only has subgenres of country but pure rap too.The musical diversity across the album is a testament to not only his upbringing but a genuine widespread love for music of all kinds. With 95% of his music also being self produced, it’s clear MAL€K’s passion extends to multiple realms of musicality.
“I was raised in multiple states and environments so I just adapted to and absorbed multiple different cultures. I grew up listening to all sorts of genres. As I grew, I got into the country genre. It’s all based on what I’ve seen and where I’ve been. All these genres define me and who I am today.” he said.
MAL€K created this Never Ending Story album saga to leave behind an auditory memoir for his family to play when he’s long gone. After losing his mother almost eight years ago, he began to reflect on how he didn’t have too many videos of her to reminisce on by hearing her voice and he didn’t want his kids or other family members to find themselves in this position. By crafting an album series that told his life story through music, they would have something auditorily tangible they could look back on.
“By listening to the albums, they’ll get to hear all the things I went through in life and all the heartbreaks, trauma and lighthearted humorous moments that have happened within it. It’s cool being able to be vulnerable about all that and have my family experience my life through my perspective of it by listening. “ he said.
Crafting an album like this is an involved process for MAL€K since creating the music for it can be a 1-2 year process. After recording 100-200 songs in this timeframe, he begins to piece together which ones line up with the narrative he is depicting across the album. Each song is made with a purpose and sometimes, they’re more fitting as a single as opposed to fitting into the album’s larger narrative.
“I start out with a top 100 songs and narrow those all the way down to a top 35 or top 20 and those will go on the album. I’ll figure out my ideal track listing and then start to plan out the skits in between them. I try to keep the skits lighthearted and humorous and I also like doing improv for them. However, there’s also moments where things need to be more serious in tone. In both cases, I also like to ensure the skit transitions into the song that comes before or after it and the two of them line up tonally for whatever is currently happening in the story of the album.” he said.
Maintaining familial intentionality is a key aspect of everything MAL€K does. For instance, the way his name is stylized pays homage to his Irish heritage on his mother’s side with the Euro symbol. His label, which his music is released through, is called Eire Entertainment and “Eire” is the Irish name for Ireland.
With these purposeful decisions and his Never Ending Story album saga that was crafted for his family’s benefit, it’s clear everything MAL€K does is for the love of his family and for his never ending love of music.
You can stream “Toast To That” and The Never Ending Story III: The Encore now.
You can continue to follow the journey of MAL€K’s story by keeping up with him on these platforms.
ON THE RISE
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NETHERLANDS — August 26, 2026 — Brook Lynn is stepping into a new chapter with “Love Your Enemy,” an atmospheric alternative pop song that turns an intensely personal battle with anxiety into a message of self-acceptance. Written after her America’s Got Talent auditions, the song captures the internal conflict of facing the person who can be hardest to silence: yourself.
Built around cinematic production and emotionally restrained vocals, “Love Your Enemy” explores the disconnect between appearing fine in public and confronting difficult thoughts in private. The song’s central message is reflected in its chorus, where Brook Lynn sings about being “my own worst company” before arriving at its most hopeful realization: “They say, ‘Love your enemy,’ / So I’m learning how to love me.”
For Brook Lynn, that “enemy” is anxiety. Rather than presenting it as something that simply disappears, the song examines what it means to live with those thoughts while refusing to let them dictate what comes next.
“I always want to give a hopeful message in every song,” Brook Lynn explains. “I always first want to explain what is happening in your head and what you feel, and then, at the end, give a message that you can get out of this, and that anxiety doesn’t have to hold you back from all the things you want to achieve in your life.”
That message became especially significant when Brook Lynn made the decision to perform “Love Your Enemy” on America’s Got Talent. Known by many viewers for her stripped-back cover performances, she recognized that performing an original song on one of television’s biggest stages carried a different kind of risk. But she also knew she could not continue forward without showing audiences the artist behind the covers.
“I just thought it was really important to also show the world that I’m not just a cover singer,” she says. “I do want people to know that I write songs and I want to be an artist and put that out there.”
Brook Lynn performed “Love Your Enemy” during the America’s Got Talent quarterfinals, bringing the song’s story of anxiety and self-doubt directly to a massive live audience. Her journey on the show ended there, but the response made one thing clear: listeners wanted to hear more. Fans connected not only with her voice, but with the honesty behind the performance and the willingness to speak openly about emotions many people struggle to acknowledge themselves.
“I do want to be that person with my music as well for other people,” Brook Lynn says, describing her desire to write about real experiences and feelings. “I always want to be really real with everyone, like talk about deeper stuff, not surface level.”
“Love Your Enemy” arrives as Brook Lynn looks ahead to Tales From The Woods, an upcoming EP intended to introduce listeners to a broader picture of who she is as an artist. With only two original songs currently released, she says she is excited to share more music and continue developing the sound and emotional world introduced through “Love Your Enemy.”
The song is not a conclusion to Brook Lynn’s story. It is the beginning of a more open one—one where anxiety can be acknowledged without being allowed to take control, and where the feelings people are often afraid to say out loud can finally have a voice.
Listen to “Love Your Enemy,” which received promotional support from Starlight PR.
Brook Lynn creates music that feels intimate yet powerful, cinematic yet emotionally exposed. Blending atmospheric alternative pop with minimalist visual storytelling, her work explores vulnerability, isolation, emotional tension and human connection through a distinctly modern lens.
Raised in Wilp, a small town in the Netherlands, Brook Lynn grew up surrounded by silence, nature and isolation. Music became a private emotional outlet and a way to process feelings that were difficult to explain out loud. What began through stripped-back online performances evolved into a growing global audience drawn to her honesty and emotional depth.
For Brook Lynn, music is never just about being heard. It is about being understood.
thisisbrooklynn.com
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