Musicngear Picks: 5 Pop Artists To Watch
I hand-selected some of the most captivating pop artists to watch in 2026. Note: I know that pop refers to a wide range of styles and sounds, so when I say pop, I mean all fusions and subgenres of pop (indie, alt, electronic, and so forth).
Featuring Bambina, Evil Adeline, Denyah, Julia Minkin & Morgana. I have linked to each artist’s Bandcamp.
I am of the belief that music has never been richer, that underneath all the slop lies a lush, rich treasure trove of art, music, and creativity, the kind that will blow your mind right open.
I am aware that as an artist myself, it definitely doesn’t feel that way, especially considering how hostile the algorithms on various social media platforms and DSPs have become towards independent artists sharing their art, and being up against the iron grip large conglomerate labels have over essentially all of these platforms can make it all feel next to impossible.
However, there are so many talented artists who are doing something new and interesting; paving their own way and making the world a richer, more vibrant place by sharing their art. Below, I selected some artists who I am blown away by and wanted to highlight for all of you!
Bambina
I’m just going to say it - nobody is doing it quite like LA- based singer/songwriter Bambina.
I first came across the artist in 2022 via her song ‘Summer Love’; a song so otherworldly and dreamy that it feels like it is part of a desert mirage. It also sounds like it is part of the soundtrack to a surreal summer in the 1970s; one where dreams and reality blur behind glittering beaded curtains and strange buildings in the desert.
I was drawn in by the aforementioned dreaminess; I stayed for the surrealism, the strong visuals that melted off the music, paired with the tongue-in-cheek, razor-sharp lyrics. Her 2023 release ‘Soft Heat’ sounds like it was a hit one 1980s summer in LA; it throbs with the heat rising from the tarmac, like the longing that saturates the air in the city of dreams.
‘If I Can't Have Love (God Then Please Just Give Me Money)’ feels like Bambina has transformed herself into a heroine from a fabulously glamorous 1990s rom-com who has just HAD IT:
“Crying in the bathtub
Drinking wine, drowning my tears
How you gon' play me
Just after two weeks?”
and
“If I can't have love God then please just give me money
It's not that I don't want it all
But I'll take a fat check over him any day”
‘Easy’ is by far the most heartbreaking:
“When I met you
I thought I knew
Who I’d be with the rest of my life
And now it’s through
You left me blue
The rug pulled from under me”
Continuing with dagger-like sharpness in the below:
“And I know
That you’ll run from the next one
If she’s pretty
And over thirty
My heart broke
But you’re broken”
We have all known utter losers like this (and let’s be honest, that is what they are). Bambina never misses, and with every song her powers grow.
You can support the artist directly on Bandcamp here.
Connect with Bambina
Instagram | Facebook | X
Morgana
Morgana (aka Morgan MacIntyre) is an independent Irish artist who you may know as having been one half of the duo Saint Sister. I actually first discovered Saint Sister from Wyvern Lingo’s playlist ‘Lingo Listening’, when the blissful ‘Causing Trouble’ came on one orange-skied morning as I was walking to the bus stop for a 12-hour shift in the call centre job I had at the time.
As a result, I had been following Saint Sister for years, and was very excited to see that Morgana was striking out on her own. I found 2024’s ‘I’ll Cry When I’m Dead’ to be fabulous; the music video taking place in a therapist's office that looks like it is part of a crumbling Edwardian hotel, the Irish-style storytelling blended with the melancholy synths resulting in a spellbinding tapestry that felt truly new and refreshing.
There is a beating heart throughout Morgana’s music that (at least to me) speaks to someone breaking the mold, breaking away from the contrivance of things you are ‘supposed’ to do and feeling everything that comes with that. In many ways Ireland has come a long, long way; in other ways the conservative values from the reign of the Catholic Church do still live on, in that if you fall outside of the ‘conventional job, engaged, married buying a house’ etc etc in any way, you are going to be made feel like you are doing something wrong, an attitude I honestly find astonishing given this country’s sheer artistic output, one that is unparalleled to any other on this earth. (Think of this the next time someone tells you to retrain as a primary teacher).
I love the luxurious synth-pop, the lyrics, the rich visual worlds, and how Morgana blows the expectation to keep a stiff upper lip and button down on any negative emotions to smithereens, all in a glamorous evening gown. Now that, my friends, is art.
You can support Morgana directly here.
Connect with Morgana
Instagram | X
Evil Adeline
Some of the best and most interesting music I have encountered has not been as a result of the algorithm serving it to me, but from manually scrolling through different genre tags on Bandcamp. This is where I first came across New York’s Evil Adeline. One of the first things I thought while listening to her song ‘Trouble’ was that it sounded as if a character from an Ottessa Mosfegh novel made deliciously strange pop recordings on her apartment bedroom floor - a captivating quality I found running throughout the artist's entire discography.
The 2025 album ‘evil, baby, evil’ has a slightly dreamy, alt-90s vibe to it, done in a new and refreshing fashion that demonstrates the artist’s immense capabilities (the album being written, produced, performed, and engineered by Evil Adeline). Some standout lyrics are: “and I think I like men/but I’m still scared of them” (from ‘The Club’) “no friends/they don’t wake up/after they drink from/my special cup” (from ‘No Friends’).
There is a quality reminiscent of Poe in how the artist is breaking the mold sonically (who, if you don’t know, is best known for her album ‘Haunted’, an accompaniment to her brother’s book ‘House of Leaves’). Watch this space.
Connect with Evil Adeline
Instagram
Denyah
LA-based artist Denyah is doing it all and making it look easy.
I first came across Denyah earlier this year with the music video for ‘RUNNING (matters of the heart)’. I loved the saturated, 16mm pastel-toned visuals synced to perfection with the song; the song itself being a blend of addictive pop and UK garage textures with vocals that melted over the instrumental like butter.
‘Always In My Room’ is a sugary 1990s-style pop RnB banger, ‘Makeup’ is entrancing, like bedroom pop from a dream. Both of these tracks showcase the artist’s knack for writing memorable, addictive songs that have the magic of feeling like they are being written by a girl in her room, in a fashion that puts what the large conglomerate labels have been horking out recently to shame.
A marker of immense skill is making something that is, in fact, quite difficult to do look easy, almost like it all just flowed out organically, which is what Denyah is doing.
Some people have IT - and Denyah is one of those.
Connect with Denyah
Instagram
Julia Minkin
Photo Credit: Alexa Viscius
Although Julia Minkin has been operating in the music industry for years, I only discovered her via her 2026 debut album ‘Not Ready’. The album image reminded me of the magic of a Lauren Child illustration brought to life (Lauren Child being one of my all-time favourite writers and illustrators who has injected so much magic into my life and countless others).
The album opens with kitsch 1960s sci-fi fx that sound like they have been plucked from an episode of ‘The Outer Limits’, one where an alien invasion takes place. The vocals are haunting, the lyrics have the vibe of the protagonist being dropped to Earth from another planet with no memory “How did I get here? Covered in glitter.” The song ‘Not Ready’ is slightly menacing in a fun way; I remember being blown away by another song from the album, ‘Clouds’, and thinking that the sugary cloud-like synths sounded like they were being played on a 1980s toy synthesizer. There is a laid-back, kitsch, almost art-pop quality to Julia Minkin’s music that I find enthralling, a quality that makes me keep coming back for more.
Connect with Julia Minkin
Instagram
About Eimear O Sullivan
Eimear Ann O Sullivan is a multi-genre music producer, audio engineer and vocalist. After receiving a Masters in Music Technology from the CIT Cork School of Music, she went on to operate as a producer under the name Blakkheart. Her releases have received critical acclaim from Ireland's biggest music publications, such as District Magazine and Nialler9, alongside receiving heavy commercial radio airplay. She currently works in Cork recording studio Flashpoint CC. Previous clients of hers include the likes of Comedy Central’s Dragony Aunt star Candy Warhol, rapper Darce and Outsider YP. (Photo credit @Fabian Boros)
Contact Eimear O Sullivan at eimear.o.sullivan@musicngear.com
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