Hooked Like Helen
Female-Fronted Friday: Hooked Like Helen
When: Formed in 2016, writing music for TV and movies. Began focusing on touring in 2023.
Where: Northeast Ohio
Genre: Alt-rock/Sad glam
FFO: Evanescence, Tori Amos, Jewel, Lacuna Coil
At its core, Hooked Like Helen is made up of husband-and-wife Nikki and Jon Stipp. The band explores topics such as mental health, unresolved trauma, and addiction recovery in their music, fostering a safe space for healing for both themselves and their fan base. They have provided music for films and TV, and they have opened for such artists as Scott Stapp, Jewel, and Hinder.
Hooked Like Helen’s latest single, “I Don’t Mind,” deals with the subject of unrecognized and therefore unprocessed trauma. Check it out below, along with a few of my other favorite HLH tracks! And be sure to follow/subscribe to their various socials for tour dates, new music announcements, and much more!
“I Don’t Mind”
“Promise Me You’ll Run”
“Fraud”
“Sleepwalker”
Five Songs I’m Obsessed With [3/30 – 4/5]
Five Songs I’m Obsessed With [2/16 – 2/22]
- Chasing Stars: “Embrace”
- Somehow Still: “Enough”
- Hooked Like Helen: “Lend Me Your Ear”
- Hillbilly Vegas: “I Hope You Know”
- Bound South: “A Gambler Knows a Cheat”
I’m allowing myself an Honorable Mention again, because I really dig this track but can’t replace any of the others.
Song of the Day – Hooked Like Helen: “Winter”
My Top 50 Songs of 2025
This list is rolling out a lot later than usual, and I’ve gotta be honest – it’s because I failed so miserably at keeping up with releases last year. I mean, I added tracks to my playlist and shared them here, as well as on Facebook and Insta, but I didn’t sit and listen to them until recently. I’ll do better this year, I swear!
And now, here are the fifty songs that really jumped out at me in 2025. A few things to be aware of: I do not rank the tracks in any particular order, and I do not include major label artists (or I try not to, at any rate), nor do I include covers. Last but not least, no band/artist can have more than one song on the list.
View the full playlist HERE.
- Element 117: “Vision”
- SKNN: “Digital Zombies”
- Could You Not?: “Backpedal”
- Hooked Like Helen: “Quote Unquote Life”
- The Fiction We Create: “More Than Scars”
- Nouveau Arcade: “Push”
- Eli Howard & the Greater Good: “Long, Strange Trip”
- Boze: “I Will Go”
- The CyberTones: “Red Flags Flying”
- Deadcode: “Don’t Let Me Go”
- AGBAT: “Fair Winds”
- Sever Red: “Conjuring”
- Endless May: “Call My Name”
- Absolutist: “Lineage”
- Elirah’s Cross: “The Walk” (ft. Histheory)
- Matte Blvck: “Vicious Dreams”
- Alchemy Within: “The Call”
- In Passing: “Silhouette”
- A Fatal Black: “Kill the Lights”
- Stellar Circuits: “Bury the Ashes”
- mothshade: “Labyrinth”
- New Dilemma: “Ice Cold Hands” (ft. Chloe Robin)
- Czarina: “Fall Damage” (ft. Circuit Preacher)
- postdrome: “So Inviting”
- Cold Clay Mountain: “These Hands”
- Krysis: “The Summit’s Ice”
- Adelitas Way + New Medicine: “Rollin'”
- Blackwood: “One Track Mind” (ft. Kameron Jane)
- The Black Zodiac: “Gallow’s Call”
- No Fly List: “The Rush”
- Voice of Glass: “Henosis”
- Nights in Prada: “Thorns in Silk” (ft. Sara Rayne)
- Divide the Fall: “Beyond the Surface”
- War Inside: “Hollow Points”
- Ethereal Treason: “Ivory”
- Mirrorcell: “U(phoria)”
- Noir Addiction: “Chemical Bride”
- Phantom of Pop: “Sugar Sin”
- Almera: “Retrograde”
- Stellar: “Outta My League”
- Kings of Karma: “Falling to Pieces”
- Wraithlurk: “One More Lie” (ft. $KIMMY)
- Rise to Ruin: “Archaic”
- Danger Silent: “To Whoever’s Left, Pt. 2”
- Hallowtide: “O Captain”
- MAK: “Fever”
- The Mercury Seed: “Disappear”
- vasthearts: “such a shame” (ft. romziie and Leø)
- AnonTheory: “Thoughts and Prayers”
- We Brought the Storm: “Heavy Rain”
The Mostly Music 2025 Playlist, Pt. 5 (Updated 5/31/25)
The second half of May has come in as strong as the first! Check out these tracks that have been released since May 16th.
- Animate Experience: “Onyx”
- The Modern Kollective: “Dreams and Nightmares”
- Azarene: “Memories”
- Falling in Reverse: “God is a Weapon” (ft. Marilyn Manson)
- Lady Strange & the Rites: “High Strangeness”
- Razorwire Halo: “As Good As” (ft. r3nrut)
- A Beautiful Scar: “Never Break”
- Shadow Reborn: “Grave of Roses”
- SKNN: “Bow Down”
- obli_x_vion: “Bird to Prey” (ft. Tyler Noxwind)
- Dark Divine: “Make Me Disappear”
- A Killer’s Confession: “Hollow”
- Ballyhoo!: “Swim”
- Them Damn Dogs: “Weirdo”
- Seethe: “Banshee”
- 40 Below Summer: “King Ghidorah”
- Priest: “My Lonely Heart”
- No Trees Touch The Sky: “3 Visits”
- Third in Theory: “Clay”
- Bleeker: “Self-Made”
- Heartsick: “Break the Curse”
- Cirkus: “Know Yourself”
- Danny Worsnop: “Harder Than the Hard Stuff”
- Sick Century: “Demon Inside”
- Wider Eaves: “Half the Way Undone”
- Shape: “Husk”
- Left to Suffer: “Anon” (ft. King 810)
- Above Snakes: “Forsaken”
- Beauty is Betrayal: “Devil Said”
- Painted Lines: “Better Off”
- Moonfall: “Light Blue Flowers”
- Closed City Terror: “Teflon Idiot”
- Storm Kingdom: “Raindrops Fall on Stained Glass Petals” (ft. Joe Booe)
- Stain the Canvas: “554th”
- Citizen Soldier: “Life Support”
- Voltaire’s Ghost: “Alix Street”
- Anchor & Braille: “Sweet Jesus Knows”
- Midnight For Now: “Friends”
- Host of Nightmare: “Diamond”
- Carbonstone: “Standoff” (ft. Jonny Santos of Spineshank)
- Caelum Wraith: “Are You Still You?”
- Hooked Like Helen: “Quote Unquote Life”
Be sure to visit the other installments of The Mostly Music 2025 Playlist. You could discover your new favorite song/artist!
My Top 50 Songs of 2024
I didn’t even pretend I was going to do less than 50 songs for this list. There was no way. And y’all made it difficult to narrow it down to even that! I’m gonna end up with a top 100 if I’m not careful.
So, this is totally subjective, of course. There were tons of amazing releases over the past 12 months, and I tried to share them all (though I know I missed a few, or found them too late). But these are the tracks, in no particular order, that grabbed and held my attention without letting go.
View the full playlist HERE.
Note: One band/artist cannot have more than one song included. I tried not to put anything by major label bands/artists on here. Last but not least, no covers!
- The Fifth: “Starlight”
- Wicked Playground: “The Madness”
- Hayden Helms: “Motive Behind the Move”
- LASTRY: “Trick or Treat”
- Kill the Fall: “Let It Breathe”
- Maudlin Strangers: “Silver Stain”
- EarlyRise: “Dance for the Money”
- Nick Nasty: “Lose My YOUth”
- Brett Carlisle: “Runaway”
- Til Fauna: “Whisper”
- Deep as Ocean: “Dark Place”
- Globus, A.D.A.M.: “Redemption (down the line…)”
- No Fly List: “Ghost”
- Towers of Jupiter: “Morsus Frigoris”
- Hooked Like Helen: “It Doesn’t Look So Good For You Now”
- THEHERO: “Blood Money”
- Christopher Ardra: “Losing You”
- Circuit Preacher, Mobiius: “Burn”
- Blackjacket: “Blood Stains”
- Alchemy Within, Skyler Parker: “Blood in the Snow”
- Modern Mimes: “Black Butterflies”
- Major Distortion: “The Lone Sailor”
- High Fade: “Bone to Pick”
- Swim The Current: “Stay”
- Carbonstone: “Echoes”
- Bridges Ablaze: “Numb”
- A Shadow Within: “Event Horizon”
- Feverlust: “i dare you to speak”
- Leonine: “Out of Sight, Out of Mind”
- Young Other: “Change Everything”
- Neon Society: “Heliocentricity”
- Mike’s Dead: “Bestrafe Mich (Punish Me)”
- Black Tourmaline: “Embers”
- Hotel Security: “Manic Attack”
- O Mateus: “Perception”
- Silk Parlor: “Holding Me Up”
- Alibis: “Sell Out”
- Eli Howard & the Greater Good: “Too Broke to Die”
- Mads Krul: “Feeling Alright”
- The Whispering Trees: “Bloodline”
- EverFelt: “River”
- Empty Atlas: “Little Voices”
- Red Eleven: “Path”
- Nothing Like Robots: “all natural”
- Algorhythm: “Deeper”
- Signal the Revolution: “Come to Life”
- The Holy Knives: “Killer”
- Kendall Cage: “Rabbit Hole”
- Nick Palma: “Super Electric”
- Sick Century: “Tidal Wave”
The Mostly Music 2024 Playlist, Pt. 5 (Updated 10/6/24)
It’s the most wonderful time of the year – spooky season!!!!!!! And WOW, 2024 really is racing by. I know I’ve already made that observation, but sheesh!
Anyway, this year’s playlist is moving right along. And remember: there will be a top 50 at the end of December! Bands/artists, y’all are already making those choices extremely difficult to narrow down.
Please be sure to check out parts 1-4, along with the entirety of part 5.
Part 1 // Part 2 // Part 3 // Part 4 // Part 5
Here are the songs that have been added since September 22nd.
- Crash the Calm: “Sleep on the Floor”
- Total Radio Silence: “Whirlwinds”
- The Sunday Sadness: “Killing Me”
- Rourke: “Rise”
- Wraithlurk: “Feral”
- Deadly Vices: “Brother” (ft. Brandon Yeagley of Crobot)
- Ruin the Mind: “GODSTOMP”
- We’re Wolves: “Flatline”
- SevVven: “Don’t Panic”
- Innocent Skyline: “Messed Up”
- Dread Persephone: “KYLL”
- The Nghiems: “Stay (Na Na Na Na)”
- Allie Riot: “Cherry Bomb”
- Kid Lazuras: “Skeleton”
- Feral the Wolf: “Echolalia”
- Circuit Preacher: “Burn” (ft. Mobiius)
- DED: “Rockstar”
- Tiny Ghosts: “roses”
- Hooked Like Helen: “Promise Me You’ll Run”
- Cutouts: “Cowgirl” (ft. Tomberlin)
- Duellona: “Big Boys Don’t Cry”
- Death Can Wait: “Death Can Wait”
- Awaking Tyler: “I Hate You”
- New Medicine: “Head Down”
- Scotty Austin: “Left For Dead”
- The Haptics: “Vows”
- Sinsation: “Only the Strong”
- The Split: “Zero Point Energy”
- Erode the Dream: “Salt”
- Above Snakes: “Rot”
- The Failsafe: “Wolves”
- We’re Wolves: “Fallen Sun”
The Mostly Music 2024 Playlist, Pt. 4 (Updated 8/11/24)
I can’t believe it’s already August!!! 2024 is flying by!
I have been retroactively adding songs to the other parts of this playlist as I find them, so be sure to check out/revisit each installment.
Part I (Jan-Feb) // Part II (Mar-Apr) // Part III (May-June)
And visit the entirety of part IV (July-Aug).
Here are the singles that have been added since July 28th.
- Benton Crane: “Ghosts (Part I)”
- Benton Crane: “Stay With Me”
- Waking Stone: “Submersion”
- Audiovent: “Sonic Sunrise”
- The Fërtility Cült: “Fame Everlasting”
- THRØNE: “All the Colours We Cannot See”
- Don’t Panic: “Dark Days”
- pennybomb: “K.O.”
- Inside the Hollow: “Sake of Sanity”
- Mella: “Swaydif”
- Skynd: “Violets are Blue”
- Til Fauna: “This World Ends Now”
- Stand Abandoned: “Skinwalker”
- Feathers For Fuel: “Obsidian”
- Volts Delicious: “Ring the Alarm” (ft. John Napier)
- Empire Springs: “Treading Water”
- Look Back Luna: “Shake My Ghosts”
- Sevy Rog: “The Devil’s Room”
- Lucid Be: “Endless Ocean”
- Rosie Frost: “Vampires” (ft. Lainey Lavender)
- Debris of Titan: “the one you thought would never leave”
- Debris of Titan: “Day Before”
- Safety in Sleep: “Fall Away” (ft. Bobby’s Wrld)
- Hooked Like Helen: “It Doesn’t Look So Good For You Now”
- October Sleepover: “Obsessions”
- Forever in Transit: “Enter the Void” (ft. Diego Tejeida)
- Hyperstasis: “Doom Loop”
Mostly Music 