Each Measure Feature: Celine

FEATURE

Like so many great works of art, CELINE’s new single, “Let Me Breathe,” comes from the heart. It also comes from the lungs. The Winterlingen, Germany-based singer-songwriter used the track to transform her raw inner experience into a cinematic masterpiece about feeling suffocated.

“Let Me Breathe” was related on April 18th, 2025, and it represents a brave new world in indie music in which listeners are confronted with uncompromising explorations of pain and vulnerability. To create the track, CELINE drew a parallel between two personal struggles she has fought to overcome. The first and most literal is her battle with a chronic lung condition. This serves as the central metaphor of song, as CELINE describes fighting for air in a body where every breath represents a hard-won victory. 

The singer shows no mercy in bringing us into her world, where feeling out of control and desperate for air are the norm, but she’s talking about more than just her lung condition. The other experience from which CELINE drew inspiration for the track was her struggle with a suffocating relationship. Knowing this, the oppressive atmosphere she creates with her music becomes even more poignant. Her trembling, ethereal voice resounds like the cries of someone who has been backed into a corner and just wants room to breathe. It’s enough to send a shiver down the spine of anyone with a basic sense of empathy.

CELINE joined forces with producer Michael Schäuble to design the musical architecture for her tale of suffocation. Their collaboration resulted in a rich electronic soundscape offset by an icy piano melody. The breathy vocals that open the song are not only enchanting, but also thematically germane, and the overall effect is of a downward spiral into increasing desperation. 

“Let Me Breathe” is a song that doesn’t shy away from honesty and vulnerability, but it’s also an act of protest and rebellion. CELINE isn’t giving up. She shows us exactly how much strain she’s under, but she’s also fighting for her right to breathe and giving vent to her pain through music, and that’s what makes tracks like “Let Me Breathe” so important.

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