New Jersey-based
Candy Hearts make melodic, '90s punk-pop-inspired rock music. A trio centered around singer/songwriter
Mariel Loveland,
Candy Hearts got started in 2009 while
Loveland was attending college in Upstate New York. The following year, the group released its self-produced debut, Ripped Up Jeans & Silly Dreams. The band's sophomore album, Everything's Amazing and Nobody's Happy, appeared on Kind of Like Records in 2011. Around this time,
Loveland caught the ear of
New Found Glory guitarist
Chad Gilbert, who signed her to his Violently Happy Records, an imprint of the Boston indie label Bridge Nine. In 2014,
Candy Hearts returned with the
Gilbert-produced full-length
All the Ways You Let Me Down. ~ Matt Collar