As social media fills our feeds with picture-perfect ‘Euro Summer’ holidays, Ivana June offers a different perspective. Her new single Verano! reminds us that summer isn’t a destination but a feeling - one found just as easily dancing through London streets as on a beach abroad.

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Written and produced as a demo on her laptop at just 17, with early versions taking shape during lunch breaks at school, Verano! has followed Ivana June into adulthood before finally being released at 24. Perhaps that’s why the song feels timeless - it has quite literally grown up alongside its writer. Rather than rushing it onto streaming platforms, June spent her university years performing and refining it live with her band at venues such as Pizza Express Live, Folklore Hoxton, and 91 Living room before recording it in North London with producer Peter Anderson. Over the years, Verano! became a standout song in June’s live sets.

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Ivana June is a London-based independent artist and songwriter blending soul, pop and Latin influences into music rooted in personal storytelling and relatability. She has steadily been growing her fanbase, with her previous single, ‘Peppermint Tea’ reaching 160,000 streams on Spotify. Growing up with a Spanish mother and English musician father, June’s heritage plays a central role in Verano!, marking the first time she has fully embraced her Spanish roots in her songwriting. The track’s title translates to “summer”, while its main hook is sung in Spanish: “Oh, verano, yo te veo” (“Summer, I see you”).

The feeling of summer that runs through Verano! is reflected in its blend of musical traditions. Led by June’s acoustic guitar, the song draws from the timeless groove of samba, while soul-inspired drums and vocal melodies bring contemporary intimacy. Flamenco palmas (handclaps) emerge in the bridge and final chorus, adding another nod to her Spanish heritage. Together, these influences create a sound that feels both nostalgic and timeless.

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June says, “I realised that the summers I remember most weren’t necessarily the fancy holidays. They were walking around London with my headphones on, seeing my family in northern Spain, staying out too late with friends. I wanted ‘Verano!’ to celebrate that feeling rather than an idealised version of summer.”

As an independent artist, June has also taken ownership of the visual world surrounding her releases, creating and filming much of the imagery herself. Reflecting the song’s message, the artwork swaps beaches and sunsets for an urban landscape, reinforcing the idea that summer can exist just as vividly between concrete buildings as beside the sea. Following the response to the self-made Spotify Canvas for her previous single Butterflies, which gained 17k TikTok views and caught the attention of artist Absolutely, June continues to build each release as a complete artistic world.

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‘Verano!’ is the second glimpse into Ivana June’s upcoming EP, set to release at the end of 2026. Bringing together samba, soul and flamenco without being confined to one tradition, Verano! mirrors the feeling at the heart of the song itself: existing somewhere between London and northern Spain, adolescence and adulthood, memory and the present.