spill tab’s quietly devastating “Paranoia” (ft. boylife) is a tender, soul-stirring slow-burn confessional that finds its beauty and power not in resolving anxiety, but in sitting honestly inside the fear of loving someone who might be slipping away – a striking new release from one of alt-pop’s most compelling voices.

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Stream: “Paranoia” – spill tab ft. boylife

So say when you leave you don’t want me, ‘cause how you gonna make me cry now…

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Tender and hushed, bold and quietly smoldering, “Paranoia” unfolds like a feeling you’re afraid to say out loud for fear it might come true.

Anchored by a hypnotic, low-slung bass line that seems to breathe on its own, the song moves with a slow, magnetic pull – intimate, haunted, and deeply all-consuming. The production feels hazy and lo-fi without ever losing its emotional clarity, gently glitching at the edges as if the song itself is fraying under the weight of what it’s trying to hold.

At the center of it all is spill tab’s Claire Chicha, whose vocal performance is nothing short of breathtaking. She sings softly but decisively, every line delivered with a restraint that makes the ache feel heavier. “I don’t wanna lead you on / I don’t wanna make me another woman gone,” she admits early on, her voice hovering just above the instrumentation, fragile and resolute at once. The song never rushes its emotions – it lets paranoia pool slowly, naming the fear without trying to outrun it. As Chicha has said, she wrote “Paranoia” almost entirely in one session, a special moment where everything surfaced at once, translating the heavy weight she’d been carrying into song. The result feels instinctive and unguarded, as if the track arrived fully formed – nothing here feels sanded down or second-guessed.

That instinctiveness is part of what makes “Paranoia” so utterly irresistible: It’s one of those rare, effortlessly beautiful songs where restraint doesn’t soften the blow – it sharpens it.

I don’t wanna lead you on
I don’t wanna make me
another woman gone
I lost her to the night
when we were walking home
I don’t really need to
I don’t really need to
know more than I already do, it
It don’t make it easier if both of us lose

Won’t be the paranoia
why won’t you
say what is going on?
Calling me California
reaching for
something already lost

For listeners familiar with spill tab’s world, “Paranoia” feels like a natural – if more exposed – evolution. A French-Korean-American, LA-based artist known for her playful experimentation, genre-fluid instincts, and vivid emotional storytelling, Chicha has spent years building a universe where curiosity and honesty coexist. Her debut album ANGIE introduced that world in widescreen, shaped by collaboration, visual imagination, and an unwavering commitment to emotional truth.

Released in May 2025 via Because Music, ANGIE marked a long-awaited arrival for spill tab – a debut album years in the making that finally gave full shape to the playful, genre-slipping instincts she’d been refining across earlier EPs. Built through deep collaboration with producers like Solomonophonic, Marinelli, and John Hill, the record moved freely between glitchy pop, guitar-led confessionals, orchestral flourishes, and multilingual storytelling, stitching together fragments of Chicha’s many musical identities into one cohesive, vividly imagined world. Tracks like “PINK LEMONADE,” “by Design,” and “wet veneer” showcased an artist unafraid of texture, contrast, or emotional specificity, while the album’s visual universe – crafted alongside longtime collaborators – reinforced its sense of curiosity and lived-in wonder. Critically celebrated and embraced by listeners, ANGIE established spill tab not just as a shapeshifting pop presence, but as a songwriter deeply invested in honesty, community, and uninhibited creative play – qualities that have made her a three-time Atwood Editor’s Pick and a familiar, welcome voice across our pages. With “Paranoia,” she turns that lens in toward herself, trusting stillness and restraint as much as expansion.

There’s a cinematic quality to the way “Paranoia” unfolds, reminiscent of the dusky, emotional immediacy of Mk.gee and Dijon, but filtered through spill tab’s own dreamy, neo-soul-tinged lens.

Built around what Chicha refers to as the “insanely beautiful chords” Micah Jasper recorded on bass, “Paranoia” resists overcomplication – trusting the loop, and letting feeling do the rest. It aches and glows at the same time, shimmering with warmth even as it spirals inward. When she sings, “Won’t be the paranoia / why won’t you say what is going on?” it lands like a whispered confrontation – not accusatory, just aching for clarity. Chicha has described the song as emerging from the emotional aftermath of a breakup – “any kind of breakup will reaaaallllyy do it,” she admits – but what lingers here isn’t drama so much as the quiet terror of sitting inside uncertainty.

Say
when you leave
you don’t want me
‘cause how you gonna
make me cry now

Say what you mean
when you’re walking
away so I can give a
standing ovation
for what we’ve created

That emotional tension deepens with the arrival of boylife, whose verse brings a rougher, more grounded energy into the song’s soft-focus world. Originally invited to add vocal harmonies, he instead wrote an entire verse, reshaping the song’s emotional arc. Chicha has spoken about how much that shift mattered to her, noting that boylife brought “a sort of roughness to the song, both lyrically and texturally,” adding depth, texture, and perspective without breaking its spell. His presence feels less like a feature and more like a shared confession – two voices circling the same fear from different angles, expanding the song’s emotional vocabulary to reach its fullest potential. “You could be savage too, it’s not just something I do,” he offers, his delivery understated but charged, grounding the song’s anxiety in mutual vulnerability.

I’ll be the one that’s on your mind
If you’ll have me
Maybe we could take our time
to get nasty
You could be savage too
It’s not just something I do
I know that you feel it too

For spill tab, the song came pouring out all at once. “I wrote ‘Paranoia’ for the most part all the way through in one go,” she shares, describing it as everything that “had accumulated on my chest.” That immediacy is palpable – the lyrics don’t feel revised or overthought, just lived-in and exposed. “Ultimately it really encapsulates that slice of my life in this preserved way. When I sing it I get to relive this little bubble, I really love that,” she shares. “Those feelings were so raw and painful at the time, but within all that emotion I felt really alive and in tune with myself.” Even the quietest moments carry weight, especially in the outro, where Chicha confesses, “No one else makes me feel alive, and I can’t hide that,” her voice barely rising above the track’s gentle pulse.

“Paranoia” also serves as a bridge between eras. The song opens the door to AngieAngieAngie, the upcoming deluxe edition of her debut album ANGIE, expanding the emotional and sonic world she began building last year. spill tab describes the deluxe as a way of stretching those stories a little further – leaning into new influences while staying rooted in honesty and thoughtful production. The four additional tracks on AngieAngieAngie were written during or just after the original album took shape, carrying the same emotional DNA while allowing her curiosity to roam further – into new textures, influences, and tonal spaces that still feel unmistakably hers. Rather than closing a chapter, the deluxe lets the world of ANGIE breathe a little longer, preserving its honesty while deepening its sense of movement, play, and emotional reach. “I wanted to explore what a spill tab song can sound like,” she explains, and “Paranoia” feels like a fearless step forward in that exploration.

So say
when you leave
you don’t want me
‘cause how you gonna
make me cry now

Say what you mean
when you’re walking
away so I can give a
standing ovation
for what we’ve created

What makes this music linger is its refusal to resolve the feeling it names. There’s a quiet ache running through every second of “Paranoia” – the sense that speaking the emotions aloud might make them real, but staying silent might be worse. “Say… what you mean… when you’re walking… away,” spill tab pleads, asking for truth even if it hurts. The song doesn’t offer closure, only presence – the act of sitting with the anxiety instead of smoothing it over.

As haunting as it is hypnotic, “Paranoia” feels like one of those songs you return to in moments of transition – late at night, headphones on, vulnerable and unguarded. It’s tender without being fragile, soulful without being showy, and deeply affecting in its restraint. In capturing the quiet fear of loving someone who might be slipping away, spill tab and boylife have created something intimate and enduring – a song that aches, shimmers, and stays with you long after it fades.

I wanna keep you in the morning
but you fight back
I could’ve stayed like this forever
but you spite that
Telling me I keep you down and that
everyone around you says that’s bad

Cut the cord when I need to but
no one else makes me feel alive
and I can’t hide that
I swear I’m coming right back

spill tab recently sat down with Atwood Magazine to talk through the instincts, emotions, and moments of clarity that shaped “Paranoia” – and what it’s meant to let a song this quiet, this exposed, exist on its own terms. Read our conversation below, and spend some time with “Paranoia” wherever you listen. AngieAngieAngie is out February 18 via Because Music, extending the world of ANGIE with the same curiosity, emotional honesty, and fearless experimentation that have made spill tab one of our longtime favorites.

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:: stream/purchase Paranoia here ::

:: connect with spill tab here ::

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Stream: “Paranoia” – spill tab ft. boylife

A CONVERSATION WITH SPILL TAB

spill tab: I’d love for people to be able to pull a sense of playfulness and experimental energy from the most recent project, because the squad and I had so much making all these songs and tinkering with them and bringing them home. But I think of course the dream is for people to really listen to the lyrics, and to know that every line was an honest take, I really pushed myself to write the most truthful version of all these stories. I wanted to make something void of filler language, and also something texturally interesting.

spill tab: So classic, but any kind of breakup will reaaaallllyy do it.

spill tab: To be honest, the lyrics say it best!

spill tab: I often have a tendency to want to overcomplicate things, I don’t want to get bored or tired of a loop of music, and so sometimes I overthink where the beginning of a song should go, or how complex the progressions should be, and sometime it does pay off but I think in this instance Micah played such beautiful chords on bass that already sounded so dialed, and I just knew that it didn’t need all the tweaking and expanding. It helped me get right in there and start writing. I wanted something nostalgic and dreamy but also honest and quite raw.

spill tab: Ryan is such a one-of-a-kind artist, he’s got such strong vision and executes so intentionally. I really love that he added a sort of roughness to the song, both lyrically and texturally.

spill tab: I think that outro reflects a lot of the core anxiety – the deep fear of being too much becoming a reality, realizing someone you love is pulling away maybe… oof!

spill tab: I think the nature of having these sorts of anxieties in a relationship is that saying it out loud to the other person almost feels like a curse, because now you have to come to terms with where those feelings come from and whether or not the person it front of you is the right one to work through everything with.

spill tab: I wrote “Paranoia” for the most part all the way through in one go, and so ultimately it really encapsulates that slice of my life in this preserved way. When I sing it, I get to relive this little bubble, and I really love that. Those feelings were so raw and painful at the time, but within all that emotion I felt really alive and in tune with myself.

spill tab: It expands on a lot of the themes and sonic qualities of the album, I had a lot of fun leaning into some musical influences I hadn’t before, and exploring what a spill tab song can sound like. I’m definitely equal parts excited and nervous to put it out haha.

spill tab: I’ve had so many songs in the past accompany me through difficult life transitions: breakups, moves, new schools, new cities, goodbyes, etc. I’d go back to them over and over, because they’d help me cry or feel nostalgic or bring me a sense of peace. I hope this song can do something similar for someone else!

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:: stream/purchase Paranoia here ::

:: connect with spill tab here ::

:: stream/purchase AngieAngieAngie here ::

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Stream: “Paranoia” – spill tab ft. boylife

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 © Jade Sadler

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