
When you discover a new artist, you don't just want to hear the song, you want to know everything-what their name means, where they're from, how they started, what their process is like, which music they listen to. Whether their struggle was real or if they were an overnight sensation, it's the stories that truly bring the music to life.
To go further behind the scenes with emerging artists, Spotify is introducing the new wave of RISE, the artist development program that supports up-and-comers across genres and gives fans a glimpse inside their lives. While the first season featured new favorites like Lauv and Trippie Redd, Spotify is now focusing on country band LANCO, R&B artist Jorja Smith, Latin singer Karol G, and indie artist Rex Orange County.
Spotify will highlight one of the four emerging artists every two weeks in each artists bespoke multimedia RISE playlist, kicking off with country sensation LANCO. When we were kids, putting together our first band and writing our first songs, our dream was to be able to eventually play them for people, said LANCO's lead singer Brandon Lancaster. Spotify RISE is helping us make that dream a reality. By telling our stories through our music and through our entire creative process, we're able to connect to our fans and grow the LANCO community in a deeper way than we could have ever imagined.
All of these unique stories will live alongside the music-plus you'll start to see them on Spotify's many owned and operated playlists and editorial channels, creating a variety of new potential discovery moments for Spotify listeners.
Stay tuned for RISE short form documentary films ( 24 Hours on the RISE ), original recording sessions with unique collaborators ( RISE Recordings ), live event activations, and collaborations on Spotify-optimized vertical videos. Read about our four new RISE artists below, and check out spotify.com/RISE to hear more from each RISE artist.
About Spotify's RISE Artists:
LANCO:
In an incredible year of firsts, the arena-rock leaning band (Entertainment Weekly) LANCO became the first country group to debut on the Billboard Country albums charts at No. One in 10 years with their coming-of-age album, HALLELUJAH NIGHTS (Arista Nashville), which now boasts over 220 million digital streams. Additionally, this years two-time ACM nominated group is now the only Country band to achieve a PLATINUM single prior to a debut album release, with the two-week No. One Greatest Love Story." Following the multi-week chart-topping hit, their "foot-stomping new single" (Rolling Stone) Born To Love You proves LANCO is "well on their way to being reigning hitmakers," (PopCulture). Named "the band to watch" by Bobby Bones, CMT, Entertainment Weekly, Hits Magazine, Pandora, Rolling Stone, Spotify, SIRIUS XM and more, LANCO continues drawing in fans from across the globe" (Tucson Weekly) after touring the country's top festivals such as Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, Watershed and Faster Horses.
Jorja Smith:
Jorja Smith is an English R&B singer/songwriter whose soulful jazz-tinged cadence, heartfelt lyrics, and retrosound invoke names like Lauryn Hill, Alicia Keys, Rihanna, and Amy Winehouse, the latter of whom the Walsall-based artist cites as her biggest influence. Smith issued her debut single, Blue Lights, in 2016 followed by A Prince and then Where Did I Go? . 2016 eventually culminated with the release of Smith's debut EP, Project 11. The following year saw her international profile elevated via her multiple appearances on Drake's surprise playlist/LP More Life, which saw her holding court amongst a bevy of high-profile guests like Kanye West, Young Thug, 2 Chainz, and Travis Scott. Smith has been awarded the Brit Awards Critics' Choice, has toured alongside Bruno Mars, performed at 2018 Coachella, and has a song embedded in the HBO hit show, Insecure.
Karol G:
Colombia's Karol G is a soulful vocalist known for her exuberant mix of reggaeton, pop, and dance oriented R&B. Born Carolina Giraldo in Medellin, Colombia in 1991, Karol G was interested in music from a young age, influenced by her father, a working musician. When she was 14, Karol G made her first appearance in the music industry through the reality show, X Factor. After high school, she studied music at University of Antioquia, and in 2012, she achieved her first number one hit worldwide with the song 301 , sparking tours in countries such as Venezuela, Uruguay, Panam , United States, Puerto Rico, Aruba, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Colombia. The young singer/songwriter already boasts more than 1 Billion views on Youtube and more than 7 Million followers on social media combined. Most recently, Karol G released her debut album UNSTOPPABLE which debuted #1 on Billboard's Sales chart, marking the biggest debut for a Latin Female Urban Artist in the USA in the last 2 years.
Rex Orange County:
Blending a way with words and elements of jazz, hip-hop, soul, and bedroom electronics into a sophisticated type of singer/songwriter fare, Rex Orange County is the performance alias of English Musician Alex O'Conner. Raised in the village of Grayshott along the border of Hampshire and Surrey, O'Conner studied music at the BRIT School in London as a teenager. His sweeping alternative pop songs weave together the mundane reality of teenage life and the epic fantasy that is teenage love - he takes his moniker from The O.C., a nod to the hyperreal and melodramatic. But Rex is no ordinary teenager: with the release of his second album Apricot Princess in April, he won acclaim from The FADER, The NME, and Noisey, before appearing on Tyler, the Creator's Flower Boy , and performing live with Frank Ocean and Skepta.Gaining entrance on his main instrument, drums, he also sang and played guitar, a
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
23/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/06/2026
LTN, a global leader in IP-based video transport and network services, today announced that PBS has selected LTN as its IP video partner to modernize and future...
23/06/2026
LiveU will introduce its Q Era to Australia and New Zealand for the first time at ABE2026 on Stand No. 25, (July 30 31). Leading the showcase is the LU900Q, a n...
23/06/2026
Miri Technologies Inc. has begun shipping its highly anticipated V410 live 4K video encoder/decoder for streaming, IP-based production workflows and AV-over-IP ...
23/06/2026
DHD audio reports the completion of an upgrade to the audio production facilities at the Galilee headquarters of Radio Tzafon. The station broadcasts two progra...
23/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/06/2026
Multifaceted Growth Executive Brings 20+ Years of Experience Leading Organizations Across Tech and M&E
Imagine Communications today announced the appointment ...
23/06/2026
Australians in Film and Screen Australia's talent development initiative UNT...
23/06/2026
Visual Productions Unveils RdmRelay2 Four-channel Relay Control at InfoComm 2026
Brie Clayton June 22, 2026
0 Comments
New Relay Solution Combines DMX, ...
23/06/2026
SMPTE Makes Its Standards Freely Accessible, Opening Standards Library to the Gl...
23/06/2026
The RT Toy Show Appeal has raised over 31 million since its inception in 2020 ...
23/06/2026
News Highlights:
NVIDIA technology runs 81% of the TOP500 and 90% of the systems new to the list.
26 systems on the TOP500 adopted the NVIDIA Grace CPU, up ei...
23/06/2026
Companies are asking how to build specialized AI that fits with the way their workflows actually run.
The first wave of enterprise AI was about access. Compan...
23/06/2026
Newly identified molecule strengthens the eye's response to damage in retinal disease Scripps Research discovery finds that restoring the naturally occurrin...
22/06/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
22/06/2026
Cosm has announced the appointment of David Ho as Chief Legal Officer, a newly created executive role reporting to President and CEO Jeb Terry. Ho will oversee ...
22/06/2026
Warner Bros. Discovery and Amazon Web Services (AWS) have announced the developm...
22/06/2026
Daktronics has completed an audio control system upgrade at Petco Park in San Di...
22/06/2026
Accelerate Media has named John Willi as President and announced the launch of the Accelerate Sports Network (ASN), a prep sports media and streaming platform c...
22/06/2026
All Women's Sports Network (AWSN) and 3XBA (3 3 Basketball Association) have announced live television coverage of the annual 3XBA tournament on Friday, Jun...
22/06/2026
OWL AI has announced the appointment of Jay Prasad as Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors. Prasad succeeds Josh Gwyther, who has served...
22/06/2026
CP Communications delivered RF video and audio support for TNT's Inside the NBA at the 2026 NBA Finals, providing main show coverage in San Antonio and ea...
22/06/2026
Polymarket has announced a partnership with GRID, an official esports data platf...
22/06/2026
As sports venues continue to evolve into more video-centric, fan-engagement-driv...
22/06/2026
As the regional sports production scene shifts toward streaming, this Texan helps lead the engineering behind Victory+'s growing live platform...
22/06/2026
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
the memories of your elders [are] a scaffolding for you to build your identity on - and t...
22/06/2026
New hyper-resolution analyser EQ revealed
CEDAR Audio's all-new Icons plug-in series has just gained its newest member, Blade. Described by the compan...
22/06/2026
Turn any live input into a cinematic soundscape
Designed for use in the studio and on stage, Sampleson's latest creation is capable of taking any audio ...
22/06/2026
Adds guitar strings to Eurorack rigs
ADDAC System are renowned for their weird and wonderful synth designs, and their line-up includes plenty of gear that...
22/06/2026
FIFA World Cup 2026 fever grows, as more than one third of Australians tune in ...
22/06/2026
In our latest blog, Tim Pearson explores NAGRA Venturi, the new streaming security solution for the AI era from NAGRAVISION. Designed to aggregate and analyze ...
22/06/2026
Expanded integrations give advertisers access to distinct contextual signals acr...
22/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/06/2026
Xilica today announced the release of Dynamic Voice Lift, a new feature in Xilica Designer v4.12 that brings adaptive speech reinforcement to large meeting spac...
22/06/2026
Telecom operators have seen remarkable returns from using generative AI to automate network management, customer care and back-office operations. Most of that i...
22/06/2026
Monday 22 June 2026
Official trailer released for Katie Price: Nothing to Hide,...
22/06/2026
The next era of AI will not be defined by compute alone. Its growth will be dete...
22/06/2026
Mission, Vision and Veritas - new Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) supercom...
22/06/2026
At the ISC conference running in Hamburg this week, NVIDIA is introducing new so...
22/06/2026
For the past two years, the U.S. National Science Foundation's National Arti...
22/06/2026
JUPITER, Europe's first exascale supercomputer at Germany's Forschungszentrum J lich, runs on NVIDIA Grace Hopper Superchips and NVIDIA Quantum-X800 Inf...