The A-Z Of Australian Artists You Need To Get In Your Ear Holes This Instant: Part 2
I’m back to feed you even more Aussie artists designed to revamp your playlists and have your mates begging for just some insight into your incredible, tonally relevant music taste.
This series is designed to Ausify your algorithm, putting Australian artists at the front and centre of your purview. We’ve got everything from big-time music veterans to smaller up-and-coming acts, spanning every genre you could possibly think of.
Okay, maybe not every single genre, but you catch my drift.
Last week, we brought you the A–G of Australian music, and this time around we’re getting stuck into H–M.
Without further ado, behold: the finest Aussie artists you just have to get your head (and ears) around. Take it from me.
H: Luke Hemmings
Okay, so teeeechnically Hemmings is the last name, but I couldn’t work through a list this extensive without a shoutout to my former 5SOS tween self.
Luke Hemmings, Aussie singer and musician, is best known for being the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of 5 Seconds of Summer. The band has collectively sold more than ten million albums and over two million concert tickets, making them one of the most successful Aussie music acts history has ever seen.
Band aside, his solo career is nothing to turn your nose up at, either. His first solo studio album, When Facing The Things We Turn Away From, dropped in 2021 and debuted atop the ARIA Albums Chart.
His EP Boy, which came out last year, also peaked at number four on the ARIA Charts. Luke’s wife (and fellow musician) Sierra Deaton features as background vocals throughout most of the songs.
I’ve never felt so proud to live near the Annandale Hotel (AKA the Sydney pub where he played his first ever gig with the rest of the 5SOS boys).
I: INKABEE
Musical talent doesn’t discriminate by age, and INKABEE is the perfect example. The 13-year-old Noongar Wongi hip-hop artist hails from Perth, having exploded onto the music scene at just 11 years old. Yup, you read that right.
His debut track, “Beat the Odds”, saw huge success — even being nominated for two West Australian Music awards. His first solo track, “Saved by the Bell”, was met with similar acclaim.
INKABEE often teams up with his father, award-winning MC and activist FLEWNT. The duo has released the internationally acclaimed “We Dat Good”, performing the track live on America’s Got Talent.
J: Jessica Mauboy
Our beloved Jessica Mauboy, AKA Australia’s princess, rose to fame in 2006 and stayed firmly planted in that place ever since.
She entered the fourth season of Australian Idol and finished as runner-up, then signed a recording contract with Sony Music. The rest, as they say, is history.
The girl from Darwin has countless accolades, from her participation in iconic girl group Young Divas (“Turn Me Loose” stans, rise up) to her starring role in The Sapphires. It’s safe to say that Miss Girl is something of an Australian entertainment industry cornerstone.
Most recently, she was a coach on The Voice Australia (from 2021 to 2023, to be exact), and earlier this year she was inducted into the National Indigenous Music Awards Hall of Fame. Needless to say, we stan Jess Mauboy in this household.
K: Keli Holiday
If you haven’t blasted “Dancing2” in your bedroom and shimmied your hips along to the gorgeous synth beats, you’re simply lying. I don’t make the rules.
Keli Holiday — real name: Adam Hyde — released the banger last month as a love letter to girlfriend Abbie Chatfield.
“I wrote it as a memento or a gift, for lack of a better word, and then once I got it to a place where I was comfortable with it, I presented it to her, and that was a beautiful moment,” he told PEDESTRIAN.TV at the time. “She wept and wept — in a very joyful way.”
You’re probably familiar with Hyde’s main musical project, Peking Duk, which has been topping charts and hearts (see what we did there) for years. Keli Holiday is what you’d call an alter ego, one that Hyde describes as “a very confused, heartbroken man that still thinks he’s the shit.”
His most recent smash hit, “Dancing2”, is only the start of what’s to come from Keli Holiday, with his second studio album right ‘round the corner.
L: Luude
Luude is an Australian electronic dance music producer, best known for his 2021 remix of Men at Work’s “Down Under”.
By strategically layering drums and bass together with the iconic tune that Aussies already know and love, Luude birthed a smash hit that now permanently lives on the setlist of every underground club ever.
He dropped his debut EP, 6AM, in 2021, and has since dropped a number of singles featuring artists including the likes of Sean Paul, Elliphant, and Colin Hay.
M: Missy Higgins
A truly quintessential Aussie artist to round off this list just feels right. Missy Higgins has been active in the industry since 2001 and has shown zero signs of slowing down since.
You’ll see smash hits of hers pop up on Aussie playlists left, right and centre. Take “Scar”, for example, which entered the ARIA Singles Chart at number one and also received a quadruple-platinum sales certification.
Arguably more importantly, it’s also a certified bop and a half. This song will never beat the unofficial national anthem allegations (and for good reason).
She’s been nominated for countless ARIA awards from 2004 through to this year, as well as being inducted into the ARIAs Hall of Fame last year.
Outside of music, her work spans climate and environmental spaces, animal welfare, and refugee activism. She’s even on a journey to make all of her tours carbon neutral — not an easy feat by any means. Nobody’s doin’ it like Missy, that’s for sure.
Well, folks, that concludes yet another edition of the artists set to Ausify your playlists sooner rather than later. Give ‘em a listen, and thank me later.
The post The A-Z Of Australian Artists You Need To Get In Your Ear Holes This Instant: Part 2 appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
