Meet The Rising Stars Class of 2023
A look back at some of the most promising artists profiled on Bias Wrecker this year.
Jae Fontane
Meet the rising stars class of 2023: These are the innovators, the artists working outside the mainstream, the rebels who are making big swings and punching up for a shot at success.
This year, I decided to invest heavily in independent artists by writing and advocating for them with in-depth profiles or reviews of their work. They came from China, Minnesota, Atlanta, Japan and beyond, infiltrating hip-hop, pop and even creating their own genre (X-Pop). Some work entirely independent of a record label, while others have bent the industry to their point of view. I hope you will take some time to check out all of the insane work each person on this list is doing. They inspire me and a lot of their stories have personally moved me.
Click on each artist’s name to read the full profile, then run those streams UP!
“I tend to get in my head a lot,” Jae Fontane, a 19-year-old singer and rapper from Saint Paul, Minnesota told me when we first met. “That’s what most of my music is about: When I’m in my head.” At his most dynamic, Jae has released music that bluntly describes some of the hardest moments in his life (“No Map”) and displays an artist coming into his own. He’s shared the stage with K-Town legend Justin Park, as well as hip-hop stars like Tyla Yaweh. But my prediction is that in 2024, Jae’s biggest stages are yet to come.
Alien superstar, bad bitch, Shanghai conceptual artist: XENZU is one of the most fascinating figures I’ve found in pop music. She’s still independent, but goddamn is she not a force even without the backing of a major label. She’s released one stellar EP, “Burn Book & Glow Up”, that eviscerates nearly any basic Becky that steps in her way. But it’s her striking individuality that I find most beautiful. “I have to believe in myself, and I have to have faith,” she told me in our interview. “I am what I am. I’m an alien. I don’t have to follow any rules. I am excited for my own way even if I don’t know what will happen.”
You’d be mistaken if you classified XG as K-Pop. The seven member girl group hailing from Japan was trained with all of the precision of a K-Pop group, but their music is the next era, or rather, the result of the seismic shift that K-Pop delivered to the music industry. XG classifies their music as X-Pop, meaning they defy boundaries. What I most appreciate about the group and their company is how aware they are of K-Pop’s history. Their styling and music is clever, from their mashup of 2NE1’s “I’m the Best” with their single “TGIF” to the way they shapeshift with fashion.
B.K and FORTY performing in Atlanta
B.K., OSIX, and FORTY of VSN MUSIC
I spent a good chunk of my summer in Atlanta in 2022 where I first saw B.K., an up-and-coming Korean American R&B singer, open for JUNNY. It was B.K.’s voice that I was most struck by: a light falsetto that sounded as if it took zero effort to achieve. “Hell no, my voice didn’t come naturally to me!” He nearly shouted with a laugh when I asked him a few months later in an interview.
B.K. is a member of VSN MUSIC, a collective of Asian R&B/ hip-hop artists from Atlanta that includes OSIX, who have released one stellar EP titled “Act 1: VISION”. FORTY, a rising hip hop star, is a new addition to VSN MUSIC. Yet for how fierce their EP is, all of the members reflect the humble vibe of OSIX, who told me, “Where I’m at now, I don’t have any problem with believing in myself because I’m just a regular dude doing something he enjoys,”
Semmi is cooking up bangers for yall – even if he’s still locking them up. I’ve heard the demos and can confirm, the 26 year-old Korean American from Los Angeles’ K-Town is undoubtedly one of the most promising talents for punk and indie rock. He writes fiery, self-deprecating lyrics and his raspy, pure pop voice is one of my favorites.
But there’s an undercurrent to Semmi that makes him such a magnetic musician and that is his vulnerability. “If my pain can heal someone then I feel like I’m doing a good job. That’s really all I want for music,” he told me in his first interview. Semmi is forthright and honest about his struggles - from addiction to depression - which made his story the most compelling, and heart wrenching, that I heard this year.
BU-WAN, of Club Boybnd, is a self-described anti K-Pop star. He has tattoos, including one under his eye, and freely talks shit. He’s vocal about his opinions and injustices, speaking out about racism in the Asian American community. “I think the goal as a Korean-American shouldn’t be to gatekeep,” BU-WAN told me in our interview “It’s about uplifting younger artists who don’t know how to navigate the industry.”
But he’s also cracked how to become an underground pop star. This year, Club Boybnd went viral for “kiss me thru the phone”, the smart Korean remake of Soulja Boy’s classic. 8 million streams later, Club Boybnd is becoming a force to be reckoned with in music.
melatonin boy describes “could you call me tonight?” as an EP that “captures my musical journey since I was a teenager making beats in school to the knowledge I have now.” The singer-songwriter’s music is manufactured to get into your brain best in the dead of night. “It stands out,” he told me of his stage name. “I was thinking about how a lot of these artists release sad music that hits the hardest at that 1 am period when you’re alone, laying in bed and you’re ruminating.”
While melatonin boy has spent the last few years studying in Canada for a psychology degree, he sees music as shifting from a past-time to a full-time job. “I never expected to be here,” he said.
Full disclosure that I can’t be unbiased when I’m talking about BNZA because I’m probably the biggest fan of his music. His debut album “Soul Tree”, from 2020, is one of the greatest independent releases of the past five years (I say that with a full chest), while his four-single run this year has been a no-miss series. Check out my favorite track from the year “SELFISH”, a vibey pop song that I included on my year-end list for the best in independent music.
Here’s what I love about Townewest: They are the school fuck-ups; the losers who are smarter than you, funnier than you, and absolutely more talented than you. They’re self-described degenerates who don’t play by the rules in music, and on their debut album “before it’s too late”, they’ve become a new form of pop star. Through a diverse range of collaborators (including BU-WAN), Townewest tells a story that is as cinematic as it is vividly messy and ecstatic.
If you’re just tuning in to Milky Day’s music, you might have missed the evolution. He began as a bedroom pop artist whose music was designed to make you feel less alone. But last year, Milky decided to take a risk and explore his own demons. The result is “Impulses”, a dynamic EP that is the most dazzling of his career. "
“I think showing people that I experience darker emotions,” he told me in our second interview, “it makes me more human and relatable.”
Read our first interview here.
