Cub Sport, Jerome Farrah, Peach PRC: Meet Aussie music’s next big things
As the country looks forward to the return of live music, we celebrate the industry’s most exciting up-and-coming performers.
Against the backdrop of all that’s been challenging the world, a generation of young Australians is making music that feels both of this moment yet distinctly future-facing. At a time when it’s more important than ever to support local artists, Vogue Australia and Linda Marigliano have curated a selection of the most exciting new names in Australian music, as well as a special playlist that showcases the depth of talent flowing through the local music scene, while providing a soundtrack to this unique moment in time.
Stream Vogue Australia’s Sound of Now playlist here.
MAY-A
“I am shitting myself,” posted Byron-born artist May-A on Instagram in August. The source of her visceral reaction? A towering billboard in Times Square, featuring the alt-pop artist’s face. “It was crazy to see my face in such an iconic place. I never would’ve thought that was a possibility.” It’s crazy but not shocking, given May-A’s ascent through the local music industry. Releasing her first single in 2019, she dropped her debut album Don’t Kiss Ur Friends this year to critical and popular acclaim. Euphoric track Apricots, which sees May-A tell the story of her first same-sex relationship, should be part of a coming-of-age film soundtrack.
As for what’s next for the 20-year-old? She’s looking forward to being able to tour and play festival stages again. “It’s exciting to be a part of the Australian music scene. We’re all each other’s biggest fans, it feels really unique.”
Listen to: Time I Love to Waste, a guitar-driven, road-trip-ready track from Don’t Kiss Ur Friends.
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DAINE
The shimmery, futuristic sound of Daine is unmistakeable – because there’s nothing quite like it currently being made, at least not in the mainstream. Perhaps the closest sonic and aesthetic comparison we can draw is with Charli XCX, which is fitting, given a chance meeting with the British pop star at Laneway Festival led to her becoming a mentor for the Filipino-Australian artist. “It’s great to have the support of someone who has lived through the music industry from an artist perspective,” says Daine. “She’s definitely shown me how to maintain a strong creative vision.” It’s no surprise Daine draws inspiration from online communities – for an artist who hasn’t yet dropped an EP or album, fans flock to social media for sneak peeks of her music, but also her ethereal personal style. “When I’m putting together outfits, I ask myself: ‘How do I make this look like I’m from the very distant future and Lord of the Rings at the same time?’” Mood.
Listen to: The angsty, racy electronic single, Boys Wanna Txt.
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GENESIS OWUSU
Attending a Genesis Owusu show is a transcendental experience. The Ghanaian-Australian musician might appear at the mic with a bandaged face, flashes of light glinting off gold grills. “It’s a visual metaphor for trying to fix deeply ingrained problems with superficial solutions,” he tells Vogue. Certainly, he’ll be wearing something fabulous. “Black people inspire my style.”
Owusu’s sound defies description. Incredibly varied, technically masterful and totally weird, his music forms a tapestry from which conversations about more serious issues, such as racism and depression, can springboard off. “Music allows for different layers of communication,” says the artist. “It’s universal. It’s also a little manipulative; people who might not want to talk about things like depression and racism in real life can be lured into a song by a pretty melody or a banging drum.”
Nowhere is this sentiment more potent than on Owusu’s debut album, Smiling With No Teeth. We’re counting down the days until we get to witness him and his band attack it on stage again.
Listen to: The sultry, wacky groove of Waitin’ on Ya from Smiling With No Teeth.
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CUB SPORT
“Genre-queer, immaculate, ethereal, warm … happy and sad at the same time.” These are some of the adjectives frontman Tim Nelson throws out to describe the indie pop of self-managed Brisbane band Cub Sport. Alongside Nelson are Sam Netterfield, Zoe Davis and Dan Puusaari, who’ve been playing together “basically since [they] were children”, Cub Sport is on a quest to make music that “helps people feel loved and connected”. A quick scroll through comments left beneath the group’s Instagram posts is all it takes to realise they’re making good, while doing it all on their own. “We don’t have a label or manager guiding us. We’re really just following our gut, which I think is amazing,” explains Nelson, who married bandmate Netterfield in 2018. “We’ve always had a unique vision and our creative and professional path reflects that. It feels fearless and authentic.”
Listen to: The contemplative ballad Be Your Man from the band’s latest album, Like Nirvana.
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DAY1
Australian rap has undergone a major metamorphosis with young, grassroots artists rising to the top of charts with music that unapologetically tells of where they’re from – and where they’re heading. Enter Day1. The young Maori-Australian artist from Brisbane has been blurring conventional genre tropes with his melodic, trap-influenced sound; tracks like King Of My City pulsate with pride and promise. “I’m trying to show Australia to the world, and represent where I’m from,” says the 21-year-old. “I feel like the generation of Australian musicians [I’m part of] has really taken off globally, and to be a part of history is crazy. It’s good to inspire the next generation of new music from Australia.”
Listen to: The moody but melodic R’n’B hit Energy, from his new EP, Day Uno.
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BIG SKEEZ
With a hugely international sound that fuses reggae influences with R’n’B and hip-hop, Big Skeez’s wavy, mellow and smooth releases are forcing the Australian music guard to take notice. The artist from southwestern Sydney was recently signed with DJ Nina Las Vegas’s NLV Records. “This was a really big deal for me, knowing I have a team that believes in me and my vision,” Skeez tells Vogue. He was introduced to music at an early age – Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, Morgan Heritage and Lucky Dube had a formative impact – and started making beats around the age of 14, when he’d take part in local youth and school talent shows. His sights are next set on taking his music worldwide, and we won’t be shocked when he achieves this and more.
Listen to: The very wavy single No Trace.
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JEROME FARAH
He began his career as a dancer, shifting to co-write songs for Aussie acts like Baker Boy and KIAN, before the events of 2020 provided Jerome Farah with the motivation needed to take his own music solo. “I protested and donated but felt like I could be doing more,” he recalls. So Farah wrote and released his debut single, I Can’t Breathe, with all profits from Australian sales of the song going to the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service. Having just added Farah to its roster, Sony Australia committed to matching the contribution. But Farah, whose bright and boisterous flavour of alternative hip-hop is beyond catchy, understands the value of small ambitions, too. “Right now, I’m just trying to sort the last seven years’ worth of demos on my laptop into an album,” he says, laughing. Watch this space.
Listen to: The racy, rolling romp Concrete Jungle Fever.
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BUDJERAH
His debut single, Missing You, dropped just under a year ago but already Budjerah’s honey-tinted vocals have made an impression on the local music scene, the presence of his sound like sunlight for the senses. The 19-year-old Coodjinburra man from the Bundjalung nation grew up in the Northern Rivers town of Fingal Head. His family listened to “old-school” soul artists like Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder – musicians whose influence has seeped into his own music. “I would say my music is chill and breezy, with a mixture of old soul, gospel and modern R’n’B,” Budjerah tells Vogue.
It’s been a year full of milestones for the artist, who released his self-titled EP in March, backing it up by supporting Aussie electronic legends The Avalanches at their Sydney show in May. “I love meeting other musicians and making new friends. It’s incredible witnessing these talented people achieve their goals. It inspires me to push myself, not in a competitive way, but … knowing that if I work hard, I can achieve my goals as well.”
Listen to: The soaring delight Higher, from the Budjerah EP, produced by Matt Corby.
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PEACH PRC
Before she became one of Australia’s most exciting young musicians, Peach PRC was making a name for herself on TikTok. Like it has for a number of perceptive young musicians, the content Peach would post – candid videos in which she spoke about everything from mental health struggles to relationship breakups – flowed effortlessly into a catalogue of hyper-curated, punchy pop. Peach PRC – an acronym the artist coined for the word ‘porcelain’ – uses the phrase “bubblegum pop with razor blades in it” to describe her sound, and she lists Lady Gaga, Hilary Duff, Britney Spears and Katy Perry as artistic influences. With rose-coloured hair (and yes, porcelain skin), she’s the pop princess we don’t deserve. If her streams keep pushing further into the millions, it won’t be long before she’s crowned a queen.
Listen to: The glittery pop anthem Symptomatic.
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MIA RODRIGUEZ
She’s come a long way from singing karaoke in her bedroom, posting videos of herself performing to YouTube in the hope someone would notice her talent, and pluck her from the prim Sydney upbringing to which she never quite felt like she belonged. Turns out Mia Rodriguez didn’t need ‘someone’ to discover her – her TikTok took off organically, catapulting her to dark-pop stardom with streams currently in the millions. “The fact I can make music and call this my job … I’m just so happy I can do this for a living,” says the 19-year-old, who’s on the cusp of even bigger things. From the unapologetic strut of tracks like Billion Dollar Bitch to the emo-leaning sensitivity captured in Beautiful & Bittersweet, Rodriguez is an artist with many layers, and the peeling back of them has only just begun.
Listen to: The acoustic version of Psycho, on repeat.
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CAT & CALMELL
The Sydney-based duo met at an after-school program for developing artists in 2014 and began playing together in 2018. In 2020, Cat & Calmell dropped their debut single Dumbshit, a celestial pop ballad that sees the two reminisce on their “slightly younger, slightly more reckless days”. Despite their different upbringings – Cat spent her childhood in China before migrating to Sydney as a teen, while Calmell was born and raised in Western Sydney – the artists share a strong creative vision, one that sees them craft stylised pop music that glitters with the angst and excitement of youth. We’d be lying if we said the girls’ incredible personal style wasn’t also part of the appeal. Citing Gwen Stefani, Faye Wong and the Powerpuff Girls as influences, it’s only a matter of time before the fashion set comes knocking.
Listen to: Dramatic, from their debut EP Life of Mine, released this year.
This article appears in the October issue of Vogue Australia, on stands now.