Categories
Essential Artists

Essential Artists #15: From benny blanco to Kayps

This week’s data-driven roundup of artists killing it around the world and in Australia this week

Get this in your inbox every Sunday by signing up to the Substack

Start next week right by getting across the biggest and the hottest new music around – as usual, I’ve taken a look at which artists are bagging the most spots (especially those punching above their weight) on both the best Australian playlists and on New Music Fridays around the world.

Don’t forget there are two dashboards you can play with via the site if you want to get into the raw data behind it, one for Australia and one for the New Music Friday stuff.

These are the artists who caught my eye this week:

1. The top five global superstars with new releases

2. Five artists punching above their weight around the world this week:

  • MPH – Mirage (single)
  • Sophia Stel – Now I’ve Got A Lot You Know (single)
  • Silva Bumpa – Fantasy (Baby if u know me) (feat. Kosmo Kint) (single)
  • Mulaa Joans – That Ain’t You (EP)
  • Zach John King – Way To Go (feat. Brooks & Dunn) (single)

3. In terms of Australian artists, these are the acts (& their releases) seeing playlisters at home and abroad making bets that they’ll be taking it to the next level soon:

You want to know why they’re on my list this week? Let’s find out!

The artists killing it on New Music Friday playlists around the world this week

First of all, these are the big five – these are the artists you’ll probably be hearing the most about this week. This is the ‘well, duh’ section – you’re supposed to know they’ve all got new stuff out, but if you don’t, these are the near-unanimous picks for Biggest Beasts this week.

The releases that put them on the top of the pile this week:

Anyway, New Music Fridays are always dominated by the bold-faced names – but if you look hard enough you can spot the up-and-comers too.

These are five artists (and their releases) that I’ve spotted being disproportionately supported around the world compared to their size, the acts being given hyper-valuable playlist real estate *before* they’ve blown up for real.

The releases – and the support – that made them standouts this week:

  • MPH – Mirage (single)
    • Emerging UKG talent MPH drops a new single and promptly breaks well out of the local area into NMFs from Canada to New Zealand, including a big spot on the Global New Music Friday
  • Sophia Stel – Now I’ve Got A Lot You Know (single)
    • Sophie Stel’s boundary-pushing music pushed well across boundaries this week, with a fabulous performance by this rising artist, hitting NMFs in their home market of Canada, but also well beyond
  • Silva Bumpa – Fantasy (Baby if u know me) (feat. Kosmo Kint) (single)
    • Another rising UK underground producer, Silva Bumpa also badgered their way into some mighty NMFs this week, for a total combined reach of 7m
  • Mulaa Joans – That Ain’t You (EP)
    • Modern UK R&B is flying right now, and this artist is riding the wings of it, with spots not just on the UK and Global NMFs, but also in countries across Europe
  • Zach John King – Way To Go (feat. Brooks & Dunn) (single)
    • With a hatful of shiny Americana (a genre particularly cursed by Artificial Music), Zach John King’s collab with the mighty Brooks & Dunn put him on the big list at home, as well as across Europe too

The artists killing it on the best new music playlists in Australia (and globally) this week

Back here in Oz though, we want to know who’s getting the most attention from a broader, Australia-only cross-section of tastemakers and crtitics. To do that, I track the adds on around 60-70 of the most credible new music playlists in the country. As with the breakout global acts above, any artist with a lower following that gets onto these lists at any sort of scale is doing extremely well indeed.

First of all, let’s take a look at the artists who punched above their weight the most demostically this week, and bagged more spots across more high-quality editorial playlists than an artist of their size would normally get.

These three landed at the top of my list with their latest releases:

  • Kayps – BUNUBA BABY (album)
    • The first full-length album from this exciting young rapper hit the high notes for a wide range of playlisters this week, hitting the well beyond the hip-hop niche into broader lists
  • Phil Jamieson – 10Charlie (album)
    • The widely-beloved Grinspoon frontman had to cancel his tour this week after a fearsome on-stage back injury, but was sent more than a few get-well-soon playlist adds from across the board for his latest solo album “Get It”.
  • Oliver Ashby – Annabella (single)
    • Olver Ashby just keeps getting repeat adds to Tapestry and Fresh Finds AU & NZ, and that big support for this wildly early-stage artist is a big signal of support

Outside of this top three, it was another strong week of releases from emerging artists. Looking down the top 20 there are some great new acts getting the support they rightfully deserve.

Once you’re done making notes of who to check out, we’ll take a look at how the Aussies did abroad this week.

OK, so – getting backing from the new music playlists in Australia is hard enough to do, but breaking out into international markets is another level entirely.

These are the artists and releases putting Aussie artists on the radar both at home and abroad this week.

  • daine – I Used to Kill (single)
    • daine has regularly appeared in this list for her adds from global playlisters, who seem to be just that bit more enthusiastic than local ones. It’s the same again this week, with a truly stellar set of lists getting on board abroad, with a good amount of Aussies yet to figure it out. I’m fairly sure that with a bag of NMFs and no less than four >1m-follower lists adding the latest track, daine doesn’t really care all that much at all.
  • Mack Geiger – Pouring (single)
    • One of two Australian country artists doing well abroad this week, Mack Geiger and his giant hat made it onto some big country lists as well as some huge general playlists to boot.
  • Radio Free Alice – Kick in the Shins (single)
    • RFA have spent eight out of the last eleven weeks on major global playlists, a remarkable show of strength and support that shows no sign of slowing. Even though there’s no word yet on the next release, you can bet the house on it being equally ubiquitous.
  • Wade Forster – The Aftermath (single)
    • The second Aussie country artist on the list this week – an actual cattleman and rodeo cowboy – Forster’s third album bucked and kicked its way into playlists worth a combined reach of over 2m
  • Cherry Chola – Perla (single)
    • A hefty set of playlists jumped on board in Australia and were joined by a good range of global genre lists abroad (including two heavyweights carrying over 1m followers)
  • REDD. – life (single)
    • Great to see this young Australian continue to bag slots abroad as well as at home, with repeat adds delivering a total combined reach this week of over 3m
  • horse – Ask me again next year (EP)
    • Last month’s EP gave horse a hefty dose of attention, and it continues to raise playlister eyebrows even weeks later (this is their third appearance on this list in six weeks), with both local and global lists still thinking their combined 2.5m followings need to hear it. They’re not wrong.

And that’s your lot this week, the artists that popped on the playlists, punched above their weight, and pushed out into global lists.

If you’re into raw data, then there are two new dashboards you can play with on the site for the Australia and the New Music Friday data.

Go and discover something new and amazing 🤘

—

Photo: Oliver Ashby at Metro Social, Sydney