The song’s raw simplicity is its strength.

Ollie Byrd’s new single, “The Sun Will Bring the Day Again,” wastes no time. Byrd jumps right in with earnest vocals, telling a tale as old as Adam and Eve: heartbreak. A dry drum beat, anchored by bass, sits upfront in the mix. Guitars are panned wide and close, like they are coming from opposite sides of your bedroom. The three-chord progression is simple, and so are the lyrics; Byrd even calls them cliché.

And I know that you want me back this way again
And I know that these lyrics are cliche again
The memory slowly returned
Once we thought we had learned

The song’s raw simplicity is its strength. The repetition becomes a kind of trance, over which Byrd layers vocal harmonies drenched in reverb, distorted guitars, and primal screams which speak to the pain at the heart of the song.

Byrd says it was actually one of the first songs he ever wrote: “It’s from when I was around 24. It came from losing my first love—a pretty simple and universal experience. I tried to create a simplicity in the music that fit the raw honesty and intensity of the topic.”

Released earlier this year, “The Sun Will Bring the Day Again” has been embraced on TikTok, with plays approaching 100,000. Many listeners will know Byrd from his previous viral hit, “Couple Skate,” which has more than 2 million streams on Spotify. While that track was a grungy throwback to 90s bands like Radiohead, Byrd is honing a new aesthetic in his latest releases: lo-fi emo.

Inspired by artists like Alex G, lo-fi emo is marked by its deliberately low fidelity production, combining acoustic and distorted guitars with raw, intimately delivered vocals. Songs typically feature highly singable melodies, major keys, and chill “boom-bap” drum beats. Byrd shares that Alex G’s fans found Byrd’s music through the magic of social media algorithms. They started telling him that his music sounded like lo-fi emo.

As a result of this feedback, Byrd looked into the genre and immediately felt an affinity for it. “It's kind of an anti-autotune world,” he says, “an anti-computer technology world. There are many natural instruments and not much looping. And people are intentionally raw and not perfect in this genre. So I kind of embraced what the algorithm told me I was, which is ironic, and a bit weird.”

Fully embracing the new sound and his growing fanbase, Byrd is working on a new record. Writing the songs on an acoustic guitar with the influence of walks around the mountains of his North Carolina home, he is inspired by nature, the Bible, and the music of Nick Drake. As he explains, “I keep finding myself gravitating towards more acoustic-based stuff. And that's kind of the direction I'm going on some of these new songs.”

The final result is sure to be honest, raw, and authentically Ollie Byrd. Listen to him on Spotify. And be sure to follow him on TikTok (@olliebyrd) to let the algorithm know you want to be part of the lo-fi emo revolution.