By Michelle Hyun Kim, Leah Mandel, Brandon Ousley, Will Schube, and Peter A. Berry of Third Bridge Creative

In this week’s column of rising artists, we’re diving into Indian-inspired Australian funk fusion, classical piano meets #darkacademia, smooth alt-R&B, futuristic electro-pop, and a lively rap hit.   

Glass Beams

Chartmetric Artist Rank: 856
Genre: Indie Jazz
Country: Australia

Blending traditional Indian music with indie rock, funk, and jazz, Melbourne-based trio Glass Beams are blowing up from their evocative performance videos. The sumptuous live visual for their new single “Mahal,” which features the members wearing jeweled face masks, has gained over 2 million YouTube views since its February 20 release. In the past month, their YouTube subscriber count has nearly quadrupled, bringing them to 92k. With an upcoming EP set to arrive on March 22 via Ninja Tune, as well as UK, European, and North American tour dates booked through the spring and summer, the band is likely to find new fans around the globe this year. 

Yannick Lowack

Chartmetric Artist Rank: 31,842
Genre: Classical
Country: U.S.

Most of Yannick Lowack’s TikTok videos tell you to “close your eyes and just listen.” Sometimes he encourages you to “stop scrolling for a moment.” There’s not much to see here, just Lowack’s hands on the keys of his piano as he plays soothing classical covers. Despite his urging for a calm pause from social media suction, the young pianist knows how to get his engagement up: these posts are tagged with #darkacademia, #safeplace, and #aesthetic, and often rack up views in the millions. This rendition of Ludovico Einaudi’s “Nuvole Bianche,” for instance, has over 4 million views and 1.5k comments in which users thank him for being reminded that “we are all human.” It’s rare to see a classical artist with such traction—people are taking to his tranquility offering.

Dende

Chartmetric Artist Rank: 13,196
Genre: R&B/Soul
Country: U.S.

Since his striking UPROXX Sessions performance went viral last year, Texas-born crooner Dende has built a sizable indie R&B following with his pleading vocals and emotional odes to relationships. Fresh off the breakout success of his 2023 EP, Before We Crash, and its follow-up LP, ‘95 Civic, he further explores complicated love on his newest EP, Wish You Were Here, released February 28 via CXR. Inspired by the longing for an ex-lover during a UK trip, the three-song, Billy Blunt-produced offering tiptoes between woozy alt-R&B and rap, with contributions from Dan Diggas and Henry Was. The smooth neo-soul sway of its lead single, “Slide” has over 123k Spotify streams, aided by playlist support on This Is Frequency, Lowkey, and R&B Weekly. With close to a quarter of a million Spotify monthly listeners and co-signs from Billboard, UPROXX, and Complex, Dende’s emotive R&B is bound to break bigger this year.

Discovery Zone

Chartmetric Artist Rank: 7,253
Genre: Electronic
Country: U.S.

New York-based songwriter and multi-media artist JJ Weihl isn’t afraid of technology replacing her. In fact, under the name Discovery Zone, she crafts songs beamed in from a distant planet on her new LP Quantum Web. These tunes blend wistful disco-pop drums and dreamy melodies with the futuristic bogeyman of yesteryear and today. Cheap MIDI plugins dance alongside AI text-to-speech fragments and new-age synths move languidly across landscapes that could soundtrack Dune 2. Much of Quantum Web was informed by a 2021 multimedia project from Weihl at Pop-Kultur Berlin called “Cybernetica.” The show featured her cataloging her daily movements and entering them as data, then presenting them to an audience — whether profound or mundane. Those tentpoles form the basis of Quantum Web, a record of futures past, present, and, well, future.

Bryansanon

Chartmetric Artist Rank: 8,715
Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap
Country: U.S.

Based in Atlanta, Bryansanon is a TikToker who's on the rise for leveraging the platform to its fullest effect. While he had previously released songs, none have matched the virality of "MOVE YO BODY." Released in November, the quirky, club-infused track has collected over 15.5 million streams on Spotify, with its sped-up version earning over 18 million. Bryansanon supercharged the single by showcasing a goofy, easy-to-follow accompanying dance in a TikTok video, which has collected close to 9 million views. The video, of course, gave other TikTok users a new dance to use in their videos, which only gave it more attention. Bryansanon is experiencing explosive growth, indicating his status as an artist to watch. 

Graphics by Nicki Camberg and cover image by Crasianne Tirado; data as of March 15, 2024.

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