Australian music power list Part 1: PNAU, SIA, Briggs, Nina Las Vegas, PJ Harding, Jon Hume and more

These are the rare, talented Australians who turn musicians into incredible superstars. SEE THE LIST.

Pop stars get all the applause but the songwriters, producers and the visual artists who help bring their musical visions to life are emerging from behind the scenes to be recognised for their talents.

The inaugural Creatives Power List shines a spotlight on the top 40 Australians who are the architects of the sound of now.

Here are the first 20 superstar creators.

SiA

The Queen of Streams has not only cracked the billion plays milestone with her own hits including Chandelier, Cheap Thrills, Elastic Heart and Alive but pop classics including Rihanna’s Diamonds, her David Guetta collaboration Titanic and Zayn feature From Dusk Til Dawn. Her latest pop release is the Sean Paul track Dynamite.

PNAU

Nick and Sam Littlemore and Peter Mayes conjured pure pop gold with Cold Heart, their inventive remix/mash-up global smash for Elton John and Dua Lipa. In addition to PNAU releases and the mighty Empire of the Sun, Littlemore is a tireless supporter of emerging artists, recently launching new music from NY-based singer Kira Divine.

Nina Las Vegas

Not only a pioneering DJ rattling the male-dominated cages of the dance world but via her indie label NLV Records, Nina Agzarian is shaping the sound of now in clubland, releasing buzzworthy emerging artists including Ninajirachi, Kota Banks and her good mate Anna Lunoe.

DJ, producer and label owner Nina Las Vegas. Picture: Maria Jose Govea

Mater of the pop art Alex Hope. Picture: Instagram

Alex Hope

Based in Los Angeles, Hope is an award-winning master of the pop art. The non-binary producer was a core collaborator on Troye Sivan’s debut record and his stream smash Youth put them on APRA’s The 1,000,000,000 List. They have also worked with Tegan and Sara, Alanis Morissette and Selena Gomez.

M-Phazes

Mark Landon changed the sound of Aussie pop with his innovative hip hop-style production. He produced Amy Shark’s Adore, mentored and continues to work with old soul teen Ruel, won a Grammy with Eminem and has credits on tracks by Khalid, Remi Wolf and Sam Fischer.

Jon Hume

Since the demise of his brothers trio Evermore, Hume splits his time between LA and Nashville employing his pop skills to write and produce hits with Dean Lewis (Be Alright), Sofi Tukker, JP Cooper, Galantis, Elle King and Bebe Rexha.

FnZ at work in a Los Angeles recording studio. Picture: Danny Moloshok

FnZ

Michael “Finatik” Mule and Isaac “Zac” De Boni are absolutely smashing it on the world stage. They produced the Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber bop Stay, have credits on Ye’s Jesus Is King and Donda records and have worked with ASAP Rocky, Denzel Curry and Megan Thee Stallion.

Briggs

The renaissance king of Aussie music, Briggs supports First Nations artists with his Bad Apples label, agitates for Indigenous rights via his solo work and with A.B. Original, acts and writes for television (Disenchanted, Black Comedy, Cleverman).

Songwriting star Nat Dunn. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Nat Dunn

An absolute songwriting queen whose songbook includes The 1,000,000,000 List track Friends by Marshmello and Anne-Marie, Carry On by Kygo and Rita Ora and 5 In The Morning by Charlie XCX, as well as her own Naations duo with Nicky Night Time.

PJ Harding

One of the finest ICYMI releases of 2021 was the People Don’t Change EP by Harding and Noah Cyrus, their collaboration blossoming during a songwriting camp in Bali in 2018. Harding, an artist who produces and writes under the alias THIEF, also has credits on songs by Jess Mauboy, Guy Sebastian and Ruel.

Music producer Konstantin Kersting.

Konstantin Kersting

The 2021 ARIA Awards producer of the year has been helping to shape the sound of now for the past couple of years since his name appeared on this rather large global pop gamechanger called Dance Monkey. He scored the ARIA last year for his work with The Rubens on their No. 1 album 0202.

Dreamlab

Husband and wife team Leah Haywood and Dan Pringle have been helping to write and produce pop hits in LA for 20 years. Their recent credits include the Katy Perry hit Never Really Over and they share two 2022 Grammy nominations for their work on Justin Bieber’s Justice record.

Matt Fell

Australia’s country music artists would be lost without Matt Fell’s deft production and cheerleading in the studio. He has worked on award-winning albums for Troy Cassar-Daley, Fanny Lumsden, Sara Storer, Andrew Swift and The Whitlams.

Leah Howard. Picture: Supplied

Leah Howard

One of the most sought-after choreographers in the country has collaborated with an exhaustive list of artists on their moves for stage and screen including Kylie, Olivia Newton-John, Peking Duk, Vanessa Amorosi, Cyndi Lauper and Thandie Phoenix.

John Courtidis

One of the monster hits of the 2020s had John Courtidis’ fingerprints all over it. Head and Heart by UK dance producers Joel Corry and MNEK clocked over a billion streams and scored the Aussie songwriter a mega international publishing deal.

Styalz Fuego. Picture: Supplied

Styalz Fuego

Kaelyn Behr, known as Styalz Fuego in music town, is one of the most influential quiet achievers, helping to shape the pop sound of an eclectic roster of artists from Illy to Julia Stone. Styalz Fuego has been a production force in the rise of K-pop.

New Ground Collective

Led by Mitch Woodcock, the now global agency are among the most sought-after creative directors in the world, helping to fashion big moments from Khalid’s performance at the 2019 ARIA Awards to Rita Ora’s poptastic 2021 Mardi Gras set.

Luude

A newly minted hitmaker, the young Brisbane producer has become an overnight pop sensation with his new spin on the Men At Work anthem Down Under soundtracking millions of TikTok videos and rising up the charts everywhere.

Luude.

Kito. Picture: Richard Dobson

Kito

Another of our artist/writer/producers who is now based in LA, Maaike Kito Lebbin is a killer DJ, remixer [Beyonce’s Run The World (Girls)] and studio queen for Banks, Mabel, Jorja Smith and Ruel. Her own singles collected more than 100 million streams last year.

Mac De Souza

The Bra Boys filmmaker (who is also rapper Kid Mac) directed Masked Wolf’s US late-night show performances from a Sydney studio last year. He is currently working on the film 6 Festivals, featuring a plethora of Aussie muso cameos, for Paramount +.