OLIVIA J. BENNETT

I’m an arts writer, researcher and critic based in Australia, open to commissions and collaborations.

I also work as a freelance communications specialist across brand, content and cultural strategy.

If you’d like to see my portfolio or chat about a project, feel free to get in touch.

Gertrude Contemporary Emerging Writers Program | 2020
Melbourne International Film Festival’s Critics Campus | 2019

CRISIS KID

Corbin

Written by Olivia J. Bennett
Edited by Isabella Trimboli
Published in print by The Big Issue AU
Issue #736 | 9 May 2025

Over a decade and 13 million views since his genre-bending breakout ‘Without You’, Corbin (née Spooky Black) still lingers in the murky middle ground of alt-R&B heartbreak. Crisis Kid picks up where his bashful ballads left off, tracing an alliterative spiral of nihilism—’Cry Out in Pain’, ‘Curse of Creation’, ‘Clown on a Stage’. ‘Carbon Monoxide’” is the standout, carried by a bouncier bassline and a nimble drumbeat courtesy of longtime collaborator Psymun. Corbin’s voice claws its way through the haze: “You can see all the walls I put up caving in / Slowly creep in my lungs, you're my carcinogen.” It’s a rare moment of urgency on a record otherwise steeped in slow, grey collapse. Elsewhere, “Comedy Divine” turns the gaze outward, teasing clarity from a contradiction: “Why do we pay for the sins of evil men? / Nobody wins when we self-destroy.” A faint, flickering guitar line keeps it just shy of despair. Corbin’s world is dimly lit and emotionally maxed out. But maybe that’s the point—it’s music for when the feelings are there, but the energy to explain them isn’t.