Live Nation’s emerging artist showcase returns to BIGSOUND with three Aussie names already gathering serious momentum.
For more than two decades, BIGSOUND has made a habit of putting artists onstage just before everyone else starts talking about them.
This September, Live Nation’s ONES TO WATCH Backed By American Apparel is leaning squarely into that tradition — and this time, the public can get in on it too.
Four winners will score a double pass to the showcase, with entries now open here.
Returning to Brisbane as part of Australia’s biggest music conference, the globally recognised discovery series will take over The Outpost in Fortitude Valley on Thursday, September 3, with Holly Hebe, Eli Wan and Jem Cassar-Daley on the bill.
It’s a lineup that feels pretty well suited to BIGSOUND: three artists at different points in their rise, but all carrying the kind of momentum the festival has built its reputation around catching early.
Melbourne songwriter Holly Hebe heads north following a major few months. Her third EP, Mood Ring, landed at Number One on the ARIA Australian Albums Chart in July, marking her first appearance on the ARIA charts since emerging from the Mornington Peninsula in 2020.
Her intimate, slightly left-of-centre take on indie-pop has drawn comparisons to Clairo and Holly Humberstone, while steadily building an audience of its own. Hebe’s appearance at ONES TO WATCH will also be a BIGSOUND exclusive.
Brisbane’s Eli Wan is a newer name, having made his debut in 2025 with ‘pixeldust+18’, but the producer and songwriter has wasted little time establishing his sound.
Pulling influence from Porter Robinson, The Avalanches and Jai Paul, Wan builds bright, detail-heavy electronic worlds around ideas of identity and connection. Raised between Korean and Australian cultures, his music has also explored what it means to exist somewhere between being seen and unseen in an increasingly online world.
Rounding out the lineup is Gumbaynggirr Bundjalung artist Jem Cassar-Daley, whose debut album Tattoos Used To Come Off In The Pool arrived this month.
Following her 2022 EP I Don’t Know Who To Call, Cassar-Daley has continued to sharpen the storytelling and soulful delivery that have made her one of the more distinct young voices in Australian indie-pop.
“ONES TO WATCH is about finding emerging artists we genuinely believe in and giving them opportunities to connect with new audiences at important moments in their careers,” Live Nation Australia promoters Emily Taylor and Paul Lynch said.
ONES TO WATCH Backed By American Apparel takes place at The Outpost on Thursday, September 3 from 5pm to 7pm. Enter to win one of four double passes here.
