Nashville-based project Aurealis has built its identity around immersive emotional storytelling and cinematic pop worlds, and “Cursed,” arriving June 26th, fits squarely within that vision. The song takes on hopelessness and inner doubt – specifically that internal voice that tells you every dream is doomed before it starts – and pairs it with haunting electronic production and layered vocals. An official music video comes with it, built around mirrors, shadow imagery, and a surreal cinematic visual language that the band considers integral to the full experience rather than supplementary to it. Worth noting upfront: the press materials disclose that the final production and visuals were created using AI-assisted tools as part of a human-led creative process, which is relevant context for a song that’s fundamentally about what it feels like to lose control of your own narrative.
Texture-wise, it sounds like the 80s with the drum machine sound and the synthpop vibes, but structurally, it sounds more like a 2010s pop song. The production quality is high and kind of reminds me of some Katy Perry songs, though it is missing a bit of the edge that I personally think AI-assisted tools still lack. There’s a smoothness to the sonic palette that works in the song’s favor for accessibility, but it occasionally irons out the kind of rough human grain that can make darkness in music feel genuinely uncomfortable rather than aesthetically pleasing. The layered vocals and shadowy melodic hook do their job, and the marriage of 80s textural nostalgia with contemporary pop architecture is handled well enough that the song moves without feeling dated or overly familiar.
“Cursed” is at its strongest when the production steps back and lets the emotional premise breathe. The concept – that moment when hope starts going quiet, and you’re fighting to hold onto it – is a compelling one, and Aurealis clearly knows how to dress it for maximum atmosphere. Whether the AI-assisted process is a limitation or just a different set of tools depends on what you think music needs to do. What’s here is polished, listenable, and dark in the way that commercial pop can be dark – which is its own lane, even if it isn’t everyone’s.