Catalina Cara Finds Healing and Hope on Soulful New EP “What a Feeling'
- Andy Roberts
- Oct 30, 2025
- 2 min read
Moldovan-Romanian alt-pop artist Catalina Cara steps into new emotional territory with her deeply affecting new EP, What a Feeling, a five-track journey through grief, recovery, and renewal. Known for her elegant blend of dreamy soul, ‘80s shimmer, and chill-step rhythms, Catalina expands her sound into something more cinematic and confessional.
Following the atmospheric warmth of her 2022 debut Leap Year Baby, What a Feeling feels rawer, more exposed. The title track, co-created with producer Mihai Ristea and the late Casey Benjamin of the Robert Glasper Experiment, anchors the project with its lush mix of dream pop, R&B, and soul. Against hypnotic synth swells and velvet-smooth vocals, Catalina’s lyrics shimmer with quiet resilience. “I want to paint this world with love and sprinkle magic from above,” she sings, a mantra born in dark times, written during the early days of the war in Ukraine, when family members were sent to the front.
Across the EP, Catalina traces a delicate emotional arc — from numbness and despair to peace and rebirth. Each track feels like a page in a diary of transformation, closing one chapter of inner turmoil and opening another filled with light. “What a Feeling is a warm embrace,” she explains, “a reminder that we are not alone — that healing is possible, and love can be reclaimed.”
It’s that sincerity that makes What a Feeling so powerful. While Catalina’s influences are global, her storytelling feels deeply human and immediate. The production glows with cinematic polish, pulsing basslines, ethereal harmonies, and a crystalline sense of space, but at its heart, this is an album about softness, compassion, and connection.
Catalina Cara continues to carve out her own path through Europe’s alt-pop landscape. With What a Feeling, she doesn’t just deliver her most personal work to date, she offers an invitation to heal, to feel, and to believe again in the quiet magic of empathy.
