As I left my homeland of Australia and landed back in London, the seasons had made a very noticeable shift. And although I’m happy for my Aussie friends as they release themselves from the shackles of coats and long sleeves, I couldn’t help but feel slightly envious as I was slapped by crisp London air and rain the moment I arrived back. 

Okay, I promise I’ll stop complaining and move on to a more positive note… 

I spent three days at in Brisbane this month and couldn’t get enough of the Australian music scene. Across the three days, I clocked a casual 65,000 steps, hopping from gig to gig, discovering artists bursting with talent and songs I haven’t been able to shake since. Growing up in Mparntwe/Alice Springs, right in the middle of the Australian outback, you’re pretty bloody far away from… well, everything. Music became my way of feeling connected to the rest of the country and the world beyond it. That’s what made me fall in love with discovering music, and after living in Australia, Ireland and now the UK, and working in music for 10+ years, I still chase that rush of hearing something for the first time and immediately needing to know EVERYTHING about the person who made it. And that’s what I got over and over again at BIGSOUND. 

So let me introduce you to 10 of my favourite artists I discovered at BIGSOUND 2026…

makes the kind of pop music I am always looking for. Colourful and a little weird. Her sound melts through electronic, indie and psych-pop, while balancing on this gorgeous tightrope of pop music. She played on the back of a ute (a utility vehicle, for those unfamiliar with Australians shortening every word possible), with an esky full of cans, people watching from the car park, and five-storey apartment blocks and beer gardens surrounding us. Her sound travelled so beautifully across this little corner of Brisbane, and it felt like one of those very special right-place, right-time moments.

Aotearoa/New Zealand-based has been another obsession since leaving down under, and I can’t wait to see her again. Buttery warmth overflows from everything she does, as R&B, neo-soul and gospel melt effortlessly; it’s no wonder she’s already shared stages with the likes of Olivia Dean and PJ Morton. She really knows how to make a love song—the kind that makes you feel optimistic about love, giddy if you’re in it, and hopeful that it’s out there waiting for you if you’re not. There’s a real intimacy to the way she performs, drawing you in with every lyric and making a room full of people feel like a conversation between just the two of you.

Nothing quite like being swept away by a sea of guitars. Meanjin/Brisbane four-piece BLUE DINER. make this gorgeous, dreamy shoegaze that completely engulfs you, with airy vocals gliding over distorted guitars. As the seconds tick by, everything gets fuzzier and fuzzier until you’re completely lost in it. The band came together with a very specific mission: to make dreamy, airy shoegaze, and honestly, mission accomplished. The perfect soundtrack to disappear into for a while.

I walked into BLUSH’KO AND THE LAZY BOYS and immediately felt this was special. Naarm/Melbourne-based, Blush’ko is one of those musical brains where you can hear just how much he adores, lives and breathes music. His catalogue floats through R&B and soul, with flashes of electronic, funk and trance sounds. And then you put The Lazy Boys behind him, and his live performance comes alive. What I loved most was the way each song melted into the next, his voice ricocheting off the warm musical backbone, just one gorgeous, hypnotic moment flowing into the next. Blush’ko is special.

has iconic accomplishments under her belt, but seeing her at BIGSOUND felt like discovering her all over again. As she walks on stage, she commands your attention as she takes you through neo-soul, electronic music and slices of pop accompanying HER VOICE. Four ARIA nominations, performing with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Opera House, touring with the likes of Alicia Keys and Sufjan Stevens…the list goes on. Ngaiire is a proper artist through and through, and I can’t get enough.

was one of those BIGSOUND moments where I walked away immediately wanting to know EVERYTHING, and thankfully, I got to know it all by talking to her that week. Her energy is infectious, not just in person but on stage too. She makes music hovering between R&B, pop and electronic. Her Ghanaian heritage sits at the heart of her universe, and I got a proper sense of the WORLD that surrounds AKOSIA. What excites me about her is getting to see all those pieces fall into place in real time as she takes the stage. There’s ambition in every part of it, but also this infectious energy that makes you want to come along for the ride.

makes electronic music for people who don’t particularly care for the boundaries of electronic music. The Naarm/Melbourne producer pulls from sounds like house, hip-hop and R&B, creating music that can make you want to dance one minute and melt into it the next. His Chinese-Australian heritage and childhood love of Chinese cinema also inspires the world he creates, matched with a brilliantly iconic list of influences that swings from Outkast and The Neptunes to Joy Division and Deftones.

I had so much fun watching SALTY at BIGSOUND. Big stadium-energy pop-rock songs, choreo and no fear of putting on a show. I love the fearless, bratty energy of her music, and there’s something so exciting about seeing a pop star this early on who already feels READY TO GO. The vision is there, the songs, the look and, most importantly, she knows how to command a stage. And clearly, I’m not the only one who left BIGSOUND wanting more, as off the back of the festival, she’s been announced to support Tove Lo across her Australian tour next year. Talk about being ready for the big stage.

A Sydney-based hip-hop collective representing the Indian diaspora in Australia, THE BROWNS bring this incredible energy to the stage, bouncing off each other, swapping flows and moving like a group of mates who completely understand each other’s rhythm. Their music pulls from hip-hop alongside the sounds they grew up around, sampling and flipping South Asian sounds. 

QUEENIE Had me falling head over heels as soon as her voice touched the mic. Big vocals, theatre and a delicious quirkiness that pulls you into her universe instantly. She has this ability to make the stage feel enormous and incredibly intimate from one song to the next. There’s this huge emotion that belts out from her core, but at the same time, there’s a beautiful softness underneath it all that makes you feel like you’re the only person in the room. Her sound threads through folk, soft rock and pop, wrapped up in this larger-than-life energy that makes it all feel unmistakably .

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