The next 'next big things' coming to SXSW Music Festival 2023 in Austin

South by Southwest Music Festival is known for helping to launch artists who soon become big stars. Think Haim, Lizzo, Leon Bridges and, heck, Hanson. All of those musical acts played the annual March fest long before they were topping charts.

Will the 2023 edition of SXSW follow this tradition? We think so. Here are some of this year's artists on the rise.

PinkPantheress

The British singer-songwriter hits the fest as “Boy’s a liar, pt. 2,” her collab with red-hot rapper Ice Spice, hovers near the top of the Billboard charts. Reminiscent of the time when an ocean-eyed Billie Eilish hit the fest on her first sold-out tour, this is your chance to hear the 21-year-old singer's evolved bedroom pop up close as she bursts into stardom. (10:15 p.m. March 14 at Mala Vida)

— D.S.S.

Flo Milli, Maiya the Don and Lola Brooke

Is this the year of the TikTok rap queen takeover? All of these rappers (and frequent collaborators) circumvented industry gatekeepers by dropping boss lady anthems that resonated with fans on the streaming media platform. Alabama’s Flo Milli parlayed viral heat around her 2018 single "Beef FloMix" into a record deal that led to her debut studio album, “Ho, Why is You Here?” in 2020. Her second album, “You Still Here, Ho?” dropped to public and critical acclaim last year. Stylist Maiya the Don, who started on the platform doing beauty content, bagged a hit with the Telfar shout out “Telfy,” and Lola Brooke scored a deal with Arista Records after “Don’t Play With It” became a viral hit. The big question on everyone’s mind: Will Ice Spice, show up? Will these ace spitters form Voltron? Anything is possible. (Flo Milli at 10 p.m. March 16 at Inn Cahoots; Maiya the Don at 11:45 p.m. March 15 at Revival Coffee; Lola Brooke at time TBA March 16 at Waterloo Park)

— D.S.S.

Thee Sacred Souls

The Daptones record label has left such an indelible mark on SXSW that many of us carry a Charles Bradley-shaped hole in our hearts this time of year. On their 2022 debut for the imprint, this San Diego trio mines the familiar analog vault to create sweet slow burners that ache with bittersweet nostalgia and heart. The band arrives at the festival on a North American tour that’s selling out venues across the country. In addition to their official showcase, the band is also on the roster for KUTX and ACL Radio morning broadcasts and the free South by San Jose day party (2 p.m. March 17 at Radio Day Stage in Austin Convention Center; evening showcase TBA)

— D.S.S.

More:These are the bands you need to hear at SXSW Music Festival 2023 in Austin

Orchestra Gold

Built around the expressive vocals of Mariam Diakite, the Oakland ensemble amps up Malian blues with funky horns and then drapes everything with grungy, surf-side fuzz. The bombastic jams feel like they could be piped in on an old transistor radio from a faraway land. Or another dimension. In addition to their official showcase, the band will play at 11 a.m. March 17 at Waterloo Records. (1 a.m. March 18 at Hotel Vegas)

— D.S.S.

Ric Wilson

Oh, you’re looking for this year’s Anderson.Paak? This Chicago funkmaster infuses his hip-pop with dance-floor-popping disco grooves that draw on the city’s rich house-music tradition. No lightweight on the lyrics, the lifelong activist was part of a delegation that traveled to the United Nations’ Geneva office in 2014 to allege the Chicago Police department had participated in acts of genocide and torture actions against the city’s Black and brown youth. (7:20 p.m. March 14 at Empire Garage)

— D.S.S.

More:Our guide to a dozen SXSW parties where you can post up all night

Coco and Clair Clair

The Atlanta duo creates whisper-rap-bedroom-pop with spacious grooves and a vibe that drifts between candy-coated high school romance and hazy mushroom trip inside in a 1980s video game. Their song “Pretty,” released in 2017, became a hit on TikTok last year, and the tour for their debut album “Sexy” is selling out venues across the country. (8:20 p.m. March 14 at Empire Garage)

— D.S.S.

Girli

I freely confess that I rely on aGLIFF, the city’s annual LGBTQ film fest, for new queer music discovery. Their pre-screening playlists are unmatched. That’s how I discovered “Day Month Second,” an insanely catchy dance-floor kiss-off from the U.K. artist aka Amelia Toomey. “Sucker”-era Charli XCX is a good point of reference, or maybe Foxes with a little more grit beneath her soles. Girli’s got the goods to be the next pop artist that gays call “mother” on TikTok. (10 p.m. March 15 at British Music Embassy at the Courtyard; 11 p.m. March 17 at Velveeta Room)

— E.W.

Indigo De Souza

The North Carolina singer-songwriter has earned rave mentions from NPR and MTV, thanks to her tranquil vocals and folk-adjacent sonic adventures that always feel right at home with rainy country drives, no matter the genre. Her upcoming third album, “All of This Will End,” draws from life experiences like “the ecstatic trips spent wandering Appalachian mountains and southern swamps with friends.” Ethereally twangy single “Younger & Dumber” devastates as it builds into a gullywasher, with lyrics like “When I was younger/ Younger and dumber/ Built like a flower/ You came to pick me from out of the city/ You turned me sour.” In addition to official SXSW showcases, you can catch De Sousza during the FLOODfest side party on March 16 at Mohawk. (11 p.m. March 15 at Central Presbyterian Church; 1 a.m. March 17 at Mohawk outdoor; 12:05 a.m. March 18 at Half Step)

— E.W.

Ratboys

To quote Sen. Bernie Sanders, “Let me thank the Ratboys for their music.” A clip of the politician namechecking the Chicago band at a Jan. 2020 event went viral, just ahead of the release of their album “Printer’s Devil” and a subsequent headlining tour (their first). The indie-rock band’s been around now for more than a decade, but as Pitchfork explains, they were poised for a big breakout when the pandemic lockdown struck. They’ll bring Julia Steiner’s gentle-but-idiosyncratic vocals and well-observed songs that run the gamut from jangly (“Down the River”) to pop-grungy (“Alien With a Sleep Mask On”). (12:30 a.m. March 15 at Cheer Up Charlie's indoor; midnight March 17 at Cheer Up Charlie's outdoor)

— E.W.

Madison McFerrin

Heal your heart with the critically acclaimed music of McFerrin (yes, as in the daughter of Bobby McFerrin). Questlove dubbed her sound “soul-appella." Her voice — an instrument that would be welcome on any great jazz record — creates liquid romance. The 30-year-old’s debut full-length, “I Hope You Can Forgive Me,” comes out in May. New single “(Please Don’t) Leave Me Now” finds her in an elegantly desperate place that musically recalls Solange and Jessie Ware. (9 p.m. March 16 at Central Presbyterian Church)

— E.W.

The Lemon Twigs

These Long Island brothers already won SXSW’s 2017 Grulke Prize for a developing U.S. act, so perhaps you don’t need to know that they’re rising. Since that year’s fest, Brian and Michael D’Addario returned to town with gigs at Austin City Limits Music Festival and Antone’s. The Lemon Twigs combine lush instrumentation with a canny knack for channeling ghosts of a post-British Invasion world — Bowie, Jagger and Townshend are peeking through a lot of their stuff. And they’ve got more references in their bags; recent single “Corner of My Eye” is a malt shop ballad with, like, maybe a sprinkle of bossa nova, and “Any Time of Day” straps a stack of Carpenters records to its back and says “let’s go.” (10 p.m. March 14 at Cheer Up Charlies outdoor; 11 p.m. March 15 at The Creek and the Cave backyard; they’ll also play the unofficial FLOODfest showcase on March 16 at Mohawk)

— E.W.

Sunflower Bean

The New York three-piece just can’t stay away from Austin, with two previous SXSW stops and gigs at venues like Scoot Inn. Sunflower Bean came up in the DIY community, and 2020 single “Moment in the Sun” racked up the streams after its inclusion in the Netflix hit show “Heartstopper.” It’s a pool party in a song, as long as you swap out your floaties for synth and guitar. (10 p.m. March 15 at Lucille; 8:15 March 16 at Stubb’s; 12:10 a.m. March 19 at The Creek and the Cave; they’ll also play the unofficial FLOODfest showcase on March 16 at Mohawk)

— E.W.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Rising bands ready to break out at SXSW Music Festival 2023 in Austin