Altadena, California’s Eileen Carey has been racking up accolades at a steady clip – New Music Awards’ AC/Hot AC Breakthrough Artist of 2025, Independent Music Network’s Entertainer of the Year in 2025, multiple chart-toppers on the New Music Weekly Indie Top 40, and a live resume that includes sharing stages with Don McLean, Rita Coolidge, and Jefferson Starship. “This Is Where” came out February 2nd and sits in her “West Coast Pop-Country” wheelhouse – a breakup song reframed as a beginning rather than an ending, about two people who outgrew each other and walked away with the lessons intact.
Production-wise, this is nicely put together – all the parts and layers sound great and sit well together in the mix. It’s not my usual style of music, but the songwriting is genuinely catchy, the performance is strong, and the whole thing moves with an ease that comes from someone who clearly knows what she’s doing. It’s a breakup song that doesn’t wallow – it leans into the idea that outgrowing someone is something to be grateful for, and the music matches that energy without overselling it.
“This Is Where” is squarely in the lane Eileen Carey has been building for years, and she’s clearly good at it. The empowering, positive framing of a song about endings is very much her signature move at this point, and the execution here is solid. If this kind of feel-good, well-crafted pop-country is your thing, it’s worth your time.
