UK singer/songwriter Ellur unleashes a searing, cathartic storm on “Missing Kid,” a rousing indie rock anthem reckoning with self-doubt, identity, and the ache of growing into adulthood. Speaking with Atwood Magazine, the Halifax-born artist-to-watch reflects on her innermost anxieties and the pursuit of connection – offering a glimpse into the unflinching honesty and electric energy driving her music today.

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Stream: “Missing Kid” – Ellur

There’s a raw ache to Ellur’s “Missing Kid” that you can feel in your bones: A searing, surging indie rock churn that captures the spiraling experience of trying to keep up, keep calm, and keep going.

“This sinking feeling, I know it so well,” the Halifax-bred singer/songwriter confesses in her feverish anthem – yet as emotions sink, energy levels rise. That line alone hits a nerve – and the whole song keeps the hits coming: It’s big and bold and heart-wrenchingly vulnerable, with dramatic, dazzling guitars, a breathtaking, rip-roaring chorus, and cinematic levels of catharsis that immediately make you feel more alive, even as they tear you apart.

I’ve studied you relentlessly
The red in your face
I steal when I’m leaving the house
I keep trying on all the things you feel
Just a wounded dog, a fake warrior
An abundance of love,
I go with the flow ’til I drown
Every film I watch I leave in tears

And every road road
leads me back to this
Every aisle I look down
I’m looking like a missing kid

Released July 16 via Dance To The Radio, “Missing Kid” is Ellur’s first new single of 2025 and the beginning of a new era for the rising British artist (née Ella McNamara). A sharp, unfiltered reflection on the weight of adulthood and the identity crises that accompany your early twenties, the track builds on the confessional brilliance of last year’s God Help Me Now EP, showcasing Ellur’s natural gift for pairing gut-punch lyrics with unapologetically explosive indie rock. The song was produced by Joel Johnston (Far Caspian) and arrived this summer amidst a busy festival run and sold-out UK tour dates, further cementing Ellur’s status as one of British indie’s most compelling new voices.

For Ellur, “Missing Kid” is a kind of affirmation – her own homespun sonic self-therapy.

“I wrote it when rehearsing for a support tour I did last November, when I was feeling a bit self-critical and low,” she tells Atwood Magazine. “I felt like I’d spent my life copying everyone else and looking to other people for guidance on how I should be living my life. I needed a song that would pick me up.”

So she made one – and it’s an absolute knockout. From the opening verse (“I’ve studied you, relentlessly… I go with the flow ‘til I drown”) to that devastating hook (“Look like I’m healing, I’m going through Hell”), “Missing Kid” cuts deep and leaves a mark. It’s a rallying cry for those who’ve lost their way, who feel like strangers in their own skin – a thrashing, glistening reckoning with shame, self-doubt, and the impossible task of figuring it all out while pretending to be okay.

I’ve been warning you so fruitlessly
It’s biting my tongue,
my teeth they keep falling out
Every dream I have I come out the fool
There’s hero I’vе been looking to
A fictional world where you
can’t keep letting mе down
Everything I’ve done was for loving you

This sinking feeling
I know it so well
Look like I’m healing
I’m going through Hell

“I find life throws me situations sometimes and I’m left feeling like a kid who’s lost their mum in a supermarket,” Ellur says.

“I suppose that’s what this song is about for me at the moment. [It’s] about how I observe the people in my life; I sometimes feel like I’m just copying what everyone else is doing, simply because I don’t know what I’m ‘supposed to’ do… It’s also about wanting to move and getting other people moving when we play it live. I love playing it.”

This sinking feeling
I know it so well
Look like I’m healing
I’m going through Hell
For you I’m kneeling and kicking myself
This sinking feeling
I know it so well

That duality – of longing and release, fear and freedom – courses through every inch of “Missing Kid.” You can feel her inner angst and churn beneath the fiery guitars, but it’s all delivered with the kind of livewire energy that lifts you up even when the subject matter drags you down. “It’s panic and depression and shame,” Ellur says of the song’s central emotion, “but I’m really good at hiding it, haha.”

And yet here she is, not hiding at all – offering her inner world up in plain sight, and in doing so, making space for others to feel less alone. “I want people to hear it and think, ‘that’s how I feel!’” she shares. “That’s usually my goal with any music release. Whenever I play live I seek out a moment with someone in the audience where we can make eye contact and I can feel that they understand. Being able to relate to people I’ve never met without even a conversation is so interesting to me. It’s like magic.”

With this song, that magic is palpable. “Missing Kid” is music at its most emotionally honest and sonically thrilling – a stunning, scream-worthy standout from one of indie’s brightest stars. As Ellur puts it: “It’s the start of a series of songs that represent me at my best and worst… I’m living out my inner child’s dream, and I do it all for her.” She doesn’t just bare her soul on “Missing Kid” – she invites us into the whirlwind, offering connection through vulnerability and release through sound. Atwood Magazine caught up with the Halifax-born artist-to-watch to get under the hood of her exhilarating song, discussing the anxieties behind it and the cathartic thrill of turning turmoil into song. Read our full conversation below, and stream “Missing Kid,” out now!

I know it so well
This sinking feeling
I know it so well
Look like I’m healing
I’m going through Hell
For you I’m kneeling
and kicking myself
This sinking feeling
I know it so well

And every road leads me back to this
Every aisle I look down I’m looking
like a missing kid

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:: stream/purchase Missing Kid here ::

:: connect with Ellur here ::

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A CONVERSATION WITH ELLUR

Ellur: I wrote it when rehearsing for a support tour I did last November when I was feeling a bit self-critical and low. I felt like I’d spent my life copying everyone else and looking to other people for guidance on how I should be living my life. I needed a song that would pick me up.

Ellur: Adulthood feels like it hits you in the face. I find life throws me situations sometimes and I’m left feeling like a kid who’s lost their Mum in a supermarket. I suppose that’s what this song is about for me at the moment. It’s also about wanting to move and getting other people moving when we play it live. I love playing it.

Ellur: It’s a sort of dark, anxious feeling in my stomach that I get when I feel like I’ve done something wrong. Whether that’s mistakenly saying the wrong thing or forgotten I was supposed to be somewhere, an appointment or meeting or something. It sometimes manifests as this overwhelming, burn out feeling that I get. It’s panic and depression and shame… but I’m really good at hiding it, haha.

Ellur: It’s the start of a series of songs that represent me at my best and worst. It’s me writing alone in my bedroom at night when I’m at my lowest points and then later recording and performing it when I’m at my best, in the state of creative flow. The drums and guitars and sparkles and frills make my diary entry songs feel like healed wounds when I come to perform them. Music is so important to me.

Ellur: I suppose, bearing that earlier supermarket metaphor in mind, it’s also an allusion to me trying to find and heal my inner child. A lot of the creative process for me recently has been about weaving in ideas and creating things that she would love. It’s all about finding her and listening to her. Videos, instrumentation, outfit and style choices, performances. I’m living out her dream and so I do it all for her.

Ellur: Understanding, joy and connection. I want people to hear it and think ‘that’s how I feel!’ and that’s usually my goal with any music release. I look forward to playing it live and that was always in mind from the writing through to the recording process. Whenever I play live I seek out a moment with someone in the audience where we can make eye contact and I can feel that they understand. Being able to relate to people I’ve never met without even a conversation is so interesting to me. It’s like magic.

Ellur: Music is as much of a home for me as the place I sleep and the people I love. I create music that feels vulnerable and honest whilst wanting people to feel comforted and related to. I love guitars, folk rock, indie, pop and alternative music. I take inspiration these days from Jeff Buckley, The War on Drugs, Sam Fender, The 1975 and Dora Jar.

I also like reading, Yorkshire Tea, and spending too much time on my phone.

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:: stream/purchase Missing Kid here ::

:: connect with Ellur here ::

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Stream: “Missing Kid” – Ellur

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