PRE-FACE
Let’s be honest. The mainstream music scene is boring. It’s filled with predictable elements. There are artists with no artist development. Labels who only care about streams and starve their artists. it’s just not right. It’s boring. it’s completely boring. The labels having so much control on what type of music the artist can make. Which leads to the industry flooding with artist making music specifically for snippets for social media platforms. The mainstream artist are chained to trends and inauthentic sounds to make a quick check off a single.
But the good news is all artist in the industry aren’t chained to these rules. There are still artists out there that have control. There are still artists out there who aren’t just in it for the money but instead are trying to actually hone in on their crafts and become great. Like Michael Jackson, like the Prince, like Beyoncé—there are still artist out there. There are still artist who are in love with the process and the idea of evolving as a greater artist each and every day. This isn’t found in mainstream normally. Instead, this has been moved underground.
UNDERGROUND
When I say underground, I’m not referring to the literal underground but instead I’m referring to the underground music scene. The underground music scene can be defined as smaller artists that arent as popular as a mainstream artist. Because of the lack of support and known existence of the artist, the underground artists have more creative freedom because there’s not that many societal pressures around them forcing them to conform.
These underground artist usually have their own sound their own style that’s not influenced by a large label. Although some underground artists are signed, due to the low demand or how new they are to the music industry scene. A lot of them have so much room to just explore and figure things out.The underground music scene rages with so much talent from a multitude of genres,with so many different artists exploring different sounds and textures and themes. It is the place to be right now.
So, I know that we usually do blogs about college survival but for this week, we’re going to switch it up. Instead of talking about college survival we’re going to talk about music. In this blog, we’re going to discuss some of the underground artists that are currently on the rise being mainstream artists very, very, soon. This blog is all about music and all about artists. Rising Artist.
ARTIST #1: ABSOLUTELY
The artist named Absolutely is a vocalist from the UK. She started off as a successful songwriter and at first, she was just known as the younger sister of the very successful artist, RAYE. Absolutely released her debut album, CEREBRUM, in November 2023. Although it got a little traction, her most noticeable song was her single titled, “I just don’t know you yet”. With her ability to mix pop, alt, and R&B many people have described her music as alien pop.
Like so many different upcoming artists she used TikTok to promote her latest single I just don’t know yet. With this song are they taking off on TikTok it became a hit. With millions of streams this song was her most effective way of gaining more traction a bigger fan base. Many may worry that with a sister so popular like her older sister raye, it would be extremely hard for her to make a name for herself, how. However, with her song I just don’t know you yet building such traction the connection with her, and RAYE only helps with her artist development and helps bring even more attraction to such an amazing song and such amazing artistry.
Although the song is very difficult to sing live, absolutely nails it and shows that not only is she a studio singer but she’s also as a singer at concert. And with the constant rise of everyone finding out about her through this popular song, it won’t be too long until everyone knows her name. Mark my words!
ARTIST #2: KATSEYE
This group is one of the biggest rising groups in the industry right now. When I first heard of Katseye due to how big the girl group was and how they formulated it like a K pop girl group, I thought that it was a K pop girl group. They take the formula of the K pop girl groups, and they combined them with American pop girl group influences. But when you look at how they choreograph their music and how they sing different parts and how they market themselves, it is just like the methodologies of the K pop industry.
It’s a six-member girl group formed by HYBE and Geffen Records. It was formed through a reality competition show called The Debut: Dream Academy. KATSEYE is a very diverse girl group with many different girls ranging from different parts of the world. This is the first time in a long time since we have watched a girl group form from a show be successful. It’s also the first time in a long time that we’ve seen such a push for the publicity of a girl group in the music industry. The group members were intentionally picked to make it easier to be globally marketed. With different girls, from different ethnic backgrounds, different personalities, and different styles they are marketing them to not just be American pop sensation but a global pop sensation.
Accomplishments
They pride themselves on elaborate choreography and ever since June 2024 they have been constantly making music and constantly pushing themselves out there to get a name for themselves. They are currently nominated for their first Grammy, with it being best new artist. I think that shows just how hard they are working alongside their team of people behind them constantly pushing them with all these different ways to get publicity. Most of the people in the best new artist category have been working as an artist for multiple years, much more years than just one and half.
Like I previously just said, KATSEYE officially debuted in June 2024. It’s November 2025 and they are already well on their way to becoming a big name. You see them everywhere you hear about them everywhere and like I said they’ve only been making music for a year and some change, and they are already nominated for a Grammy. That just shows just how hard their team is working to push them out there.
The Team Surrounding Them / The Formula
Besides the Grammy nomination, the group has also won other awards. The group has won the MTV push performance award of the year and the she launched a successful debut EP that charted on the Billboard 200. Along with these accomplishments they’ve also performed at major festivals and have created partnerships with many brands created many different endorsement endeavors for themselves and they have constantly shown just how much they are constantly growing in influence in this industry. One of the most popular brand endorsements that they did was with the gap brand. They made a commercial with them this elaborate choreography to the song milkshake and the choreography was such a viral moment that it created a dance trend just from the commercial alone. I think that shows just how influential this girl group is becoming in being that they have a great team surrounding them it’s only up from here.
ARTIST #3: LEON THOMAS
The next artist that I’d like to talk about is Leon Thomas. Leon Thomas is an up-and-coming rising artist but unlike KATSEYE, Leon has been in the industry for a really, really, long time. He’s been in the industry as a songwriter being credited for making some of the most popular songs in music that we all know and have heard of. For instance, he was one of Ariana Grande’s main collaborators at one point, he worked with SZA, drake, Post Malone, Jack Harlow, rick ross, Bryson tiller—and so many more. He has been credited towards working with multiple artists from multiple different genres like Jay-Z Kanye West Toni Braxton babyface post Malone and so many more. He has received a Grammy for best R&B song for Co-producing SZA’s hit song “Snooze”.
Timeline
Although he’s been releasing music of his own here and there, he has mainly been focused on producing and writing for others. But in 2023 when he released his debut studio album titled electric dusk that’s when he really started gaining a little bit of attention. However, the big wave of momentum for Leon Thomas happened after he released his studio album titled Mutt in 2024. Mutt the lead single became a big hit with it trending on multiple platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. This led to the wave of him gaining much, much more traction. He then released a MUTT Deluxe which was very well received with multiple surprise features. He recently released another EP on October 24, 2025.
Well Recieved
It was very well received, and he was recently nominated to be best new artist for Grammys. Along with that nomination, his solo album Mutt was platinum certified. And he recently won Billboard Breakthrough of the Year Award in 2025. Leon Thomas is a great artist that prides himself on developing his craft vocally, production wise, and with his guitar skills.
ARTIST #4: OLIVIA DEAN
Olivia Dean is a singer/songwriter from the UK. She was named breakthrough artist of the year by amazon in 2021, and 2023 she was even selected as BBC Music Introducing Artist of the Year. She’s recently been picking up traction with some of her recent releases, especially in America.
She has released two studio albums, two live albums, and even four EPs. She’s made songs for soundtracks and has been on tour all over the globe. She’s also now nominated for Best New Artist for the Grammys and has recently performed on Jimmy Fallon Late Night Show. She is definitely on the rise!
ARTIST #5: Tate McRae
Tate McRae is a dancer turned signed RCA Records artist. She started off singing and dancing on YouTube which eventually caught the attention of executive. She’s a Canadian singer, songwriter. She also became well known from the show “So You Think You Can Dance” where she became a finalist for. In 2020, she had her first viral hit with the song “you broke me first”. That led to her debut EP called all the things I never said and then finally led to the release of her debut album I used to think I could fly in 2022.
Each time she dropped these different releases she would gain more and more traction. She released her second album called think later which included a global hit called greedy. She also released her third album titled so close to what and it had a lot of different viral moments happen too.
She’s consistently releasing music and backing it up with memorable live performances featuring electrifying choreography which is keeping her on a constant rise in charts and streams and overall popularity. With her constant releasing of music and viral moments, she is most definitely on the rise.
ARTIST #6 PINK PANTHERESS
Pink Panther is a British singer-songwriter and producer who is well known in the underground scene. A multitude of her songs have become viral moments on TikTok. This has helped lead to her rise in fame and prominence in the music industry. She has an authentic sound with instrumentation usage that we have never seen before. She combines genres by blending different elements together. Elements ranging from UK garage with samples that are nostalgic but also intertwining with alternative pop as well. Her breakout song was the 2021 viral hit titled “break it off”. After that was released, she then released another viral hit called the boys a liar. This song, which featured ice spice, was a hit globally.
She’s recognized for her unique sound and her innovative approach to music. She stands out due to her authenticity. She remains true to herself and her brand and that is her superpower. There’s nobody out there like her right now in the industry. In 2024 she received the Billboard producer of the year award. Then, in 2023 she received Song of The Year award by Rolling Stone UK. She is most definitely one to watch.
ARTIST #7 CASH COBAIN
For our 7th rising artist to highlight we have Cash Cobain. Cash Cobain is one of the artists that are responsible for creating and popularizing the drill sub-genre of hip-hop. This sub-genre includes a jersey club bounce beat with a multitude of vocal samples intertwined in the record. His breakthrough came in 2021 and he’s been gaining more traction ever since. He is known for being a producer for many big artists. As a rapper himself, he has been constantly releasing solo projects and collaborations with other big artists currently and music industry.
Whether through production, or rapping he most definitely someone to keep their eye on cause he’s definitely on the rise.
