Elif Coskun – “The Hardest Part”

Some songs sit in a drawer for years and lose nothing of their charm, and “The Hardest Part” by Elif Coskun is like that. It’s impressive that it was written six years before its July 2025 release and the track is about childhood, forgiveness, and the kind of attachment that stays even after someone has hurt you. It’s one of the best records I’ve heard this week so far.

Elif Coskun recorded it in her hometown, a place she no longer lives in. Going back to record a song about old pain in the city where that pain happened is a strange call, and it gives the track something you don’t get from a song built cleanly in a neutral studio. The production layers up slowly around her voice, getting fuller and more cinematic as it goes, but the closeness at the start never really disappears.

The vocals are soft and a little dreamy, which fits the mood without feeling like a stylistic decision for its own sake. She skips forced rhymes and writes toward the feeling instead, which means some lines hit harder than you expect. Personally, this is the kind of debut single that makes me want to watch an artist carefully. A five-song EP is coming, and if it carries this level of honesty, it’ll be worth clearing time for.

Check out whatever else she’s released before this, and follow Elif Coskun now to stay up to date with everything she has coming later this year.