RIXSS’ Karmatose: a Reflection on Self-Inflicted Heartbreak and Emotional Paralysis

There’s a particular kind of heartbreak that hits harder when you know you’re the reason it ended. On Karmatose, RIXSS doesn’t search for pity or pretend to have the answers. Instead, he sits in the space between guilt and longing where remorse surrounds you and clarity never quite comes.

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 The two-track capsule offers an emotionally honest portrayal of both the duration and aftermath of a relationship. RIXSS leans into the discomfort, crafting something that feels intimate and exposed.

RIXSS, a South East London artist blending neo-soul with R&B, doesn't romanticise heartbreak; he dissects it. The tracks hold a mirror to the push-and-pull between accountability and longing. The term karmatose, a hybrid of ‘karma’ and ‘comatose,’ is the project’s thesis. This is what it feels like to suffer the consequences of your own emotional recklessness while floating in the numbness that follows.

On Karma, RIXSS exposes the blurred lines between regret and self-sabotage. “It’s true what they say about karma,” he repeats like a mantra. What begins as reflective soon becomes caustic: the late-night texts, the baiting messages, the emotional hostage-taking. Sonically, Karma draws on the DNA of confessional R&B somewhere between the starkness of Giveon and the emotional volatility of Brent Faiyaz. 

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ESTD (easier said than done) picks up in the emotional aftermath. If Karma is the heated argument and dramatic exit, ESTD is what happens when you wake up alone and realise you meant every word, but still can’t move. “Starting to feel like I’ll never find another you,” RIXSS opens, his voice slightly frayed, as if he’s already said it to himself too many times. The track leans further into contemporary R&B instrumentation with a lean drum pattern and subdued chords but nothing feels romantic. Instead, the production conjures the dull ache of reliving old memories in your room at 3AM.

Thematically, ESTD deepens Karmatose’s focus on internal conflict. Where Karma oscillates between attack and apology, ESTD is pure paralysis. RIXSS knows his actions ruined what he valued but that awareness doesn’t make healing easier. If anything, it cements his stagnation. The track's title isn't just commentary on heartbreak, it's a wider critique of how we speak about emotional resilience. “It’s easier said than done to move on,” he repeats, not as a cliché, but as a painful acknowledgment that knowing better and doing better aren’t the same thing.

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The music video for ESTD mirrors the song’s emotional weight. RIXSS sits alone in his room, his stillness and solitude physically embodying the ache and dullness that follows a breakup you can’t talk your way out of. It’s not performative sadness; it’s the kind that settles into your body and refuses to leave.

Both tracks share a refusal to play into closure as a clean arc. There’s no redemption arc here, only the long, uncomfortable road between hurt and healing. What makes RIXSS’ approach stand out is the specificity of his emotional language. His heartbreak is deeply situational and deeply self-aware. In a cultural moment obsessed with detachment as a form of strength, Karmatose provides accountability as art. The emotional numbness that comes after a breakup is  the body’s refusal to process regret.By refusing the clean cut, RIXSS makes Karmatose linger in a different way. Not because it's catchy or cathartic but because it doesn’t let you forget how messy love and losing it really is.