With a dire economy and a news agenda where hatred tended to be the only thing trending, last year was draining for so many Brits. Thankfully, the UK music scene remains capable of providing escapism. Inside Issue 61, we’ve compiled a list of our favourite rising musicians for 2025 who all have the future in the palms of their hands and might just end up soundtracking the year ahead. From raw raps that elevate single mums to stadium-sized soul ballads about healing broken hearts, each of these promising artists is someone well worth getting familiar with.
Jeshi wears jacket and trousers by AFPXWRKS, shoes by G.H. BASS
Aiming for music that combines sonics from Dizzee Rascal’s Boy in Da Corner with Radiohead’s Kid A, East London’s Jeshi, 30, is a biting storyteller who has consistently spoken up about Britain’s cost-of-living crisis. He roots his music in the perspectives of the poor via niche references (like one bar reminiscing about a time in the 2000s when disenfranchised students still got the weekly Education Maintenance Grant from the government) only the working-class listeners will truly understand, creating real intimacy with fans.
His freeform raps probe and search for fresh answers to society’s biggest problems, while the soundscapes merge grime and electronica in a fluid way. “I definitely gravitate towards darker, night-time sounds,” he says. “I like things that feel moody and make albums designed for headphones. My music is for a long journey home in the early hours.” On new song Stuck on Loop, he pays tribute to London’s sound-system culture, while also trying to fight off an existential crisis. “Life is just a re-run of the same show,” he spits in a dejected tone, admitting he’s losing himself within “debauchery and broken beats“. The song feels like having a heart-to-heart with a friend in the smoking area at an all-day rave, trying to convince them to break a dangerous cycle of depression but spectacularly failing.
Raised in an environment where there weren’t many fruitful expectations, Jeshi, whose real name is Jesse Greenway, says music has always been the fuel to keep his head up during moments of hardship. “Growing up in far-from-ideal circumstances? For me it was always this fuel! Your back is against the wall, so you’ve got no choice but to figure everything out and make things work for yourself,” he adds. “There’s nobody to save you if it crashes and burns. Music gave me something to put all my life and energy into, something to bury myself in when it felt like everything was falling down around me. I want to keep putting things out in the world that really mean something to people.”
