YOUR SONIC FIX IN '26

Riot grrrl is back, the Irish folk revival continues apace, and a masked UK rapper is causing a serious stir. Our music editor Roisin O'Connor picks 10 artists to listen out for this year

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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