By Audrey Wallis, Second Year, English
In 2025 we all wanted to be ‘here before this blows up’ with so many of the year's biggest artists slowly growing fanbases in obscurity until everyone suddenly became a fan. To pre-empt this, this list explores several genres, scenes or simply aesthetics that will be in or out in 2026.
IN: Irish Artists particularly Irish Indie
When Fontaines D.C. broke the barrier into mainstream success with their 2024 album Romance, they created the path for other Irish artists to do the same. While artists like The Cranberries, U2 and Sinead O’Connor were great successes for music in Ireland, in recent years a diverse wave of Irish artists have conquered the mainstream all at once. What’s more unexpected is that these new bands are unafraid to speak out: politics, generational trauma, and economic recession are woven into their lyrics, soaked up by a Gen Z audience ready to listen.
Kneecap's powerful 2025 Glastonbury performance wasn’t even on the main stage and yet was one of the most talked about. With the creation of Irish Artists for Palestine, the politicism within Irish music is undeniable, these acts are achieving unprecedented success while still speaking out, suggesting a shift in the voices we want to hear. 2026 is set to follow in the footsteps of 2025 for Irish musicians: Kneecap promise a new album; Dove Ellis is predicted to rise; and Fontaines D.C. are set to headline Reading and Leeds. The audience for Irish indie and alternative artists is only going to get bigger.
Who to watch out for: Dove Ellis, EFÉ, NewDad, Florence Road
OUT: Country/Alt Country
This might be an unpopular take, but 2026 may be the year we start to leave behind country. While I’m not suggesting ditching country the sub-genre, country as an influence on pop is going out of fashion and youth generations are turning their attention to more exciting edgier sounds. In pop whispers of a new Beyoncé album suggest rock influence, a departure from the heavily country Cowboy Carter. With the success of Olivia Dean and Addison Rae, the pop girlies are leaning away from country towards other genre influences, and artists that heavily played into the country influence on pop, could follow in this direction.
Likewise, Alt-country seems to be losing popularity, despite the success of Wednesday’s Bleeds, and their guitarist MJ Lenderman’s solo projects, country or americana inspired indie and alternative music has reached a ceiling in its popularity. Instead, fans of the style are diversifying, finding music that progresses rather than sticks to genre. The 2026 predicted rise of acts like Geese and Dove Ellis are indicative of this, musicians showing us new sounds to want.
Who to watch instead: Geese, Dry Cleaning, Westside Cowboy
IN: Darkness
While this might sound ominous, 2026 could be the year music goes darker. What do I mean by darkness? I mean music that is far moodier, grungier and gothic than we’ve experienced in previous years. Darkness is also a predictor for the atmosphere music is entering this year, with underground rap’s explosive success, and the rise of hyperpop and techno beats alongside and interwoven with it, music is re-entering night spaces. With the release of Charli XCX’s Wuthering Heights album in February, an album that promised to be far darker than the neon green of BRAT, the singles ‘House’ and ‘Chains of Love’ show that Charli’s painting Valentines Day black. Ledbyher is another artist pushing forward this moody, gothic aesthetic for 2026, the video for her new single ‘What’s The Reason,’ plays into the same gothic aesthetic that will define February with the release of Wuthering Heights, while her songs playfully blend bedroom pop with drill, hip hop and lo-fi beats. Finally echoes of hyperpop seem to be returning, with the success of bassvictim and Snow Strippers in 2025, it’s a sound with scope for experimentation in 2026, where many small artists are waiting in the wings.
Who to watch: Charli XCX, Bathing Suits, Sophia Stel, TTSSFU
OUT: Mass-produced pop
We all witnessed the social media rise and fall of Sombr and watched as Taylor Swift’s latest album failed to spark excitement, but broadly pop fans seem tired of mass-produced, disingenuous pop. In interviews Sombr discussed releasing the chorus of a song on TikTok, to see if a song becomes popular, before deciding to finish it, while a smart approach it swaps creativity for profit maximisation, where the artist seems to be regurgitating TikTok trends, rather than music with meaning or originality. Similarly, Taylor Swift’s 2025 album release, The Life of a Showgirl, left fans and haters alike cold, with many suggesting she had grown out of touch, or numb to what audiences wanted. Her late hit back at Charli XCX landed awkwardly and confusingly indicating controversially that Swift’s musical style is out of fashion for 2026.
Who to watch instead: Absolutely, Audrey Hobert, Olivia Rodrigo
IN: Underground
For a generation tired of the untouchable, unrelatable, and therefore undesirable sound of the last wave of voices in UK rap, a new sound emerged in 2025, described by its acolytes as ‘underground’ rap. Led by artists like Fakemink, EsDeeKid, Lancey Foux and YT, it’s a sound and culture that speaks to a new generation, a commentary of real British life making it relatable to an audience hungry for more. Being hard to pin down is what gives the movement its strength, its undefinable sound resists control. Though previous youth movements like BRAT were satirised by media attempts to understand them, underground went under the radar for much of 2025. Until it was brought into the light by a viral marketing campaign, capitalising on the suggestion Timothee Chalamet was the identity of Scouse rapper EsDeeKid, underground rap maintained its anonymity while exponentially growing. It’s hard to predict the future for a movement that holds its integrity in being unpredictable, however what underground rap brings is an attitude to producing music that focuses on artistry, culture and originality.
Who to watch: Saam Sultan, Ledbyher, Feng
Featured image: Epigram | Arianna Balsamo
What are your ins and outs for 2026?
