If you want to look up Bad Daughter, a careless attempt at googling will throw out a Burmese TV drama and plenty of parenting tips. Pretty useless, unless you’re into Burmese TV production in which case, more power to you. However, if you’re into contemporary music from the Balkans, like this here show, then listen up.

Bad Daughter is a Croatian indie-pop artist who entered the scene about three years ago and immediately changed the landscape of urban music in the country. For the better, obviously. Her debutante album pocketed a porin, the Croatian music industry award and won praise by fans and critics alike.

We have to be honest, however. It’s not as if Bad Daughter came out of nowhere. In civilian life she goes by Dunja Ercegović and she is, in fact an accomplished Croatian singer/songwriter of some renown. Many moons ago her act was called Lovely Quinces and she even appeared at the famed south-by-southwest festival. But then she left it all behind and launched Bad Daughter.

The music of Bad Daughter is, for the lack of a better word, darkish and introspective. But also gentle, insecure and intimate. An exploration of feelings, fears and desires that even Dunja Ercegović is exploring in this manner for the first time.

Bad Daughter is, according to her creator like some sort of a sociopath, calmly exploring heartbreak and always being in control of the narrative. But also in control of the language. Namely, the entirety of Bad Daugther’s lyrics are in English. Which may come across as natural in here in Luxembourg but in the Balkans, local music in non-local tongues still raises eyebrows.

Bad Daughter is also about visuals. In fact, she often appear more as a polished product than like a hot mess her lyrics would suggest. Though the two are not necessarily mutually exclusive. And, of course, her well-crafted appearance might be as much a commentary on today consumerist society as it a ready-made musical experience.

Seeing as she came into being only a couple of years ago, Bad Daughter’s single album is nothing to scoff at. Especially since her creator Dunja Ercegović treated her as much an experiment in working outside her comfort zone as anything else. And, to be honest, Let Me Panic is a well rounded album that leaves the listener wanting for more. And if rumours are to be believed, Bad Daughter’s second album is already in the works.

And that’s all the time we have for today. Check out Bad Daughter on YouTube, Spotify and wherever you get your music from and Balkan Express will be back next week.

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Balkan Express brings you the latest and/or the greatest in music from the Balkans. On air every Tuesday at 11am on Ara City Radio, it is hosted by Aljaž aka @pengovsky who once did the world a solid and vowed never to sing again in public. Which is how he ended up doing radio.