The fifth and final studio episode of the Station Street Festival 2025 podcast covers what host Nikola Nikolov calls the peak of the programming — September 6th, a day built entirely around female artists and the particular energy they bring to a stage.

The episode opens with Yanichka Nushi — making her debut on a Plovdiv stage — and the warm community that surrounds her through the Samodiva Society. Her set, inspired by an older generation of Bulgarian artists from the Nova Generatsia era, points towards a debut album expected in 2026. Vladislav Sevov reflects on a broader shift: female energy in Bulgarian art and literature is more visible than ever, and these young women make music not to be seen, but because they have no choice but to share.

Next: Arika Adams — discovered by pure chance at a Sunday concert in Plovdiv's Bibul venue — described as a rising artist already too large for the confines of Bulgaria. Her extraordinarily trained voice carries a performance so visceral and enveloping that, as Nikola puts it, you had no choice but to be drawn in. The discussion includes a deeper conversation about the suppressed expressiveness of women in art, and whether Arika is finally breaking through that ice.

Nika, a psychologist by training currently completing a Master's in Clinical Psychology, is the third performer. What impresses most is her approach to songwriting: she writes the lyrics first, then the melody — which gives her work atypical structures and a rare intimacy. The chorus of one song — "I'll look for you in me, I'll look you in the eyes / You're a sweet day — the night of you is bitter" — is singled out as a standout example of how much feeling can be packed into a few carefully chosen lines.

The episode climaxes with Shirley Davis and the Silverbacks — British soul and funk powerhouse with a fully Spanish band — who arrived too late for a soundcheck and turned it into a performance. Antonia describes her as "fire from the very first second," and Vladi adds a crucial nuance: this is a controlled fire — a voice that has nothing to prove and chooses not to shout when a whisper will do.

The episode closes with the full backstage interview with Shirley Davis conducted by Antonia — a warm, candid conversation about Aretha Franklin saving her life, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, performing with Martha High, the Tina Turner musical she nearly joined in Madrid, and why music — not fame — has always been her journey. She wraps up with a promise: a new album is coming in 2026.

Funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU. Station Street Festival, implemented under procedure BG-RRP-11.016 "Presentation of contemporary European productions from the CCI sector to Bulgarian audiences".