{"id":944530,"date":"2026-10-29T00:02:22","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T00:02:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/944530\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T00:02:22","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T00:02:22","slug":"get-around-the-nominees-for-the-2026-unearthed-artist-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/944530\/","title":{"rendered":"Get around the nominees for the 2026 Unearthed Artist of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another year and another massive 12 months for Australian music!<\/p>\n

We’ve seen another stellar crop of artists come through triple j Unearthed this year. From our 2026 Forecast<\/a> to Unearthed High<\/a>, there’s no stopping the incredible creativity pouring from every corner of the country.<\/p>\n

It’s a double-edged sword, because it makes our task of narrowing down the nominees for the Unearthed Artist of the Year J Award incredibly hard!<\/p>\n

After heated discussion and passionate persuasion, here are your nominees for this year’s J Award.<\/p>\n

J Awards 2026: Unearthed Artist of the YearDEVAURA<\/a>\"A<\/p>\n

There seems little reason to speak to DEVAURA’s achievements when her art speaks so resoundingly on its own.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A pop vocal that soars with clarity and tone is the delivery vessel for hooks that convert rap and dance records into full blown pop hits. Bars sharper than your favourite rapper and a capacity to move between voices that’d make Kendrick Lamar blush, DEVAURA is her.<\/p>\n

But sure, if we must, let’s talk the year that was. Named as an Unearthed Forecast artist to kick the year off, she began with promise and delivered at every opportunity. Full additions to triple j and Unearthed radio, international and local tours, including supports with Genesis Owusu and Playlunch, and festival spots were some of the stand outs. But of course, who could forget that Like A Version<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With a love of collaboration and a super-powered work rate, we’re hopeful that 2027 will see even greater heights for DEVAURA.<\/p>\n

Kayps<\/a>\"An<\/p>\n

2026 marked the true arrival of the Bunuba Baby, the album by the moniker and man known as Kayps.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We first met him as a teenager in Unearthed High where he became a two-time finalist, impressing us with his capacity to spit fast and talk real. His bars were conscious and thoughtful in one moment while spiralling furiously into the intensely braggadocious in the next.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He’s channelled that early latent promise into a supremely realised LP that’s earned substantial playlisting across triple j, a record deal with the iconic Bad Apples and a whole damn national tour that saw him turning recorded magic into live heat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When you see Kayps step on that stage, it may be the physical presence that feels initially imposing but once he opens his mouth it’s the scale of personality that’ll keep you locked in.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kayps, a more than worthy nominee for triple j Unearthed Artist of the Year.<\/p>\n

Public Figures<\/a>\"Four<\/p>\n

When we invited Public Figures to perform at the triple j Unearthed BIGSOUND Takeover we knew to expect a full throttle performance and an excited crowd.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What took us by surprise however was the scale of that audience, a sprawling mass of rabid joy eating up every word that dripped through vocalist Evie Vlah’s microphone. With Kim Gordon for inspiration and an impossibly disparate aesthetic, the four-piece are immediately recognisable to both eye and ear.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They kicked the year off with a much talked about Golden Plains performance and from there it was live shows galore and word of mouth growth. Songs rang out on triple j and soared through east coast tours, festivals and big local supports.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Figure It Out EP released along the way combined with an unmatched live performance have seen their digital footprint spiral ever upwards in line with their live audience, and we’re pleased as punch to be able to recognise them as a nominee for Unearthed Artist of the Year.<\/p>\n

Swapmeet<\/a>\"Three<\/p>\n

Mount Zero is the truly remarkable debut record by the inimitable Swapmeet. And if you’re a regular triple j listener, you’d have heard large swathes of it played throughout the year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nailing a coveted feature album spot of your debut LP is a rather rare achievement but one listen to this project and it’s immediate to anyone with ears that it warrants such acclaim. The first track ‘I Know!’ became an staple of Unearthed radio in 2026, a year that saw the band achieve not simply in the recorded space but become an international touring monument.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A cursory glance at their Instagram will reveal more dates than a dating app addict, with shows throughout the US, Canada, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, England, Ireland and of course, a completely sold out Australia tour already wrapped. That’s just in the space of two months.<\/p>\n

Swapmeet are a band more than willing to work to represent their art as widely as they can and when the art is as good as it is, who can blame them? This Adelaide four-piece are perfectly poised to become global indie staples and we couldn’t be prouder to play out small part in that story.<\/p>\n

The Tullamarines<\/a>\"Three<\/p>\n

The Tullamarines\u2026 what can be said that hasn’t already been told to the credit of one of Adelaide’s finest exports in recent years?\u00a0<\/p>\n

A band that stamped their name into the broader triple j consciousness with the wonderful Safety Blanket EP in 2025 could feasibly have made a case for similar recognition last year. But they’ve built upon those early wins through hard touring and more earworm indie hits.\u00a0<\/p>\n

2026 saw the four-piece reaching broader audiences through a national tour with fellow South Australian legends The Jungle Giants along with their own headline national tour. Having begun to establish a notable local groundswell, they set their eyes abroad \u2014 performing shows at SXSW and The Great Escape \u2014 and now they return with Australian festival season in full swing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The band even took on Fleetwood Mac’s ‘The Chain’<\/a> with a harmony masterclass in the Like A Version studios that we reckon might receive more than a handful of votes in the forthcoming Hottest 100.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Named as a triple j Unearthed Forecast artist at the start of the year, we knew these legends would make waves but we couldn’t be more pleased to see them riding so smoothly.<\/p>\n

Posted\u00a0Thu 29 Oct 2026 at 8:15amThu 29 Oct 2026 at 8:15amThu 29 Oct 2026 at 8:15am<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Another year and another massive 12 months for Australian music! We’ve seen another stellar crop of artists come…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":944531,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,511592,134,511591,511590,136,511593,4153,3953,152547,511594],"class_list":["post-944530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-music-awards","tag-entertainment","tag-j-award-nominees","tag-j-awards-2026","tag-music","tag-new-australian-artists","tag-the_latest","tag-triple-j","tag-unearthed-artist-of-the-year","tag-unearthedreads"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/944530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=944530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/944530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/944531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=944530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=944530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=944530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}