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From Sophia Stel’s idiosyncratic elegance to Tough Cookie’s indie revolution, from The Deep’s K-pop-directed middle finger to Dove Ellis’ gorgeous balladry: here are 16 artists to keep both eyes on in 2026.
We welcome 2026 with a tapestry of emotions. There’s plenty of fear, dread and existentialism in the pot, but there’s also hope, excitement and expectation – at least when it comes to music. 2025 felt like a stepping stone into a better future for the industry. Yes, the AI advances are worrying, and Simon Cowell’s new boy band is threatening to transport us back to the domination of frivolous boy bands (sorry Directioners). But there was also a light-switch moment; a shift in the way the mainstream views left-field music. Just look at the Geese craze, Jacob Alon’s Critics’ Choice nod at the BRITS, and Rosalía’s extraordinary, altering LUX.
Now, as we dust off the Christmas cobwebs and I vow to become a vegetarian, it’s come to that time of the year when we predict the artists who will rule 2026. Last year, we prognosticated the likes of Jim Legxacy, Annahstasia and jasmine.4.t to have a breakthrough year, and we’re back again this year with our artist forecast for 2026. With listeners (hopefully) becoming ever more open-minded, and the vision of new talent growing in ambition, the next 12 months have the potential to be the most impactful and innovative in decades.
From Florence Road’s emotional anthems to Gabriel Jacoby’s spirited soul, and from WHATMORE’s sharp and eclectic rap to Ledbyher’s UK underground insurgence: here’s 16 Wonders to Watch for 2026.
Who Are They: Enigmatic and introverted Irish folk singer-songwriter reimagining the late 20th century greats.
Key Track:
Why You Should Listen: As the singer of “Love Is” croons its opening lyrical couplet: “Fools are running in the square // You leapt right off the balcony” – one can’t help but think to themselves… Is that Jeff Buckley? Rufus Wainwright? Thom Yorke? No, it’s Dove Ellis. The Galway-born, Manchester-based newcomer only emerged, cloaked in mystery, in September. In the months following, he has supported band-of-the-moment Geese, and released his debut album, Blizzard, a wonderful merger of intricate composition, soaring introspection and deft technicality. Reminiscent of the greats while remarkably fresh and unique, Ellis is leading folk’s overdue renaissance into 2026.
Who Are They: Canadian alt-pop compeller stealing the hearts of music nerds and insatiably online gen-zers alike.
Key Track:
Why You Should Listen: Breaking through the ice of Vancouver’s quietly thriving independent scene, Sophia Stel’s murky ethereality is striking a chord between glacial experimentation and heated pop iridescence. September’s EP “How to Win at Solitaire” took her haunted warmth to new depths – gorgeously performed and produced. Finding fans among both social media zeitgeisters and dorkish music fans, Stel’s elegantly trailer-trash aesthetic could be synonymous with 2026.
Who Are They: Anthemic and erudite Irish indie four-piece tipped for stadium-sized success.
Key Track:
Why You Should Listen: What a year 2025 was for devastatingly daring Irish indie pop outfit Florence Road. From the release of March’s introductory single “Heavy” to signing to Warner Records UK for the release of their acclaimed debut EP “Fall Back”, the four-piece have rightfully developed a reputation ofasbeing one of the best new bands about. 2026 will likely bring an inaugural full-length album, a busy summer on the festival circuit, and lightning-quick growth in all the right places.
Who Are They: Florida-based polymath focusing the spirit of the blues into a modern lens.
Key Track:
Why You Should Listen: As we said in our autumn breakout interview surrounding his utterly compelling debut EP “gutta child”, there’s something effortlessly timeless about Gabriel Jacoby. Plucking inspiration from a tapestry of sounds and styles, from blues to R&B and jazz, the 27-year-old Florida-based talent has autonomy of his musical vision in its entirety – writing, performing, producing, and engineering all of his work himself. The result is enthrallingly coherent and intensely soulful. Also, what a fucking voice? A superstar – for sure.
Who Are They: Sui generis wordsmith sharpening the cutting edge of UK alternative music and culture.
Key Track:
Why You Should Listen: With her raspy, distinctive vocal delivery and tranquillised, spaced out sonic backdrops, over the past few years Ledbyher has become one of the most uniquely recognisable voices in the UK underground. 2025 was huge for the Indonesian-Scottish 21-year-old, garnering co-signs for Skepta and dropping multifarious musical gems like “DAYDREAMING MADE ME BLUE” and “REMEMBER, REMEMBER”. Now among the scene’s most hotly-tipped, a forthcoming Spring mixtape looks sure to skyrocket her at an unstoppable pace.
Who Are They: British alt raconteur with inscrutable innovation and backstreet balladry.
Key Track:
Why You Should Listen: Not many artists dropped a better debut single this year than Pollyfromthedirt’s satirical slice of alternative folk, “Theres no such thing as england”. The Darlington-raised, now Manchester-based enigma is anonymous and introverted, letting his irreverently British sound do the talking. November-shared debut EP “The dirt pt. 1” is a wonderfully unkempt, incepting opus well worth your time. It’s early doors for the Northern troubadour, but cult status is already brewing in the pot.
Who Are They: Boundary-pushing pop pillager creating discourse and culminating a devoted fanbase.
Key Track:
Why You Should Listen: He’s not for everyone, but there’s no denying the substantial impact that Feng has had on both sides of the Atlantic. Even more idiosyncratic than contemporaries like Fakemink and YT, a child spawned of the UK underground prosperity, the Croydon-native is barely past adolescence, but kicked up a hell of a storm in ’25 with his zany internet presence, debut project What The Feng, and as a thrower of notorious parties. Divisive and incomparable, the next step of Feng is anyone’s guess. We’re here for it, whatever it is.
Who Are They: Sonically articulate and eclectic British indie feelers epitomising the scene’s reinassance.
Key Track:
Why You Should Listen: One of many great indie rock bands putting fresh innovation and humbled respect on the genre in the UK (shout out Westside Cowboy, mary in the junkyard, bby, etc), Tough Cookie are poised to move to the forefront of the movement in 2026. The quartet’s emotionally potent and deftly anthemic debut EP, “The Countryside Is Good For You”, kickstarted the newcomers into the conversation, with key tracks like Britpop-indebted “Sandcastles 2008” and slacker rock piece “Emory”. 2026 comes with the promise of many more encyclopaedic guitar ballads and bangers.
Who Are They: South Korean electronic pop adventurer unafraid of taking risks.
Key Track:
Why You Should Listen: Produced largely by Wonderland alumni Frost Children, KPOP B!TCH, the debut album of South Korean avant-gardist The Deep wears its EDM and electro-pop influences on its sleeve. If this project were released in 2006, no one would’ve batted an eyelid. Yet beneath the aesthetic-fuelled nostalgia and sweaty choruses lies an insatiably creative core, with the potential to rewrite the rules of what Korean pop is.
Who Are They: NYC rap collective hurling colour across their sound and embodying their city.
Key Track:
Why You Should Listen: It’s easy to label WHATMORE as a BROCKAMPTON second coming. Sure, the NYC five-piece bring an nostalgic 2010s rap-indebted edge, aims for a sonically broad approach, and obtains a boyish camaraderie among its five members. But the group proved on their Autumn-shared self-titled debut that their musical variety is distinctive, romanticising their famed city and giving each individual ample opportunity to shine. They look set to funnel deeper into themselves in the new year.
Who Are They: Sad girl supernova tapping into delicate folk and hook-laden pop with aplomb.
Key Track:
Why You Should Listen: Fulfilling a sonic and emotional state somewhere between Clairo and Maisie Peters, despite being only 19 years old, Esha Tewari is already positioned to be a salient singer-songwriter sad girl for years to come. The Aussie-native has shared a handful of mesmerisingly meditative EPs and supported Conan Gray; now, 2026 looks set to be her biggest to date, with new music on the way and a slot at London’s All Points East alongside Lorde, PinkPantheress and more.
Who Are They: London’s hottest new rap export with the social commentary to match his gritty charisma.
Key Track:
Why You Should Listen: Although the more mainstream side of UK rap plateaued in 2025, it was a great year for the underground. Everyone’s talking about Jim Legxacy (finally), Fakemink and EsDeeKid, but only those who can look past their TikTok algorithm will have fully taken in the brilliance of Ceebo. The Lambeth native had been floating around South London’s lyrical undergrowth for the past few years, but with November’s sprawling, 16-track project blair babies, reached for his own lane. Exploring issues like consumerism, identity and youth violence in a post-New Labour and Tony Blair landscape, atop wonderfully off-kilter instrumentals, the body of music presents Ceebo as the epitome of a growing alternative hip hop movement in the Metropolitan.
Who Are They: Vibrant and thoughtful experimentalist offering crafty and colourful pop bangers.
Key Track:
Why You Should Listen: Great Manchester-raised singer-songwriter DellaXOZ fully came into her own on November’s “Permanent Retrograde” EP, merging technical guitar work with dreamy pop and glitchy electronica. With the bubblegum effervescence of PinkPantheress meeting the deft indie balladry of Rachel Chinouriri, the rising talent is finding plenty of plaudits.
Who Are They: Ghanian-American Afropop aficionado poised to become one of the continent’s biggest stars.
Key Track:
Why You Should Listen: MOLIY has been an ever-present in the global Afropop scene since the turn of the decade. But 2025 rose her stock to previously unfathomable heights, in large part thanks to her song of the summer contender “Shake It To The Max (FLY)”, and collaboration with South African star Tyla, “Body Go”. With her saccharine sweet vocals, undeniable allure and unstoppable momentum, don’t be surprised to find MOLIY as one of the biggest artists in her genre and continent by the end of the year.
Who Are They: US bedroom pop swooner sonically surveying the intimacy, the intricasies and the intensity of love.
Key Track:
Why You Should Listen: There’s something quite exciting – and refreshing – to hear an artist in the modern day indisputably putting love and romance at the centre of their music. Love Spells name really gives away his secret – the Houston artist devotes his craft to melancholic, inward but oddly hopeful bedroom pop ballads that portray the whole spectrum of the most frustrating, captivating and omniscient emotion. In 2025, he worked comprehensively on Kevin Abstract’s excellent Blush and shared an EP, “The Love I Showed You Was Yours To Keep”, that was truly gorgeous. 2026 feels bound to deliver new music, as well as a confirmed appearance alongside Tyler, the Creator and co at London’s All Points East.
Who Are They: Scottish London-based producer and DJ graduating from viral DJ sets to euphoric dance pop anthems.
Key Track:
Why You Should Listen: Edinburgh-born, now London-based, DJ/producer/artist sim0ne had a huge breakout year in 2025, with huge sets around the world and a smattering of original singles planting her name at the forefront of UK dance music. With a debut EP due early in the new year, expect to find the rising artist on a plethora of festival bills this summer.
wonders to watch 2026 wonders to watch 2026 wonders to watch 2026 wonders to watch 2026 wonders to watch 2026 wonders to watch 2026
Words and Curation – Ben Tibbits
in HTML format, including tags, to make it appealing and easy to read for Japanese-speaking readers aged 20 to 40 interested in fashion. Organize the content with appropriate headings and subheadings (h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6), translating all text, including headings, into Japanese. Retain any existing
tags from
From Sophia Stel’s idiosyncratic elegance to Tough Cookie’s indie revolution, from The Deep’s K-pop-directed middle finger to Dove Ellis’ gorgeous balladry: here are 16 artists to keep both eyes on in 2026.
We welcome 2026 with a tapestry of emotions. There’s plenty of fear, dread and existentialism in the pot, but there’s also hope, excitement and expectation – at least when it comes to music. 2025 felt like a stepping stone into a better future for the industry. Yes, the AI advances are worrying, and Simon Cowell’s new boy band is threatening to transport us back to the domination of frivolous boy bands (sorry Directioners). But there was also a light-switch moment; a shift in the way the mainstream views left-field music. Just look at the Geese craze, Jacob Alon’s Critics’ Choice nod at the BRITS, and Rosalía’s extraordinary, altering LUX.
Now, as we dust off the Christmas cobwebs and I vow to become a vegetarian, it’s come to that time of the year when we predict the artists who will rule 2026. Last year, we prognosticated the likes of Jim Legxacy, Annahstasia and jasmine.4.t to have a breakthrough year, and we’re back again this year with our artist forecast for 2026. With listeners (hopefully) becoming ever more open-minded, and the vision of new talent growing in ambition, the next 12 months have the potential to be the most impactful and innovative in decades.
From Florence Road’s emotional anthems to Gabriel Jacoby’s spirited soul, and from WHATMORE’s sharp and eclectic rap to Ledbyher’s UK underground insurgence: here’s 16 Wonders to Watch for 2026.
Who Are They: Enigmatic and introverted Irish folk singer-songwriter reimagining the late 20th century greats.
Key Track:
Why You Should Listen: As the singer of “Love Is” croons its opening lyrical couplet: “Fools are running in the square // You leapt right off the balcony” – one can’t help but think to themselves… Is that Jeff Buckley? Rufus Wainwright? Thom Yorke? No, it’s Dove Ellis. The Galway-born, Manchester-based newcomer only emerged, cloaked in mystery, in September. In the months following, he has supported band-of-the-moment Geese, and released his debut album, Blizzard, a wonderful merger of intricate composition, soaring introspection and deft technicality. Reminiscent of the greats while remarkably fresh and unique, Ellis is leading folk’s overdue renaissance into 2026.
Who Are They: Canadian alt-pop compeller stealing the hearts of music nerds and insatiably online gen-zers alike.
Key Track:
Why You Should Listen: Breaking through the ice of Vancouver’s quietly thriving independent scene, Sophia Stel’s murky ethereality is striking a chord between glacial experimentation and heated pop iridescence. September’s EP “How to Win at Solitaire” took her haunted warmth to new depths – gorgeously performed and produced. Finding fans among both social media zeitgeisters and dorkish music fans, Stel’s elegantly trailer-trash aesthetic could be synonymous with 2026.
Who Are They: Anthemic and erudite Irish indie four-piece tipped for stadium-sized success.
Key Track:
Why You Should Listen: What a year 2025 was for devastatingly daring Irish indie pop outfit Florence Road. From the release of March’s introductory single “Heavy” to signing to Warner Records UK for the release of their acclaimed debut EP “Fall Back”, the four-piece have rightfully developed a reputation ofasbeing one of the best new bands about. 2026 will likely bring an inaugural full-length album, a busy summer on the festival circuit, and lightning-quick growth in all the right places.
Who Are They: Florida-based polymath focusing the spirit of the blues into a modern lens.
Key Track:
Why You Should Listen: As we said in our autumn breakout interview surrounding his utterly compelling debut EP “gutta child”, there’s something effortlessly timeless about Gabriel Jacoby. Plucking inspiration from a tapestry of sounds and styles, from blues to R&B and jazz, the 27-year-old Florida-based talent has autonomy of his musical vision in its entirety – writing, performing, producing, and engineering all of his work himself. The result is enthrallingly coherent and intensely soulful. Also, what a fucking voice? A superstar – for sure.
Who Are They: Sui generis wordsmith sharpening the cutting edge of UK alternative music and culture.
Key Track:
Why You Should Listen: With her raspy, distinctive vocal delivery and tranquillised, spaced out sonic backdrops, over the past few years Ledbyher has become one of the most uniquely recognisable voices in the UK underground. 2025 was huge for the Indonesian-Scottish 21-year-old, garnering co-signs for Skepta and dropping multifarious musical gems like “DAYDREAMING MADE ME BLUE” and “REMEMBER, REMEMBER”. Now among the scene’s most hotly-tipped, a forthcoming Spring mixtape looks sure to skyrocket her at an unstoppable pace.
Who Are They: British alt raconteur with inscrutable innovation and backstreet balladry.
Key Track:
Why You Should Listen: Not many artists dropped a better debut single this year than Pollyfromthedirt’s satirical slice of alternative folk, “Theres no such thing as england”. The Darlington-raised, now Manchester-based enigma is anonymous and introverted, letting his irreverently British sound do the talking. November-shared debut EP “The dirt pt. 1” is a wonderfully unkempt, incepting opus well worth your time. It’s early doors for the Northern troubadour, but cult status is already brewing in the pot.
Who Are They: Boundary-pushing pop pillager creating discourse and culminating a devoted fanbase.
Key Track:
Why You Should Listen: He’s not for everyone, but there’s no denying the substantial impact that Feng has had on both sides of the Atlantic. Even more idiosyncratic than contemporaries like Fakemink and YT, a child spawned of the UK underground prosperity, the Croydon-native is barely past adolescence, but kicked up a hell of a storm in ’25 with his zany internet presence, debut project What The Feng, and as a thrower of notorious parties. Divisive and incomparable, the next step of Feng is anyone’s guess. We’re here for it, whatever it is.
Who Are They: Sonically articulate and eclectic British indie feelers epitomising the scene’s reinassance.
Key Track:
Why You Should Listen: One of many great indie rock bands putting fresh innovation and humbled respect on the genre in the UK (shout out Westside Cowboy, mary in the junkyard, bby, etc), Tough Cookie are poised to move to the forefront of the movement in 2026. The quartet’s emotionally potent and deftly anthemic debut EP, “The Countryside Is Good For You”, kickstarted the newcomers into the conversation, with key tracks like Britpop-indebted “Sandcastles 2008” and slacker rock piece “Emory”. 2026 comes with the promise of many more encyclopaedic guitar ballads and bangers.
Who Are They: South Korean electronic pop adventurer unafraid of taking risks.
Key Track:
Why You Should Listen: Produced largely by Wonderland alumni Frost Children, KPOP B!TCH, the debut album of South Korean avant-gardist The Deep wears its EDM and electro-pop influences on its sleeve. If this project were released in 2006, no one would’ve batted an eyelid. Yet beneath the aesthetic-fuelled nostalgia and sweaty choruses lies an insatiably creative core, with the potential to rewrite the rules of what Korean pop is.
Who Are They: NYC rap collective hurling colour across their sound and embodying their city.
Key Track:
Why You Should Listen: It’s easy to label WHATMORE as a BROCKAMPTON second coming. Sure, the NYC five-piece bring an nostalgic 2010s rap-indebted edge, aims for a sonically broad approach, and obtains a boyish camaraderie among its five members. But the group proved on their Autumn-shared self-titled debut that their musical variety is distinctive, romanticising their famed city and giving each individual ample opportunity to shine. They look set to funnel deeper into themselves in the new year.
Who Are They: Sad girl supernova tapping into delicate folk and hook-laden pop with aplomb.
Key Track:
Why You Should Listen: Fulfilling a sonic and emotional state somewhere between Clairo and Maisie Peters, despite being only 19 years old, Esha Tewari is already positioned to be a salient singer-songwriter sad girl for years to come. The Aussie-native has shared a handful of mesmerisingly meditative EPs and supported Conan Gray; now, 2026 looks set to be her biggest to date, with new music on the way and a slot at London’s All Points East alongside Lorde, PinkPantheress and more.
Who Are They: London’s hottest new rap export with the social commentary to match his gritty charisma.
Key Track:
Why You Should Listen: Although the more mainstream side of UK rap plateaued in 2025, it was a great year for the underground. Everyone’s talking about Jim Legxacy (finally), Fakemink and EsDeeKid, but only those who can look past their TikTok algorithm will have fully taken in the brilliance of Ceebo. The Lambeth native had been floating around South London’s lyrical undergrowth for the past few years, but with November’s sprawling, 16-track project blair babies, reached for his own lane. Exploring issues like consumerism, identity and youth violence in a post-New Labour and Tony Blair landscape, atop wonderfully off-kilter instrumentals, the body of music presents Ceebo as the epitome of a growing alternative hip hop movement in the Metropolitan.
Who Are They: Vibrant and thoughtful experimentalist offering crafty and colourful pop bangers.
Key Track:
Why You Should Listen: Great Manchester-raised singer-songwriter DellaXOZ fully came into her own on November’s “Permanent Retrograde” EP, merging technical guitar work with dreamy pop and glitchy electronica. With the bubblegum effervescence of PinkPantheress meeting the deft indie balladry of Rachel Chinouriri, the rising talent is finding plenty of plaudits.
Who Are They: Ghanian-American Afropop aficionado poised to become one of the continent’s biggest stars.
Key Track:
Why You Should Listen: MOLIY has been an ever-present in the global Afropop scene since the turn of the decade. But 2025 rose her stock to previously unfathomable heights, in large part thanks to her song of the summer contender “Shake It To The Max (FLY)”, and collaboration with South African star Tyla, “Body Go”. With her saccharine sweet vocals, undeniable allure and unstoppable momentum, don’t be surprised to find MOLIY as one of the biggest artists in her genre and continent by the end of the year.
Who Are They: US bedroom pop swooner sonically surveying the intimacy, the intricasies and the intensity of love.
Key Track:
Why You Should Listen: There’s something quite exciting – and refreshing – to hear an artist in the modern day indisputably putting love and romance at the centre of their music. Love Spells name really gives away his secret – the Houston artist devotes his craft to melancholic, inward but oddly hopeful bedroom pop ballads that portray the whole spectrum of the most frustrating, captivating and omniscient emotion. In 2025, he worked comprehensively on Kevin Abstract’s excellent Blush and shared an EP, “The Love I Showed You Was Yours To Keep”, that was truly gorgeous. 2026 feels bound to deliver new music, as well as a confirmed appearance alongside Tyler, the Creator and co at London’s All Points East.
Who Are They: Scottish London-based producer and DJ graduating from viral DJ sets to euphoric dance pop anthems.
Key Track:
Why You Should Listen: Edinburgh-born, now London-based, DJ/producer/artist sim0ne had a huge breakout year in 2025, with huge sets around the world and a smattering of original singles planting her name at the forefront of UK dance music. With a debut EP due early in the new year, expect to find the rising artist on a plethora of festival bills this summer.
wonders to watch 2026 wonders to watch 2026 wonders to watch 2026 wonders to watch 2026 wonders to watch 2026 wonders to watch 2026
Words and Curation – Ben Tibbits
and integrate them seamlessly into the new content without adding new tags. Ensure the new content is fashion-related, written entirely in Japanese, and approximately 1500 words. Conclude with a “結論” section and a well-formatted “よくある質問” section. Avoid including an introduction or a note explaining the process.
