2FM announces line-up of Rising Artists for 2026
RTÉ 2FM has today announced the highly anticipated list of 2FM Rising Artists for 2026, kicking off 2FM Rising week for the eighth year on The Tracy Clifford Show from 12 noon to 3pm. Each year, a panel of experts choose some of Ireland’s freshest talent to support with this initiative, and the 2026 artists are… Aaron Rowe, Curtisy, Florence Road, Jessica Doolan, mischa and the bear, MOIO, New Spectrum, Post-Party, Roe Byrne and RuntheRed.
Each day this week The Tracy Clifford Show will highlight two of the chosen acts and introduce listeners to them and their exciting music. The ten acts chosen for 2026 will be championed and supported across 2FM for the entire year.
Adam Fogarty, Director of Music at RTÉ 2FM said: “Championing Irish music isn’t just part of our remit at 2FM, it’s in our DNA and 2FM Rising 2026 continues a tradition we’re immensely proud of. The artists on this year’s 2FM Rising list show exactly why this initiative matters, they represent the next wave of talent shaping the exciting and diverse future of Irish music. We’re incredibly proud of the legacy 2FM Rising has built since 2018 and the Irish talent we have supported. Year after year it proves its power as a launchpad for some of Ireland’s most important new voices and we’re honoured to help these acts take their next steps.
Previous 2FM Rising artists also include Amble, Denise Chaila, Fontaines D.C, Gemma Dunleavy and Dermot Kennedy. For details on all of this year’s artists visit: https://www.rte.ie/culture/2026/0105/1548398-2fm-rising-2026-irish-musical-acts-to-watch/
Director of Marketing & Membership Development with IMRO, Keith Johnson said, “IMRO is proud to continue its support of RTÉ 2FM Rising, an initiative that plays a vital role in spotlighting the next generation of Irish musical talent. Each year, RTÉ 2FM Rising offers emerging artists a platform that can meaningfully accelerate their careers, and the 2026 lineup is no exception. These artists reflect the creativity, diversity, and ambition that define Ireland’s music community today. We’re delighted to champion their development and look forward to seeing their work resonate with audiences at home and beyond.”
Tune in to The Tracy Clifford Show 2FM from 12 noon to 3pm to hear the Rising acts.
ENDS
Date: 5th January 2026
Further Information contact: Jade Carpenter, RTÉ Communications Lead, Jade.carpenter@rte.ie.
Notes to editor:
Imagery is available to download here: 2fm Rising Images
About the 2FM Rising Acts 2026:
Aaron Rowe:
When you watch Aaron Rowe on stage, he anchors himself behind the mic, broad shouldered and wide eyed whilst telling stories. Song histories, personal anecdotes or just random thoughts and funny observations are blurted out with erratic but effortless charm. His smile is so sunny and wide it feels permanent, and his laugh is hoarse, warm and totally infectious. When he speaks his eyes glisten, but when he sings, they close as his head lulls onto his shoulder and tilts back. For Aaron, singing and playing guitar is not a choice, it’s an extension of himself – he has to do it. You can tell as soon as he begins it offers him not only freedom, but focus.
So far, the story of Aaron Rowe looks like what fate feels like: paths crossing and stars aligning. Almost exactly a year ago, Aaron was singing covers at his regular Saturday gig in The Dame Tavern when one of his future managers would walk in and discover him playing. A few weeks later, Lewis Capaldi would also stumble into Aaron’s usual Sunday sessions at Cassidy’s on a stag do. A few weeks after that, he bumped into Lewis again whilst performing at an open mic in Nashville, where Lewis introduced him to his best friend, now Aaron’s manager, who just so happened to have listened to his demos that very morning.
Far from an overnight success, after several years of gigging five days a week, his moment finally came. Call it fate, call it what you will, a good story is the least you can expect from a generational voice like Aaron. His own life experiences leading up to this moment means there is an unmatched maturity and vulnerability to Aaron’s songwriting somehow he can balance the heart wrenching with the heartwarming, all the while holding open the door into his very personal world. This dichotomy he often explores on upcoming releases lies not only in its sometimes frank, sometimes devastating lyrics, but crucially in the old soul of Aaron’s voice, where he wears his influences on his sleeve; from Sam Cooke to Nina Simone to Paulo Nutini.
Curtisy:
Curtisy’s ascent feels like the natural next chapter in Ireland’s ongoing cultural purple patch. Since his breakout collaboration with Kojaque just two years ago, the Dublin rapper has become one of the most compelling new voices in a scene unafraid to blur lines between art, fashion, and community. His trajectory has been swift but deliberate: an RTÉ Choice Prize nomination for his debut album What Was The Question, a BBC Radio 1Xtra debut with CassKid, a widely-circulated Dazed profile that labelled him “one of the best rappers to ever come out of Ireland,” and a growing catalogue that doubles as a personal diary — candid, witty, self-deprecating, and bracingly honest.
His music lives in the cracks between sharp humour and quiet melancholy, drawing comparisons to Earl Sweatshirt and MIKE but refusing to lose its Irish vernacular. Each track reads less like a performance and more like a conversation overheard, rooted in the working-class surroundings that shaped him. It’s this voice — unfiltered, unpretentious, and emotionally transparent — that has turned Curtisy into a crucial documentarian of contemporary Irish life, the type of rapper who can capture both hopelessness and the flicker of light that cuts through it.
Live, he’s everywhere: from a lauded UK and Ireland tour to cult Irish fashion label Pellador’s runway show, from a storming set at Electric Picnic to opening for New York rap luminary Wiki in Dublin. Alongside those appearances, collaborations have stretched his palette further — a future-facing link-up with hyper-pop outlier Sloucho, and the collaborative mixtape “Beauty In The Beast” with producer hikii, a record that sought out hope in the most unlikely places. Endorsements from Maverick Sabre and NTS’s DJ Bempah only underscore what’s already clear: Curtisy stands among a wave of Irish artists breaking internationally, a generation that includes Fontaines D.C., Rejjie Snow, Kneecap, Gemma Dunleavy, and Kojaque, all pushing against the weight of circumstance to carve out their own space on the world stage.
Florence Road:
What makes Florence Road so instantly magnetising isn’t just their striking frontwoman Lily Aron with her rich, oaky vocals, but the dynamic she shares with her best friends, guitarist Emma Brandon, bassist Ailbhe Barry and drummer Hannah Kelly. Shortly after the four of them became alternative music’s most thrilling new band, they started posting on social media, a mixture of silly videos that displayed their friendship and cover songs filmed in an uncanny confrontational style on an iPhone 0.5 magnification setting.
Some of the videos are dimly lit, with a camera and light that bounces into the members’ faces, catching their bright blue eyes like deer in headlights. Others are equally surprising, like the video of them singing their indie rock song “Figure It Out” while being driven in the car by Hannah, or the time they hid in a closet holding Ailbhe hostage as they cover Olivia Rodrigo’s “Obsessed” (Rodrigo saw it and commented as enthusiastically as the band’s other fans).
“The weird videos reflect our dynamic somehow,” says Ailbhe, smiling. “You’d only be able to do that with your close friends; I do feel like there’s just an inherent friendship closeness you could tell from what we posted”.
“It worked”, agrees Lily, “Everything just started snowballing from there really”.
Jessica Doolan:
Twenty one year old soul-pop artist from Dublin, Jessica Doolan has just released her debut EP “Keep It Chic”. Gaining over 1 million streams already, Jessica is on the rise to being a prominent name in the music industry. Inspired by the greats like Nina Simone, Sade, Alicia Keys and Dusty Springfield. Jessica set out to busk on Dublin’s Grafton Street at age twelve to create her own legacy. After falling in love with songwriting she now draws inspiration from the 50s and 60s and blends timeless soul and jazz with a pop edge. Jessica continues to captivate her audience with a soulful, sublime vocal ability matched with gritty, confessional lyrics that connect. Having won International Rookie Artist at the Denniz Pop Awards in Sweden and a run of festivals and supports over the summer, her first project now demonstrates how far she’s come since then. With multiple Spotify playlist covers and features, tracks airing on BBC Radio London and live sessions and shows at KoKo Camden, she is definitely one to watch.
Jessica put on her first headline shows last month in the UK and Dublin, solidifying her strengths when it comes to live performances. With a groovy jazzy band and a packed out room there is no doubt Jessica will light it up. Grounded in her artistry and a work ethic like no other, Jessica Doolan is a name you will want to remember.
mischa and the bear:
mischa and the bear are a Dublin-based alt-pop duo exploring the fragility of the human experience through unsettling synth-led soundscapes and stark lyrical honesty. The project features producer Danny “Mischa” Rooney and vocalist Fírinne “Bear” McIntyre whose creative partnership blends glitchy textures with haunting melodies and lyrics that linger like bruises. Since emerging in early 2025, they have quickly built a reputation for emotionally intelligent pop that does not flinch. With each track, mischa and the bear construct a vivid emotional atmosphere whether unpacking the toxic intensity of a fractured friendship “Forever Ago” or the strange comfort of emotional collapse in “Get Away”. Their music is deeply personal yet feels uncannily universal. The pair are steadily growing a following drawn to their unvarnished emotional storytelling and genre-blurring sound. Their excellent debut EP “Even Unto The Next World” was released on 8 August 2025.
MOIO:
MOIO doesn’t just make music, he commands emotion. In fact, the Nigerian- Irish singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist chases emotion with every lyric he pens, melody he sings, and beat, bassline, or guitar riff he plays. This pursuit has brought him to a space between genres, co-existing in the realms of R&B, indie, alternative, and soul—yet cleverly never committing to one above the other. By helming every aspect of his artistry, he’s able to operate fluidly, and his vision resonates across boundaries.
Growing up in Dublin, music called to MOIO as a child. His passion was fostered by church and the radio in equal measure. After taking piano lessons for several years, he taught himself guitar and bass.
At ten years old, he sang live for the first time at school and fell in love with performing. Eventually, a friend urged him to download FL Studio to start cooking up beats of his own. Buzzing on Soundcloud with early uploads, he slowly but surely attracted an audience. During 2023, he dropped “SUNBEAMING” followed by “Open Your Eyes,” which amassed over 2.3 million Spotify streams. On its heels, MOIO’s single “Moments,” started to go viral a year after its release, climbing north of 19 million Spotify streams and notably catapulted to number one on Spotify’s Viral 50 chart in the US, UK, Ireland, Canada, Norway, Denmark, and New Zealand. Along the way, he incited the applause of HYPEBEAST, Fashionably Early, Dancing Astronaut, and more in addition to performing at the likes of Dublin’s Forbidden Fruit Festival. Generating tens of millions of streams independently and attracting a growing fan base, he conjures palpable emotion on his 2025 “Earth Day” EP and more to come.
New Spectrum:
New Spectrum is an Irish born, Berlin based producer. With many years in music production and a childhood filled with influences from house acts (Modjo, Thomas Bangalter) to big beat producers (The Prodigy and The Chemical Brothers) and to old school Hip-hop (A Tribe Called Quest, Run DMC). His early exposure to the late 90’s and early 00’s sounds eventually led to a short stint in music college, where he learned through music history classes, the deep history and development of music from the 50’s onwards. Uncovering all of these melting pots, he eventually started to build his music collection, with everything from Thomas Bangalter’s “Roulé” to Yazoo’s “Upstairs at Eric’s” and pretty much every production from The Neptunes.
Recently his sound has developed into more contemporary R&B/house fusion with sonics like R&B artist Brent Faiyaz’s smooth moody vibe but still rooted in and electronic structure.
His releases have brought in a number of plays on BBC’s Radio 1 and RTE 2FM and support from a wide range of renowned producers and djs, such as Fatboy Slim, DJ Seinfeld, Laurent Garnier, Chloe Caillet, Fred Again, Gerd Janson, TSHA and Skream.
Post-Party:
Rooting their sound in the turn of the century’s new rock revival embellished with the sounds of 80s new waves and indie, Post-Party recite tales of youth and juvenescence with an eye towards the state of things to come. Post-Party’s consistent headline and festival touring across live circuits in Ireland, the UK and France has earned them over 1 million streams on Spotify alone, alongside substantial airplay both at home and abroad.
The Dublin-based outfit have supported indie heavyweights Inhaler, Blossoms, and Miles Kane to name but a few. Laced with snappy melodies, ear-worm riffs, and a driving rhythm section, the band’s debut EP, “We’re Not Getting Any Younger”, charted a number three position; this was soon followed by their darker yet equally pop-sensible sophomore, “I Didn’t Before But I See It Now”.
2025 saw the band introduce and tour a sharper edge with “That’s What I Call Living” confronting the agglutination of modern living with an irony, a wit and the fly-on-wall perspective the band have demonstrated across their previous releases.
Roe Byrne:
The singer-songwriter from Dublin, has always had rhythm in his DNA. From an early age, Roe was immersed in the world of music. He started out playing the drums, switched to guitar at the age of eleven, and found his voice as a singer at thirteen. Roe’s formative musical years were shaped by a combination of YouTube tutorials, where he taught himself to play instruments, and open mics in Belfast and Dublin but it was busking in Dublin that truly made him an artist. His love of performing grew after the death of his grandfather, who had always encouraged him to try his hand at busking. This moment marked a significant turning point, when Roe’s musical journey began.
The collaboration with twocolors in 2024 was one of his first steps into the German Market – an entry that began with a big hit. He also demonstrated his hit potential as a songwriter by co-writing and providing vocals for David Puentez’s current radio track “Burn”.
Roe’s musical style is soulful, melancholic, and dynamic, with genuine emotions that give the lyrics deep meaning. Through his music, he wants to make people feel seen and understood.
RuntheRed:
RuntheRed are an indie group formed in 2024 and based out of Meath, Dublin and Offaly. Their debut single “In Georgia” was released in October 2024, and since then they’ve been busy crafting a fresh sound for the Irish music scene. They then released three more singles and, most recently, a debut EP in August 2025. Their music draws inspiration from bands like The Frames, The Cranberries and Cliffords. They are striving to find that balance between raw emotion and energetic indie hooks: something honest, but still something that gets people moving.