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A genre disruptor to his core, Christian Leave has had a prolific past year. Since first making his foray into music at just 15 years old, he’s distinguished himself as one to watch and grown a significant fanbase that hangs on his every word. One of his earliest releases “Please Notice” has now surpassed 100M streams, while this year’s EP releaseHeavy Hitting Hurts My Headhas crossed 6 million streams, propelling him to over 3 million monthly Spotify listeners and260 million total streams across his catalogue, while landing him in the top spot on high profile playlists such as Spotify’s Lorem, Amazon Music’s Breakthrough Indie and Fresh Indie, Apple Music’s INDIY, and Pandora’s New Music Now, just to name a few. He’s been selected for major fashion features with the likes ofVMAN,i-D, andBoys By Girls, while critical acclaim rolls in fromAmerican Songwriter,Office Magazine, andFLAUNT, who declares, “One spin of Christian Leave’s music, andyou’re immediately sucked in longing for more.” At just 21 years old, Christian has quietly worked from his bedroom, writing, producing and creating this sound that is at once naïve and wise, the product of teenage heartbreak as viewed through the eyes ofa person who grew up just a little too fast. He strikes a balance between subversive vulnerability and catchy palatability that his millions of fans have already connected.

If you have a dream in the suburbs of Kansas City, Kansas, you have to make it come true yourself, but if you have a couple of friends who have the same dream as you that is half the battle.Blackstarkidsare Ty, Deoindre and The Babe Gabe, and they're the most refreshingly bright and affirming alternative band to emerge from Middle America in an age. The instigator of the trio is Ty, who at the age of 19 is just slightly younger than 20-year-old Deoindre and The Babe Gabe (also 20). Ty is the visionary. When he was nine-years-old, he discovered Nirvana and he couldn't understand why nobody else wanted to join a band with him. “It was 2010 and I was mad young. I was trying to get my friends to do it but nobody would take it seriously.” A year later Odd Future came out, and Ty's entire world turned upside down. There was one plan: music. He had to make it and he wanted to have a gang, just like his namesake Tyler, The Creator. At the age of 10, he started. “I was making music all through middle school and when I got to high school I got more serious,” he says. “When Kanye put out the 'Stronger' video I remember thinking I was looking into my future. I still feel that way.”