“Used to Love” Marks Maithili Raelle’s Rise and She’s Not Holding Back

If we’re keeping it real, most breakup songs these days feel like recycled Pinterest quotes with a beat behind them. “Used to Love” is not that. Maithili Raelle shows up with a track that’s emotional without being dramatic, nostalgic without being delusional, and confident without pretending the past didn’t hurt like hell. It’s the kind of pop-R&B release that sticks with you because it’s honest, melodic, and a little messy in the way only real life can be.

Born in New Jersey and raised on everything from Bollywood classics to ‘70s and ‘80s pop hits, Maithili has been living in music her whole life. You can hear that lineage in every detail, the breathy tone, the vocal control, the clean runs, the softness that flips into power when she needs it. She grew up training in classical Hindi music at just five years old, and now she’s blending that foundation with modern pop-R&B in a way that feels fresh, global, and entirely her own.

Influences like Ariana, Mariah, and Whitney show up in her technique, but not in a “copy-and-paste” way. More like someone who studied the greats, absorbed their discipline, and then built her own lane from the ground up. And she’s doing it unapologetically as an independent Indian artist in the NJ/NYC scene, something the industry honestly doesn’t see enough of.

With “Used to Love,” Maithili goes back into the archives of a past relationship, not to live there, but to tell the truth about how it shaped her. The song dives into that dangerous emotional territory where you’re past the relationship but not fully past the person. You remember the good. You can’t forget the bad. And the second they try to slide back into your life? Suddenly, you’re fighting off old feelings you thought you buried two phones ago.

The story is messy, human, and painfully relatable: the ex who played games, the version of him that doesn’t exist anymore, and the version of you who deserved better the whole time. The desperation. The clarity. The cockiness. The softness. The self-awareness. It’s all there.

And Maithili doesn’t just tell the story, she flips the narrative. By sampling Usher’s “U Remind Me” and reworking the energy from a female perspective, she transforms a classic male-centered storyline into something sharper, more self-possessed, and way more emotionally evolved. She doesn’t fall apart in this song. She grows up. She moves on. She remembers who she is and reminds him, too.

“Used to Love” sits in that bittersweet middle ground where heartbreak and healing overlap. It acknowledges the pain while still choosing the light at the end of the tunnel. As Maithili herself says, “everything happens for a reason.” And the way she sings it? You actually believe her.

This isn’t just a breakup track. It’s a coming-of-age moment wrapped in sleek pop-R&B production and delivered with a voice built to travel across cultures, communities, and continents. Maithili Raelle isn’t trying to sound like anyone else, and that’s exactly why she’s someone worth paying attention to.