The 32 coolest artists of 2026 (so far)

Kim Petras's debut indie album Detour is in many ways a destination. After years of slugging through the label system and playing by the industry rules, Petras teamed up with alt-pop provocateurs Margo XS, Frost Children, Porches, and nightfeelings to craft a half-rock, half-electroclash album that is as sonically gripping as it is emotionally raw.

Petras sat down with The FADER for a wide-ranging video interview to discuss her new era, going indie, and the very personal story behind her standout track, "Brutalist," a particularly effecting allegory about trans identity and personal transformation.

Read and watch Kim Petras's interview here.

bleood's (pronounced "blood") music is essentially rage rap with everything turned up to 11. His surprise release mixtape PROTAGONIST has made him into one of the underground's main characters. Read Vivian Medithi's report from bleood's May 2026 show at Elsewhere in Brooklyn here.

GEN F star Tiffany Day has been releasing music since 2018, but she undeniably hit her stride in 2026 with HALO. The hyperpop coming-of-age record finds Day reflecting on both universal themes (mismatched desired on "SAME LA") and her strikingly specific reality, like on "EVERYTHING I'VE EVER WANTED" where she writes about finally breaking through in music. The record marks the rise of a new pop voice who is equally gifted at crafting ear-worm melodies as she is penning lyrics that linger in the consciousness.

Read Tiffany Day's GEN F feature here.

Fresh off a name change, Ama (F.K.A. Ama Lou) is bearing it all on in her new music. You might've heard the hypnotic and vulnerable "So..." or the Brent Faiyaz-featuring burner, "Need It Bad." As she told The FADER's Kylah Williams: "I have a very strong inner dialogue. My therapist says, I'm 'addicted to healing.'"

Read Ama's interview with The FADER here.

GEN F star Quiet Light makes some of the most strange and serene music coming out today. The True Panther-signee is an enigma in all aspects: a medical student who's also a committed music maker, a sonic experimentalist with an affinity for Lana Del Rey-style pop confessionals, a deeply diaristic lyricist who is also fiercely private.

Read The FADER's GEN F profile of Quiet Light here.

The patron saint of "Girl EDM," Ninajirachi has been on a global tear since her 2025 album I Love My Computer. That project marked a new lyrically hilarious, emotionally earnest, and sonically rip-roaring voice in electronic music. The Australian seems to only be getting bigger and bigger, opening for Oklou's North American tour and playing to mass fanfare at Coachella. I don't see the party slowing anytime soon.

Read The FADER's GEN F profile of Ninajirachi here.

Dearborn, Michigan noise rock quartet Prostitue match their grueling sonics with a message that can pierce the national conscious. Their music speaks to the realities of living as an Arab-American, as well as the ongoing U.S. backed atrocities happening in the Middle East on their latest record, Attempted Martyr.

Read Prostitute's GEN F interview here.

On Slayyyter's latest record, WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA, she traded the camp and characters of previous projects for something more rooted in her actual biography. She described herself to The FADER as "dirty, with messy hair, and Missourian.” Old fans and a bevy of new followers alike have been eating up the St. Louis singer's Americana dance pop, which turned her afternoon Coachella set into a true cultural moment.

Read The FADER's 2026 interview with Slayyyter here.

Our GEN F star Eli blasted onto the musical ecosystem in a cloud of glitter and High School Musical-era nostalgia. Her references are throwbacks, but her perspective as a chronically online pop diva is totally fresh, as can be heard on her very great debut album, Stage Girl.

Read The FADER's 2026 interview with Eli here.

The internet's favorite feline Natanya has been on a roll since the release of Feline's Return, a double project that marked her as a a new voice in pop bridging whimsy and futurism. The London-based singer explored her lore and big dreams in a GEN F feature with The FADER.

Denzel Curry. FERG. Bktherula. TiaCorine. Key Nyata. loveit! BeautifulMvn. And a stacked list of other producers. This is The Scythe, rap's coolest and most free-wheeling supergroup in a minute. The group of friends and collaborators dropped their turbo-charged album, Strictly 4 The Scythe, in March.

Read the oral history of how the supergroup came to be.

Lucy Bedroque is part of a broader wave of rappers and producers whose work straddles the line between hip-hop and electronic music. He's still riding high off of 2025's Unmusique, a brutally hard-hitting digicore record that could give any rage rapper a run for their money. Read his Rolling Loud interview with The FADER here.

Kenny Mason isn’t the most religious rapper in the world but the process of making his new album BULLDAWG, was spiritual, he told The FADER. It's also some of his most compelling and POV-specific music yet.

Read our interview with the Atlantan rap star about working with JID, Dominic Fike, Paris Texas, and FearDorian, learning to play the guitar, and merging rock with rap.

Queen of the dance floor Rochelle Jordan is reaching new heights following the 2025 release of her album Through The Wall, which brought her nostalgic, yet future-facing house music to an even bigger audience. Read about her 15-year journey to dance music's apex in her cover story with The FADER here.

Toronto songstress Chxrry's new album, U, Me & My Ego works as a statement of artistic purpose. The singer told The FADER's Vivian Medithi that she scrapped an entire album after she recorded album standout "Main Character" — a track which sparked a "creative renaissance" that helped her craft her debut album, released on The Weeknd's XO Records imprint. The whole album is soaked in woozy synths and delicious drums, and is a show of force from a singer who simply knows she's that girl. Read Chxrry's interview in The FADER here.

London rapper and The FADER's 2026 cover star skaiwater continues to break our brains with their genre-fluid rap that moves fluidly between rage distortion and ethereal sampling. Read The FADER's cover story with skaiwater here.

"Coconut Water / Coco, Coconut Water" has been playing in our mind on loop. Trim, the young upstart from South Carolina, has captured the internet and hip-hop's attention with her personality-filled bars and all-around tenacity. It's been a minute since we've seen a young artist this hungry. Read Trim's interview with The FADER's Kylah Williams here.

Oslo pop artist and GEN F star Sassy 009's new album Dreamer + is as imagaitive and expansive as its title suggests. Over hard-edged beats, Sassy 009 invites you into her dream world, one that is both beautiful and lurking with danger. Read Sassy 009's GEN F feature here.

23-year-old Atlanta rapper Sk8star went to the mat for his 2026 album, Designer Junkie, working on it for two years and going through five full versions. Untrained ears may clock it as Atlanta trap fare in the vein of Young Thug, but Thug himself sees Ska8star as a young artist who's pushing the scene forward. Read The FADER's 2026 interview with Sk8star here.

To many, The FADER cover star Xaviersobased's futuristic, mind bending hip hop requires "trained" ears to "get:" for the New York City rappers legions of young fans, he's the undisputed supreme of his lane. Read his cover story here.

British artist Feng's music is a dreamy blend of 2010s rap and dayglo indie rock. In Feng's GEN F profile, the quirky rapper explored his penchant for bright colors and unyielding commitment to pursuing his dreams.

When we chatted with Arkansas-based pianist Precious Renee Tucker, she was the internet's favorite musical and sartorial experimentalist: going viral for her strange, thrilling, and gorgeous piano and synth videos where she was always giving a look. Since The FADER's early 2026 interview, she's played with PinkPantheress at Coachella, become a fashion house darling, and expanded well beyond our For You Page. Read The FADER's interview with Precious Renee Tucker here.

North Philly rapper slayr's music blends together trap, EDM, and metal. It's also deeply earnest, earning accolades from fellow underground rappers like Jim Legxacy and electronic producers and pop artists like Underscores alike. Read The FADER's Vivian Medithi interview with slayr here.

D.C. rapper ERIS THE PLANET has earned accolades from megastars like SZA and Drake and it makes perfect sense why. Her undulating flow, ear for inventive production, and renaissance woman bonafides (she edits her videos and drew her own album art), mark her as a true artist to watch. Read The FADER's Vivian Medithi's interview with ERIS THE PLANET here.

French electropop artist Canelle's maximalist synth jams are as memorable as her ice blue tresses. She's working with producers like Oscar Scheller (PinkPantheress, Lily Allen) and Chicken (feardorian, Isabella Lovestory) and her star in underground pop's sparkly sky just keeps rising. Read her interview with The FADER here.

Colorado-born, L.A.-based pop artist Devon Again's songs feel like the rolling credits of a coming of age movie, filled with epic feeling and tearjerking potential. In her GEN F feature, The FADER chatted with Devon about parlaying TikTok success into opening for Olivia Rodrigo on her upcoming The Unravelled Tour. Read her interview here.

Six Sex is the Argentine princess of perreo-rave. Her club rap is positively carnal, but don't let its silly glitz fool you. As The FADER's Vivian Medithi writes: "There's a winking irony threaded through the high-femme hedonist’s discography, which leverages the male gaze to campier ends." Read The FADER's interview with Six Sex here.

Call it math rock, Midwest Emo, or merely "Soundcloud indie:" whatever the genre label, bunii is the leading voice of a new internet rock revival that is raw, lo-fi, digitized, yet gritty. Read The FADER's interview with the California upstart here.