Alessi Rose has released “Dependent,” her latest single and the follow-up to May’s “Skin,” arriving as the Derby-born singer-songwriter continues one of the most closely watched rises in British pop this year.

Produced by Josh Scarbrow — known for his work with Arlo Parks and Etta Marcus — “Dependent” is a confessional, guitar-led track that lays bare the messy pull of a relationship the narrator knows she should walk away from but can’t. Speaking about the single, Alessi said it was written during a period when she felt she “needed to be acting against my dependence,” adding that she tried to isolate herself from the people holding her up, “even if it directly opposed what I wanted and needed at that moment.”

The release lands in the middle of a breakout year for the 22-year-old. Alessi featured on BBC Radio 1’s Sound Of 2026 longlist, was named to Shazam’s Fast Forward 2026 Artists and Vevo DSCVR’s Artists to Watch 2026, and has spent recent months opening for Dua Lipa’s Radical Optimism Tour and Tate McRae’s Miss Possessive Tour. This month alone, she performs at NOS Alive in Lisbon, BST Hyde Park in support of Lewis Capaldi, Lollapalooza Berlin, and Latitude Festival, before joining Lorde in Edinburgh in August.

What sets Alessi apart from the current wave of confessional pop songwriters isn’t just the calibre of the stages she’s landed on — it’s the unflinching specificity of the writing itself. Where many artists soften emotional contradiction into something more palatable, Alessi tends to sit inside it, letting an admission stay uncomfortable rather than resolving it into a tidy lesson. “Dependent” continues that pattern, following last year’s “Voyeur (Deluxe)” EP.

For an artist still early in her recording career, that willingness to stay honest rather than tidy is precisely why she’s being talked about as one of the names to watch in 2026 — and why, on the evidence of this single, that reputation looks entirely earned.