Line-up Lift Pukkelpop 2025

As Brat-Pop continues to dominate, So Good is at the forefront of the scene’s London attack. Teaming up with songwriting and production heavyweights Marching Ghost Music, her provocative lyrics and explosive performance have stormed both Tik Tok and Instagram at the end of 2024, gaining recognition from artists and celebrities alike. Fiercely DIY, So Good continues her viral growth, with plans to self-release all new music on her own label. Fearsome and fearless So Good will be spreading her explosive live show across Europe this year with sights set on the rest of the world thereafter..

Chloe Slater is a 21-year-old singer-songwriter on the rise, carving her path in the realm of independent music. Born and raised in Bournemouth, she has been writing songs since she was 13 years old. After moving to Manchester for University, she found her voice in the effervescent open mic scene and has since been collaborating closely with writer/producer Jack Shute.Her recent debut EP, 'You Can't Put A Price On Fun', encapsulates a grungy, indie-cool vibe, blending Chloe's distinctive style with meaningful lyricism. The EP explores themes of youth, identity, and the complexities of modern society, offering a vivid glimpse into Chloe's introspective world. Standout tracks like 'Price On Fun' resonate with wit and poignancy, delivering sharp commentary on contemporary challenges. 'Nothing Shines On This Island' presents a youthful critique of British politics with its gritty production and thought-provoking lyrics, while '24 Hours' features a powerful alt-pop chorus that resonates with today's younger generation. Chloe's music boldly addresses social disparities and societal issues with a unique blend of humor and insight.Chloe Slater recently graced the stages of Glastonbury's BBC Music Introducing and supported Courtney Barnett across London and Manchester. Her track 'Price On Fun' garnered acclaim as BBC Introducing Track of the Week on BBC Radio 1 and recently highlighted as ‘the firebrand songwriter that’s about to be everywhere’ in NME's Radar feature. As Chloe continues to shed light on often overlooked issues, 2024 promises even more from this talented artist. With her distinctive sound and insightful lyricism, she is poised for a breakout year and set to make a mark in the music scene.

Change can be volatile, overwhelming, wonderful and heartbreaking – but above all else, it can open a portal into a new season of life. The past few months for Nieve Ella have felt similar, as though everything turned on its head and time started to move faster by the day. Out of all this comes the 21-year-old’s transformational new EP Watch It Ache and Bleed, a collection of invigorating indie-rock anthems brimming with raw feeling; it's the sound of a young, determined woman ready to go out into the world with a whole new perspective on what ambition and desire mean to her. In just two short years, the West Midlands singer-songwriter has galvanised a legion of devout fans thanks to her wit and electrifying stage presence. An accomplished self-taught guitarist with a finely-tuned ear for a soaring hook, Ella’s lyrics recall the candid songwriting of Sam Fender. By writing astutely about growing pains, unfiltered impulses and those first real, unexpected breakups with sincerity and flair, she extends a helping hand to listeners going through similar journeys of growth. Melding Nineties influences such as Liz Phair and Veruca Salt with an innate ear for pop melodies, Watch It Ache and Bleed details the rocky road of heartbreak in eviscerating detail. Yet the EP also celebrates courage, and the bravery required to realise you're not quite getting what you deserve. “The person I was with... it was quite lovely and wholesome,” she says. “But when I was realising that I shouldn’t be in this relationship anymore, I was like: ‘Oh, I want to do all of the fun stuff’. The things a 21-year-old should be doing.” Many of Watch It Ache and Bleed’s boldest moments are “power moves” that bask in the joy of taking charge of your destiny. What ties it all together is a newfound confidence from Ella; a sense of contentment and belief in exactly who she is. “It's a celebration of this idea that she can f**king get what she needs! And if she has to go out and find it, then she will.” An empowering journey into a self-assured new era, this eight-track release builds on last year’s pair of EPs – 2023’s Lifetime of Wanting and Young & Naive – to unearth Ella’s bravest, most uplifting songwriting to date. Following a sold-out headline tour, an impressive festival season including a celebrated set at TRNSMT, and opening slots for the likes of Dylan and Inhaler, Ella is now gearing up for the release alongside her biggest gigs yet: opening for Girl in Red on her upcoming September arena tour.Watch It Ache and Bleed was crafted with the dizzying, freeing energy of the stage in mind – it’s the environment for which the EP was made. On the road, she has cultivated a fiercely dedicated and vocal fan following: dozens of online fan accounts later, fans patiently queuing all day and sharing gifts with each other ahead of her shows is a regular sight. But long before she was selling out headline tours in under ten minutes, or rapidly rising to notoriety with early standout singles such as Car Park and His Sofa, Ella grew up in a “sweet little village” in Shropshire; the sort of place where she felt that pursuing a career in music was unheard of. Growing up, she felt like an outsider; while her schoolmates hung out together, she preferred helping out her mum, who is a hairdresser, in her salon. “I used to make really silly faces, and I was always the class clown, or at least I thought I was,” she says. “But I grew up so fast because of my mum being a single parent, and not having a father figure. My dad left our house when I was about 3 or 4, and I didn’t really grow up with him: it has always been my mum and my two brothers. That’s what’s normal to me.” The arrival of lockdown skewed Ella’s teenage journey, and she never experienced the usual rites of passages like hitting the clubs when she turned eighteen. Instead, she entered adulthood in a far more introspective headspace, learning who she really was largely by herself, alone in her room, armed with the guitar left to her by her late dad. Often, Ella explains, her relationship with her father crops up in her work, and she finds herself drawing on her grief following his death a decade ago. “It has been 10 years since he died, and I see everything so much more beautifully,” she explains. “He was a musician, too. I am living his dream, because it’s what he wanted to do. That makes me work so much harder, and write so much more passionately.” Ella now understands that her own story holds real power, her voice as a writer becoming more specific over time. Accordingly, Watch It Ache and Bleed’s narrative drifts away from the hollow ache of loss, and instead finds clearer focus in self-empowerment. Though recent single Sugarcoated sees Ella yearning for her childhood and simpler times, the buoyant Sweet Nothings finds her basking in the blissful, rejuvenating glow of an early relationship. “It's a celebration of happiness and feeling lovely in those first two weeks of dating somebody. I’m fantasising about somebody new falling in love with me,” she says of the latter. Ganni Top takes a more hedonistic approach to new beginnings. Here, Ella envisions all the fun to come once she’s cut loose: “you can fill me in the back of your limousine,” she quips on theplayful, grunge-inspired ode to newfound singledom. “Everything in the song is a metaphor for sex,” she says. “I wanted to make it funny, and quite cheeky.” The Things We Say, meanwhile, deals with another kind of emotional fall-out: a friendship break-up. Though platonic splits get far less airtime in popular culture, Ella felt it was just as important to address. By the gnarly Stop Me!, Ella lands on a quiet form of healing; if somebody isn’t willing to put up a fight to keep a relationship alive, it was probably doomed to fail all along. The EP was written and recorded between Finsbury Park and Maidenhead, with collaborators Iain Berryman, Finn Marlow, Jamie Rendle and Hugo Hardy. While the group made a lot of early headway in London, the latter recording space – a DIY-styled location packed with instruments – gave Ella the sense of comfort she needed to complete the release, and reminded her of how she started out: playing guitar in her bedroom, with no expectation for what would happen next. “It’s like therapy,” she says of her songwriting. “After writing, I feel so much lighter. When I write songs, they become these other parts of me, and when other people can relate to that too? It's like magic to me.” And on Watch It Ache and Bleed there’s certainly plenty to relate to; Ella has an effortless knack for skewering the thorny tangle of early adulthood. Emerging artists rarely arrive so fully formed, with such a masterful command over their emotions – she is a powerful, needed figure in British indie, one who makes young people feel seen and heard.

With a sound that blends the best of the past and present, Zinadelphia crafts timeless, colourful songs that play the long game.Following a successful trio of singles, Zinadelphia released her debut Lucky EP in 2023, and began touring as support for artists who are equally as audacious: Medium Build, Teddy Swims and most recently, Tori Kelly. “It’s the most fun I’ve had in my whole life,” she describes. She built her audience organically, performing cross-country for the first time and captivating new fans with her singular voice and charm.Entering 2024, Zinadelphia brought together writer-producers Leroy Clampitt and Gabe Goodman, working out of LA together to create a sound that is everything she’s always wanted. “I’m very much a maximalist,” she explains. “I wanted to dip into an old Hollywood feel, almost Burlesque-like.” This aesthetic, combined with her love of 60s and 70s icons like The Supremes, Gloria Gaynor, and Tammi Terrell, birthed songs that feel reminiscent of those decades, while still being grounded in the present. Her next single, “Love Over Glory,” encapsulates the power that Zinadelphia has always possessed, now on full display. She strives to be realistic, rather than aspirational, about her struggles, contrasting darker themes with high energy tempos. Referencing disco motifs with bombastic horns, funk basslines and a four-on-the-floor beat, the single sets the stage for a new era to come: “It’s the most me I’ve ever felt.” Zinadelphia embraces life’s “ugly truths'' through her songwriting, using music as an outlet to process new experiences and express herself. She captures the highs and lows of womanhood, marrying vintage aesthetics with a fresh and exciting perspective.

A precociously talented five-piece from London, the band recently celebrated their 100th gig. Since their debut at 16 years old and across three self-released singles, the band have proven themselves as one of the most exciting and unpredictable young acts in the capital, both joyous and raucous in equal measures. Last year’s “What Lucy Found There” was to be their breakthrough, securing attention for the band from the likes of The Quietus, NME, The Line Of Best Fit, So Young, BBC 6 Music and more.This November the band truly come of age with their debut EP, “Eazy Peazy”, to land on the indie taste-maker label Fat Possum Records. Recorded with Gilla Band’s Daniel Fox at Echo Zoo studio in Eastbourne, the group present us with cinematic arrangements, mauled by moments of cacophony;  the band’s Billy Ward says of their writing process, “we thrive on the thin line between pretty and noisy, often trying to jump between the two - it’s that chaos that excites us.”From the driving immediacy of opener “The Boss”, to the robust backbone of “Sports Day”, to the theatrical beauty of “Grow A Tongue In Time” and orchestral highlight “Ode To Clio”, the six track EP captures all the cerebral intensity, and celebratory melody, of the Man/Woman/Chainsaw live performance. It signals the start proper for a band who have been allowed to experiment, given the time to find their sound and line-up in a vibrant, supportive DIY community, and who will surely finish the year ready to take on the next with unbridled confidence. With boundless potential like theirs, you’d not bet against them.

Riding the soul revival wave, DON WEST coins his own brand of coastal soul music. Taking influence from the likes of Marvin Gaye & Curtis Mayfield to the modern players Jalen Ngonda and Thee Sacred Souls. DON WEST has made his own mark on the genre with the release of his debut EP in November 2024. Key tracks include ‘Small Change’ and ‘Friends’, seeing global success. Alongside a 5 star review, Richard Kingsmill adds that ‘Plenty try it [soul music], and often fall short. This guy glides into it with ease.’ With the latest releases & more to come, you can see DON WEST as an artist totally in his element.

19-year-old multi-talented artist and instrumentalist SOFIA ISELLA has been making waves as of late. A classically trained violinist, songwriter, producer and poet, the young creator’s biggest influences are among the likes of Trent Reznor, Beck, Sylvia Plath, Margaret Atwood, Mona Awad and Anne Sexton. ISELLA has spent the last few years touring globally and domestically, most recently opening for Tom Odell in the UK and Melanie Martinez in the US, UK, and Mexico. ISELLA recently opened for Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour in London at Wembley Stadium.

Carving out their space in the Nu-Rave scene, Belgian duo Promis3’s captivating productions, mesmerizing visuals and striking aesthetic are a tribute to European club & queer culture. The duo constantly pushes the boundaries of their recognizable, yet confronting identity. Shaped by Europop, Hyperpop, Y2K trance, Rave and so much more, it's clear that Promis3’s sound is genre fluid. In the past Promis3 shared the stage with names like Shygirl, h0rsegiirl, Cobrah, and Ascendant Vierge, solidifying their position in the music industry. Their single “Archangel” – a thrilling rework of Burial’s timeless classic, caught the attention of the renowned collective LIVE FROM EARTH after their standout set at HÖR BERLIN and got released on their label.Early 2025 they released on CDLF, the label of Parisian techno icon & possession founder Parfait. With a recent mix on LIVE FROM EARTH’s ‘Klub’ series and upcoming mixes on BCCO and Apple music, Promis3 showcases their versatile hybrid dj sets, a new format next to their full A/V liveshow.With past recognition from platforms like PAPER, METAL, and Wonderland, and a busy performance schedule, including major festival appearances and collaborations, Promis3 continue their steady growth.Get ready for the sound of the future with a nostalgic touch of the past.

Als de ineenstorting van de beschaving dan toch voortduurt, is het in elk geval draaglijker onder een pittige groove. Daar kwam het Gentse collectief Lézard gelukkig al gauw achter. Onder het stijlvolle geometrische postpunkgeluid van de band suddert een hysterische energie: een soort van Boogie Wonderland voor excentriekelingen, buitenbeentjes en verloren zielen waar iedereen deel van kan uitmaken.Dolend in de geest van Devo, LCD Soundsystem, XTC en Telex trekken ‘disco vogue’ art -punk-perikelen van Lézard al ruimschoots de aandacht. De groep draagt catchiness als een iets te strak driedelig maatpak op een hete zomerdag: het is een kwestie van tijd voordat de figuurlijke stropdas losgetrokken wordt. Op het podium escaleert Lézard dan ook op de meest verbijsterende en vreugdevolle manieren denkbaar – verder versterkt door de koortsachtige audiovisuele beelden van Joannes Meulewaeter.

Alemeda, the emerging Ethiopian-Sudanese artist makes Alternative Rock/Pop music as a form of self-expression and empowerment. The 23-year-old Singer/Songwriter/Producer made a name for herself with her viral 2021 debut single, “Gonna Bleach My Eyebrows, ” which has earned more than 8 million streams to date, following up with, “Post Nut Clarity” (two million and rising), in the summer of 2022. Telling tales of leveling up, and leaving regrettable exes in the past, she weaves between pop, rock, and alternative stylings while using soft melodies to capture her unbothered attitude.Alemeda’s introduction to music was fairly unconventional. She grew up between Ethiopia and Arizona in a stern household with strict religious rules and customs where she was alienated from music up until the age of 10. She found secret solace in songs via an analog clock radio. Some of the first tunes she fell in love with included Coldplay’s, “Viva La Vida” and Rihanna’s, “Only Girl (In the World). ” This eventually led to her posting covers online and taking part in local talent shows at the age of 13. Criticism and familial disapproval of her musical aspirations only made her more determined to push the envelope. She recalls, “I was very in my culture’s opinion, ‘a rebellious kid’ , so kids like that in my African community were sent back to Ethiopia to discipline them by reinforcing the values of our culture. It was basically my mom’s way of ‘straightening me out’, but that obviously didn’t work, so it was kind of a waste of time.”After graduating high school in 2017, she impulsively left to Los Angeles to pursue her passion of music. Since then, she’s written songs that bared her soul and now she’s hoping to prove that her ambition stretches far beyond her own career. Inspired by the artists she loves—Coldplay, Maroon 5, Rihanna, and Arctic Monkeys, she is relentless in being a representation amongst her fellow East Africans in this diaspora.Her recently released single, “UR SO FULL OF IT” , offers a glimpse into a new chapter of Alemeda’s career, moving on from the turbulent emotions of adolescence, to showcasing her growth and confidence. Influenced by the frustration she felt in a long-distance relationship, “UR SO FULL OF IT”, captures that angry energy and redirects it. “No, we can’t be friends again / had your chance, but I’m over it”, she sings. This is an anthem about turning pain into power.With her highly anticipated & recently released debut EP “FK IT”, she’s determined for her music to be a light in the darkness for others, just as she needed to be for herself. “When I started out in music, my biggest support system was East Africans all over the globe”, she says. “Growing up in a refugee family it was very important to me to be successful and inspire others like myself to have the extreme belief that no dream is impossible.”

Luvcat and her band are concocting a riot of Parisian decadence and British sweat ‘n sawdust; romance, danger, escapism and good old fashioned rock’n’roll. Her early rise has been as thrilling and immediate as the songs themselves - tales of doomed loves and twisted fantasy, that have seen her loyal following swell in number by the day. But to paraphrase a great man, first we must ask ourselves, how did we get here?One theory goes that Luvcat was born not so long ago, on the banks of the River Seine in the belly of a riverboat when, had you been passing by, you might have found a group of revellers clutching hand-branded silk knickers, in thrall to the woman on stage with her name emblazoned across them.OR, according to BBC Radio 1, who broadcast the tale ahead of playing first single ‘Matador’, Luvcat began several years back when she ran away to join the circus and had a tempestuous affair with a ringleader.OR, perhaps, the seeds of Luvcat were sown on the streets of Liverpool almost a decade ago, when the teenage musician was discovered busking ‘The Whole of the Moon’ by one of the actual Waterboys and subsequently taken on a serendipitous support tour around Europe. Some or none of this is true; you can make up your own minds as to which. Raised on a simultaneous diet of Nick Cave and Cabaret; The Cure and The Rat Pack, Luvcat grew up equally enthralled with both the gothic and the glamorous. She reminisces over “always wanting to be a Moulin Rouge dancer” but also had her world turned upside down when she first watched the video for ‘Lullaby’ by The Cure. “Its essence has just informed my entire brain ever since,” she says. “There was a dead marching band covered in cobwebs, and Robert Smith is in candy stripe pyjamas on this wrought iron bed.”Now, she’s tying the two together in a flurry of theatrical playfulness and high stakes desire, with the artist herself taking the creative lead on all of her videos to curate a world of Luvcat’s very own making.On that first single, ‘Matador’, it manifests in the form of a curiously-plucked gothic folk tale that tells the story of a destructive sort of love; the kind that has you “crawlin’ in on all fours”. “Every time I was in Liverpool, I could smell him; I’d know when he was there,” Luvcat recalls of the man in question. “It was tumultuous but inspiring. I saw him in the Kazimier Garden and, as he was leaving, he had this Spanish bolero-like jacket on and I wrote the word ‘Matador’ in my phone. I wrote the song the next day.”Indeed, it’s these kinds of trysts and temptations that feed Luvcat’s dark vaudevillian world as a whole. “I love the kind of hopeless love where you’d take a bullet for someone,” she says. “The heartbeat of this whole thing is sex, love and strangeness; falling in and out of love and the mad things that happen along the way.” Suffice to say, many mad things have already thrown themselves into Luvcat’s orbit in the pursuit of pleasure. Once, she was whisked off to the Pigalle for an impromptu weekend of fine food and four poster beds by a visiting sailor - the twist? “I’d recently written a song about a date with a stranger ending up there in Paris. Within three weeks it happened.” A current live set favourite, ‘Love and Money’, winks at a conversation between the singer and an ex-lover, where they joked about making a sex tape to fund their adventures. Even her first foray onto TikTok (a platform that’s now embraced Luvcat wholly, to the point that second single ‘He’s My Man’ was all-but-demanded by her followers) was only as a means to post some found CCTV footage of Luvcat reuniting with a former flame, dancing - red wine in hand - to Sinatra’s ‘That’s Life’.The fans, however, made a smart call. ‘He’s My Man’ - a scorched murder ballad that sounds like little else in the modern music sphere - distils Luvcat’s sense of timeless, eternal desire into four minutes of yearning strings and feminine need; of how, so easily, “love can become obsession”. “Obviously I’m a strong independent woman - of course!” she laughs. “But that undying love, the kind from the old black and white films - I kind of miss that.The comments section might cry out for these songs to soundtrack the moves of dangerous women like Killing Eve’s Villanelle or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but just as crucial is Luvcat’s softer, sweeter underbelly - plus a capacity for a cheeky, knowing wink. Take forthcoming track (and another online favourite), ‘Dinner @ Brasserie Zedel’. “I always said I’d marry the first man who takes me to Brasserie Zedel. I don’t want the world, I just want a 16 quid prawn cocktail,” she smiles. Stopping off to play an intimate set in the legendary Piccadilly restaurant’s underground jazz bar at the end of September, Zedel marked the latest in a run of typically eventful - and typically packed-to-the-seams - early shows for Luvcat. Their debut Liverpool and London headlines sold out in around four minutes. At the former, Luvcat was greeted by not one but three exes facing her from the crowd; at the latter, gazing out from under a pillbox hat, she saw another former lover trying to break in up the stairs.With a debut tour set for November, she might need to hire a security detail to keep a check on desperate former flames weeping at the error of their ways. But really, every brief spark, every fleeting romance, every one that got away is all part of the story; all part of the noxious, heady world that Luvcat is concocting. The way she walks, the way she talks, the way she stalks, the way she kisses… get it? Luvcat is Courtney Love with a Liza Minelli wink. She’s, in her own joking words, “Tom Waits in silk panties”. She’ll break your heart but throw hers on the line too. “Someone said to me, ‘All men are dogs’,” she chuckles. “But you’ve got to be careful of the cat…”

Maruja is an evocative force that transports listeners to a world of diversity and gritty realism. Improvisation provides the backbone of Maruja’s compositions, compelling instrumentation and culturally relevant lyrics speak in tongues; creating a myriad of whispered secrets.For the better part of a decade, they have relentlessly honed their craft, pouring over every note with a precision that borders on the obsessive. It is not just a passion that drives them but rather an all-consuming need, a force that compels them to create and perform with a visceral intensity that is both electrifying and terrifying.Knocknarea is the debut project from the 4 piece and is the highest rated EP of 2023 on Rate Your Music and Album of The Year. Anthony Fantano reviewed the project, stating “the performances are tight, the spoken word passages are edge of your seat, the guitars and saxophones are really dynamic and fantastic...” He goes on to say, “...this EP, there’s so much potential, there’s so much good material... I have no doubt with something of this quality right out the gate, we’re gonna have an even better album down the pipe. Definitely check this EP out because this thing is fire!"

Hailing from Toronto, the dynamic indie rock quintet, Good Kid, who thrives as a vibrant community fueled by the boundless enthusiasm of its listeners. Their eclectic blend of J-rock, indie-rock and pop-punk resonates with high-energy riffs, catchy melodies and clever lyricism. A jack-of-all-trades ensemble - musicians, programmers and storytellers, Good Kid has carved a unique path for their audience to follow suit. Good Kid's fanbase is not just passive listeners; they are a passionate community, actively contributing to the band's universe. Through platforms like Discord and Twitch, as well as their strong social media presence, fans create art, animation, videos and covers, reflecting their profound connection to the music.The band's journey is marked by streaming successes with the release of "From the Start" on November 10th, 2023, hitting 1 million streams in just 24 hours, accumulating several million streams and counting. Their audience has continued to propel their streaming virality with an impressive 10 times the average per listener streaming consumption. Their reach extends to leading YouTube and Twitch accounts in the gaming space, aligning them with top content creators and gamers. Collaborations with notable personalities such as XrayAlphaCharlie, Julien Solomita, and Trash Taste underscore Good Kid's versatility and widespread appeal. Their music caught the attention of none other than MrBeast, the biggest Youtuber in the world, who featured seven Good Kid songs in a recent video, amassing over 227 million views.Beyond the digital realm, Good Kid’s live shows have become an integral piece of the band’s mission to connect with their enthusiastic fans. Their energetic performances have not only led to two-sold out headline US tours in 2022, but have included supporting Lovejoy on sold-out UK and EU tours, as well as a nationwide run on Grammy Award winning Portugal the Man’s Canada tour. In essence, Good Kid's story is not just about music; it's about building a dynamic, engaging universe where fans play an integral role. With an unwavering commitment to joy, creativity, and inclusivity, Good Kid is more than a band — it's a thriving community of music enthusiasts shaping a unique and memorable experience together.