Wichita-based artist Kushpowers has carved a creative path defined by honesty, emotional depth, and a commitment to storytelling without shortcuts. His journey has been shaped by a life filled with challenges, resilience, and a refusal to fabricate or dilute truth in his music. From the very beginning, Kushpowers has believed that artistry demands transparency, that real stories come from lived experiences, not manufactured personas. This belief forms the core of his identity as a musician and as a person. Blending hip-hop, R&B, and alternative soul, he has developed a sound rooted in raw emotion and spiritual introspection. His music speaks openly about pain, growth, and self-discovery, offering listeners both vulnerability and strength. Over the years, Kushpowers has worked closely “with and around” respected creatives such as Mike B Benno and Tony Lee, forming bonds that extend beyond formal collaborations.
These relationships grew from shared spaces, shared struggles, and a mutual dedication to turning adversity into art. For Kushpowers, this creative partnership was inevitable, a natural evolution of years spent building trust, chemistry, and quiet understanding. He approaches his craft with professionalism, humility, passion, and a sense of humor, driven by a heartfelt story he is finally ready to share with the world. What he seeks is not fame or shortcuts, but the opportunity to spread a message that carries emotional truth and artistic purpose. His music is not a performance of who he wants to be, it is a reflection of who he is. With the release of his upcoming single “Butterflies and Moon Trees” on November 14, 2025, Kushpowers enters a new chapter of his artistic evolution, one that dives fearlessly into the emotional landscapes that have shaped him. From a spontaneous studio session that blossomed into a fully realized track, the single captures the undeniable chemistry between Kushpowers and Mike B Benno, the collaborator he describes as the “lead actor” he had always imagined for this sonic story.
“Butterflies and Moon Trees” is both haunting and hopeful, merging poetic imagery with grounded emotional truth. The track explores heartbreak, addiction, loneliness, and the long, painful climb toward self-improvement, threading each theme through soulful storytelling and atmospheric sound. Kushpowers himself calls it a song that “covers so much emotional ground,” a statement that reflects the deep personal resonance embedded within every line and every layer of instrumentation. This single is a testament to shared adversity, creative synergy, and the transformative power of vulnerability. It is a piece of music crafted from lived experiences, shaped by long-standing relationships, and delivered with the kind of emotional authenticity that can only come from an artist who refuses to tell half-truths.
“Butterflies and Moon Trees” begins with an atmosphere that feels almost suspended between reality and imagination, immediately pulling the listener into a world that is soft, surreal, and emotionally charged. The introduction blooms with airy synthesizers that rise like slow-moving mist, blending with distant vocal pads that shimmer gently across the stereo field. There is an almost cinematic stillness in these opening seconds, as if Kushpowers crafted a doorway into his internal space and is inviting the listener to step inside. Beneath the ambient haze, faint chime-like textures sparkle subtly, adding a delicate magical feel that echoes the whimsical imagery of the title. The opening is deeply emotive, quiet yet piercing, setting the foundation for a soundscape that feels both intimate and expansive. As the song settles into its opening rhythm, the listener feels wrapped in a fragile warmth, as though the music itself is breathing slowly, guiding the mind into a contemplative state.
As the track expands, the instrumentation begins to layer itself with patient precision, introducing elements one by one to build a rich and immersive sonic palette. Light electronic percussion enters with whisper-soft hi-hats and muted kick drums that pulse like a steady heartbeat, giving the track a gentle forward motion without disturbing its softness. A warm, rounded bass glides beneath the mix, providing depth and emotional grounding. Electric piano chords float in the background, swelling and fading like waves against the shore, while subtle plucked synths dance lightly across the upper frequencies with a fragile brightness. Kushpowers’ choice of instruments creates a delicate balance between electronic textures and organic warmth, producing a sensation that is dreamy, reflective, and almost weightless. Every sound seems intentionally placed, no element feels excessive, allowing the listener to absorb each layer as it quietly contributes to the track’s emotional presence.
The progression of “Butterflies and Moon Trees” unfolds with a gentle, evolving grace, never rushing its transitions and instead embracing a fluid, gradual development. The verses maintain a soft minimalism, allowing space for emotion to breathe, with stripped-back percussion and lightly filtered synth pads creating a subtle tension beneath the surface. As the music moves toward the chorus, additional layers seep into the arrangement, richer chords, broader pads, lifted harmonics, resulting in a moment where the sound feels like it opens its arms wide. The progression mirrors the emotional arc of healing: subtle shifts, small breakthroughs, quiet climbs toward something brighter. Melodic motifs repeat like waves of internal reflection, yet each repetition carries new shades of color through slight harmonic changes or added textures. The chorus, wider and more luminous, creates a feeling similar to moonlight cutting through darkness, offering uplift without disrupting the song’s soft melancholy. This steady rise and fall gives the track a hypnotic momentum that feels both soothing and emotionally resonant.
Kushpowers’ vocal performance stands at the emotional center of the song, carrying a tenderness that feels raw, unfiltered, and deeply personal. His voice enters gently, with a softness that almost trembles, conveying a vulnerability that aligns perfectly with the atmospheric production. There is a natural grain in his voice, a slight emotional weight that reveals the lived experiences behind the lyrics, pain, healing, fear, and perseverance. Subtle reverb wraps around his vocals, expanding them just enough to blend with the dreamy texture of the instrumental while keeping his presence intimate and close, as if he is speaking directly into the listener’s ear. His phrasing is slow, controlled, and expressive, with small cracks and breaths that enhance the authenticity of the performance. The vocal delivery embodies both the fragility and the hope embedded in the track’s theme, making each line feel like a gentle confession floating within the surrounding ambience.
The way Kushpowers blends his vocals with the instrumental arrangement further deepens the emotional impact of the song. Soft harmonic layers appear during the chorus and key emotional moments, creating a sense of companionship and shared vulnerability. These harmonies are barely-there whispers, supporting the lead vocals without overshadowing their rawness. In moments where the instrumental thins out, especially during the quieter verse passages, his unaccompanied voice carries the full emotional weight, evoking the loneliness, inner conflict, and introspection that inspired the creation of the track. The interplay between sparse verses and fuller choruses allows the listener to feel the emotional ebb and flow, mirroring the unpredictability of healing and the oscillation between darkness and light. The vocals and instruments move together like intertwined threads, creating a seamless emotional tapestry that feels deeply intentional and thoughtfully constructed.
An intimate, atmospheric journey of heartbreak, healing, and hope, ‘Butterflies and Moon Trees’ reveals Kushpowers’ raw emotion, soulful storytelling, and honest transformation.
The ending of “Butterflies and Moon Trees” arrives with a gentle, almost ethereal fade, allowing the layers of sound to slowly dissolve into silence. The synth pads soften, the percussion withdraws, and the ambient textures gradually drift away until only a faint shimmer remains, lingering like an emotional afterglow. This closing moment feels less like an ending and more like a quiet release, a slow exhale after a long, reflective breath. The fade-out mirrors the theme of ongoing healing, suggesting that the emotional journey does not stop when the music does. Instead, it leaves the listener suspended in a space of calm, introspection, and lingering warmth. The track’s final moments encapsulate everything the song stands for: vulnerability, transformation, and the delicate coexistence of sorrow and hope. Through its immersive instrumentation, expressive vocals, and thoughtful progression, “Butterflies and Moon Trees” becomes not just a song, but an emotional experience that resonates deeply long after the last note fades.
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