There’s a very specific kind of ache reserved for the almost-lovers — that liminal, jazz-lit space between a good friendship and something you can’t quite name yet. On her new single “About You,” out July 3, British soulstress Phoenix Laoutaris bottles that feeling and pours it over warm horns, a saxophone line that basically flirts with you on her behalf, and a vocal performance that sounds like it’s been waiting all year to exhale.

If the name rings a bell, it should. Phoenix first landed on the radar back in 2021 with her debut single “Flowers,” a WEAREBLK release that pulled early love from CLASH Magazine and BBC Radio 1’s Future Artists (shout out to Jack Saunders, DJ Target, and René LaVice for getting there first). That song, famously, started life on an Instagram Live talent contest during lockdown — a very 2020 origin story for a very old-soul artist.

Fast forward to now: Phoenix is 24, based in London, and stepping into what she calls a rebirth and a reveal. “‘About You’ is playful, emotional, and doesn’t overthink itself, which is exactly where I’m at creatively right now,” she shares. “I’ve spent the last few years figuring out who I am and what I want to say. This song feels like the start of a new chapter and the closest I’ve come to making music that feels completely like me.”

Raised in Totnes, Devon as the youngest of seven in a wildly musical household — her mother a London-born classical violinist of Greek and Egyptian heritage, her father a South African multi-instrumentalist with Argentinian roots — Phoenix grew up steeped in soul, hip-hop, jazz, and R&B. You can hear all of it here. “About You” leans into the warmth and musicianship of classic soul, but filters it through a contemporary, slightly grown-up lens: tender when it wants to be, self-assured when it needs to be, and never overexplaining the desire at the center of it.

An accompanying visualizer drops alongside the single, and Phoenix has confirmed “About You” is the first in a series of releases rolling out across 2026 and 2027 — so consider this your official heads-up to get in early. Again.

Stream Phoenix Laoutaris on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1cOYfuIR7IU9Vd6ZaGdfbT

Revisit her 2021 debut “Flowers” here: https://open.spotify.com/track/4hbNgW2qAaiAbtHe9OlLv2

Add “About You” to your rotation on July 3 and follow Phoenix on Instagram at @phoenixlaoutaris to keep up with everything coming next.