We all know music is cyclical – trends come and go, then come back again – but the beauty of today’s landscape is that several changes can happen all at once. Yes, there’s an Irish folk revival, but there’s also a brewing rock renaissance of ambitious young bands vying to be our next stadium act. Twenty-five years since The Strokes released their earth-quaking debut, Is This It, everyone’s buzzing about their fellow New Yorkers, Geese. Meanwhile, after something of a lull in the UK rap scene, things exploded last year, in such a way that it caused ripples on the other side of the Atlantic.
The other great thing about music today? Very few people are content to restrict themselves by listening to just one or two genres. Here at The Independent we’ll listen to anything as long as it’s good, and there’s plenty to get excited about this year: from spaced-out alt-pop to a Kentucky take on riot grrrl rock.
Here are 10 acts I think you should be paying attention to in 2026.
Absolutely
Mentions of alt-pop artist Absolutely – real name Abby-Lynn Keen – often come with the addendum “RAYE’s sister”, but it can’t be long before she’s known in her own right. Her debut album, Paracosm, is a magnificent opening statement in which she conjures her own dreamy world. It’s full of bright piano notes, limb-quaking beats, gorgeous harmonies and her own hypnotic voice, which shifts effortlessly from breathy falsetto trills to honeyed melismatic runs. The sheer range on the record is staggering: she’s achingly vulnerable on the wide-eyed “Simple Things” – about the pure joy in finally meeting someone you can open up to – then bold and assertive on the thrilling, hook-filled “Prototype”. She’s opening for her big sister at arenas around Europe and the UK from 22 January, then for Reneé Rapp’s UK arena run this spring.
Dove Ellis
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Galway-born, Manchester-based musician Dove Ellis’s debut was aptly named Blizzard, blowing him as if from nowhere into our collective consciousness towards the end of 2025. Made, as he put it, “for friends”, it’s a beautifully wrought collection of abstract songwriting set to music that’s part punk, part chamber pop. Think Perfume Genius if he was being backed by Geese – the latter of whom he supported on their headline tour last year. He sings in an appealing, off-kilter drawl, with a loud-quiet dynamism that maintains your attention even as the song itself meanders.
EsDeeKid
Much has been made of UK rap’s “underground” scene in the past 12 months, though it feels more like a new generation of artists have simply taken over. The arrival of masked rapper Esdeekid heralds a wider wave of ambitious, pioneering young things – from Fakemink to Feng and Ledbyher – deploying a defiantly British sound that has their somewhat lacklustre US cohorts pricking up their ears. He exploded in 2025 with tracks including the viral “Phantom”, delivered over spooky synths, and “4 Raws” (also viral). It didn’t hurt that the video for “4 Raws” starred Timothée Chalamet, previously the subject of rumours that he was, in fact, leading a double life as EsDeeKid. But the track itself stands on its own, owning his background with pride: “I’m a scumbag, I was raised in Liverpool slums, lad (OK)/ I was broke, no joke, but I spun back.”
Feng
Croydon rapper Feng’s tracks are like Polaroids from a house party – brief snapshots of a good time. Very few pass the two-minute mark. He nods to the cloud rap of the early 2010s, using vocal chops and 808s to conjure dreamy, lo-fi soundscapes mirrored in his videos. In interviews, he’s acknowledged that at 19, he’s not old enough to have experienced the era he’s drawing from, but that doesn’t matter to him. It represents a simpler time, one where “everyone was less serious” and young people could be silly without fear of going viral on social media.
I love the drowsy loop on “When I Met You” and the video game buzz of breakup track “XY”, both from his 2025 debut, What the Feng. There’s a hyper-specificity to his songwriting that’s startlingly redolent of Charli XCX or Lily Allen. On “XY”, he raps: “Checkin’ on your Instagram, I really shouldn’t ’cause it makes it worse/ I can’t leave a comment, but I like your Gucci purse/ But I know someone bought it for you, so it really hurts.”
The Guest List
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This Manchester five-piece are on course to become one of the UK’s next big guitar bands, thanks to some ambitious songwriting and a dose of enjoyably self-aware pretentiousness. You might wince at the French verse on their lust-ridden anthem “Ruine”, until you see the music video with its black-and-white, beret-sporting scene, and realise – much to your relief – that tongues are firmly in cheeks. Similarly, the outrageous Oasis-ness of the guitar on “Weatherman” is redeemed by its hard-hitting climate crisis theme. In terms of influences, frontman Cai Alty seems more drawn to the bristling swagger of Fontaines D.C.’s Grian Chatten, whom he emulates on the slurring “Ruine” as well as the brilliant “Loose Tongue”, with its slouchy backing harmonies and squalls of electric guitar. Their debut EP When the Lights are Out dropped last November; more music is expected this year.
Girl Tones
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Kentucky-based sister duo Girl Tones could have stomped right out of the Riot Grrrl movement of the Nineties, but in fact, they’re still in their early twenties. Single “Again” revs up like a vintage Harley, kicking up dust before singer Kenzie comes in with her distorted yowl. There’s a buzzsaw of a guitar riff while her sister Laila pounds out a thunderstorm on the drums. Recent track “Burnout”, meanwhile, is Yeah Yeah Yeahs level sardonic. They’ll no doubt draw comparisons to Britain’s own Wet Leg by dint of being two women in a rock duo, but this is much, much better. Girl Tones have got grit. They played their first shows on UK soil last year, supporting Cage the Elephant, but hopefully they’ll be back very soon.
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Leah Cleaver
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The thrills and spills of life as a twentysomething navigating London formed the basis of Leah Cleaver’s debut EP Pushing Up Flowers, released last October. Think big, squelchy beats and sultry rhythms bolstering her low croon. There’s a touch of Prince-indebted soul on “Get You Home”, a seductive invitation to leave the party early (together), while “Last Time” is brilliant pivoting from a low-thrumming bass to a heady concoction of jangling guitars and buzzing synths. While there’s a fantastic cohesion to the whole project, it’s also testament to Cleaver’s extensive music education – her influences span everything from The Dubliners and Arctic Monkeys to Mary J Blige and Frank Sinatra.
Ledbyher
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The Indonesian-Scottish artist born Rachel Diack has described her sound alternatively as “bedroom drill” and “lady trap”, but whatever it is, it’s good. There’s a restlessness to it, in the shapeshifting synths that float like clouds above her voice, with its post-cigarette husk. Perhaps it’s down to her upbringing: she moved around with her family from an army base in Germany to a village in Indonesia, then a small town in rural Norfolk. As with her peers, there’s a pleasing specificity to her songwriting, but she also throws in the occasional literary reference – whether that be Wordsworth or Harry Potter – that elevates it just a touch above. She’s got a way with earworms, too, which has caught the attention of veterans including Skepta, who invited her to perform at his Mains show at London Fashion Week. Her first major label release, mixtape The Elephant, is due out soon.
Madra Salach
The first time I heard this Dublin-based six-piece, the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. Influenced by fellow Irish folk revivalists Lankum, their music demonstrates an innate understanding of tradition, heritage, myth and culture while managing to sound wholly contemporary. Frontman Paul Banks knows how to hold a room, singing in a slanted yelp that frequently slips into a throat-tearing snarl. He’s an extraordinary storyteller, as are his bandmates, who turn each instrument into its own character, building layer upon layer to create an effect that’s almost overwhelming. “Blue and Gold”, their first single, opens in ominous, dirge-like fashion – from there unfolds a story of financial woes, narrated by a hopeful gambler. “I Was Just a Boy”, only their second release to date, stretches on for more than seven minutes, pushed onwards by stony drums and the bright, urgent strum of the mandolin. Their debut EP, It’s a Hell of an Age, is out 23 January.
The Scratch
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While they’re not exactly “new” – in fact, they’ve been knocking about for the better part of a decade – The Scratch are on the cusp of something big. Their new album, Pull Like a Dog, comes from the now-famous remark by Irish Olympic rowers Gary and Paul O’Donovan the year the band formed, when asked to describe their game plan for a race: “Close your eyes and pull like a dog.” The Scratch seem to have taken that sentiment of no-nonsense tenacity to heart; the album is full of gusto, a tight 10 tracks of breathless, relentless rock. While you’ll have to wait until 13 March to hear for yourself, you can satiate yourself with what they’ve put out so far, including their awesome 2023 record Mind Yourself and their more trad/folk-leaning debut, Couldn’t Give a Rats.
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