Everything But The Everything’s “Hollow Heart” takes the emotional scale of the ’80s power ballad and runs it through post-punk guitars, dark-wave atmosphere, and soaring dual vocals; somehow making a very old musical language feel surprisingly at home in 2026.
The Oakland-based band’s latest track explores the particular ache of being rejected while still deeply in love. But Hollow Heart isn’t interested in keeping that heartbreak small. It stretches it into something cinematic and anthemic, building layer upon layer until the emotion feels almost larger than the song itself.
At its core is a bassline and arrangement by bassist and producer Izzy the Gent, with Andy Lund’s evocative guitar work and Ian Dowed’s atmospheric textures adding depth around it. The vocals of Sophia Prise and Tobias Hawkins then take the song somewhere bigger, leaning into the drama and emotional release that made power ballads so compelling in the first place.
The production process seems to have followed the same philosophy. What took longer than expected gave the band time to keep adding layers and refining the track. Drummer Cody Rhodes, brought in for this recording, also helped shape the drums around what the song needed, while the recording took place with Rex Shelverton at San Francisco’s Secret Studio.
Interestingly, Hollow Heart also found its natural place live. After initially appearing earlier in the set, audiences began asking for it as the closer. Listening to it, that makes sense: there’s something inherently final about the song’s emotional scale.
“Hollow Heart” by Everything But The Everything isn’t simply reviving an ’80s sound. It borrows its grandeur, filters it through darker contemporary textures; and gives the power ballad a new place to exist. And Everything But The Everything makes a pretty convincing case for bringing it back!
