SXSW 2022 Artists to Watch

7 min readMar 13, 2022

Artists from all over the world come together each year for South by Southwest music festival which has a reputation for putting deserving artists on the map. For those of you who can’t make it to to Texas this year for SXSW, we are bringing the festival’s sense of discovery to you at home with our top artists to watch list.

We have picked these standouts from the roughly 1,000 artists in the SXSW 2022 line-up. They encompass everything from rap to rock and offer a glimpse at the next wave of talent poised to takeover the game.

These artists are also featured in the Sator app where users can chat, rate, leave comments, and compete in trivia about these artists to earn valuable $SAO tokens!

Say hello to the artists we were most excited to see at SXSW this year.

MC Bravado

MC Bravado is an emcee/educator from Baltimore by way of New York. He’s received noteworthy press across mediums, including but not limited to Rolling Stone, HipHopDX, FOX, ABC, CBS, Yahoo!, SiriusXM Shade45, Billboard, Okayplayer, DJBooth, HotNewHipHop, The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Magazine, Earmilk, and REVOLT TV.

No stranger to performing on major stages (Warped Tour, A3C, SXSW), MC B is showing and proving his way to rarefied air. That being said, the former Baltimore city high school English teacher still keeps a leg in the classroom as an instructor for afterschool music programs such as Beats Not Bullets. He also empowers and educates other creatives and student artists as a publicist and speaker.

His latest album release “The Living Game” coincided with the launch of his record label venture (“Label Necklace”). The lead single for the project (“Like Kobe” ft. Joell Ortiz”) is out now!!

Beauty School Dropout

Beauty School Dropout (BSD) is a Los Angeles-based rock band, launched in 2020. The three-piece outfit began with vocalist, Cole Hutzler and Brent Burdett; formally of alt-rock band Strangefaces. The evolution of BSD began as Hutzler’s solo project, but following the dissolve of Strangefaces, he teamed back up with his former bandmate to collaborate in the creative process. Soon after, Hutzler met producer and guitarist, Bardo — the final missing link to what is now BSD. With executive production help from FEVER 333’s Jason Butler and Green Day / My Chemical Romance’s longtime producer Rob Cavallo BSD has coined the term “Renegade-pop”: a seamless mixture of pop, alt-rock, punk, and hip hop. The band’s vision is to reinvent what rock music means to future generations.

Moon Kissed

NYC’s Moon Kissed is a rare band that creates their own community as they rise in the musical ranks. With every show they usher in a new era of partying — one where anyone is free to be themselves, gender isn’t real, and the person you’re dancing next to could be your next makeout partner. With Emily Sgouros on synth, Leah Scarpati on drums, and Khaya Cohen on vocals, Moon Kissed creates an infectious aura that feels like a secret and an escape.

Moon Kissed writes about the complexity of our deepest desires. Their second album, I’d Like To Tell You Something Important, negotiates these themes. They released their 2019 debut album, I Met My Band At A New Years Party, as an unknown band playing small gigs in NYC venues. They had no team, no booking agents or PR and yet, in the two years since then, Moon Kissed has put together two tours and played over a hundred shows. They’ve produced ten music videos and fans have voted them Deli Mag’s Artists of the Month in 2019 and 2020. Moon Kissed has made a name for themselves by building a loyal fan base in the old-school way: no gimmicks, no social media gags. They have grown quickly because they’re just that good.

Ausar

Ausar is a rapper and singer from Chicago’s South Side, with a 35 inch vertical on the court. He fell in love with music at a young age, initially gaining inspiration from the gospel.

As a Sprite™ Way artist — with cosigns from Lupe Fiasco, 9th Wonder, Rakim, and a premiere on Netflix’s Rhythm + Flow — Ausar has performed and worked alongside Wyclef Jean, MFnMelo of Pivot Gang, NF BroLeeLove, Smino, and Fat Tony of VICE LIVE TV.

That said, Ausar’s just trying to change lives with his music — and, of course, dunk on your favorite rapper.

Diamante Perez

Diamante Perez is a 23 year old Latin artist from Ulysses, Kansas signed to Marca Única. He made his SXSW debut last year headlining the very first ever official Regional Mexican showcase in the festival’s history. His first release under the imprint has garnered over 1 million streams in a few short months. His most recent EP release En Mis Sentimientos is a preview to his upcoming self-titled album.

CatchTwentyTwo

A singer, song writer, and producer originally from South Florida, spent many years of his youth migrating state to state from Florida, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, where he lived most of his life and the spark of music started, and back again to Florida. CatchTwentyTwo breaks away from the accustomed routine of music of today’s times, and instead chooses to focus on what matters most: the expression of emotion in its authentic form. Often soft-spoken and invariably sullen in his vocal style, the artist delves into deeper themes of emotion in his craft. From the feeling of excitement, joy, and feeling sentimental to romantic, and sad. Each hook, and rhyme is deeply entrenched in conveying the most intimate moments of the human experience. CatchTwentyTwo started gaining interest in music after stumbling across Michael Jackson while young on YouTube. From that moment on, he then started taking choir classes throughout middle school and high school. There he would take what he could learn from the piano/keys used by instructors to use in his own production later on after diving deeper into the production side and Fl Studio. Now he is releasing music under Ultra Music.

Carley Bearden

As part of the LGBTQ+ community, young singer + songwriter Carley Bearden promotes acceptance and vulnerability through her live sound and honest lyrics. She is a truthful, meaningful artist that gives listeners a safe space to be themselves. With a “0-tolerance” toward negative energy, the music is relatable with catchy hooks that stay on your mind. Carley ‘s colorful presence welcomes people with open arms, so come as you are. This is just the beginning.

Kydd Jones

Kydd Jones is a singer-songwriter/producer born and raised in Austin, Texas who has performed at festivals like the Billboard Hot 100 Fest at Jones Beach in New York, the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival and NXNE in Toronto. After performing at SXSW 2019, he then guested on Grammy-winning guitarist Gary Clark Jr’s set during week 1 of Austin City Limits Music Festival and was announced as a Creative Ambassador for the City of Austin by Mayor Steve Adler. Jones is a two time winner of the Austin Hip-Hop “Producer Of The Year” Award in 2019 and 2020 as well as a two time nominee for “Best Hip-Hop Act” in the Austin Music Awards. In 2021, Kydd performed at Blues On The Green in downtown ATX’s Zilker Park while releasing a capsule collaboration with the Round Rock Express to honor legendary Austinite Willie Wells and the legacy of Austin’s first professional sports team, the Austin Black Senators.

The Teeta

The Teeta is an American Hip Hop Artist & Songwriter from “The Live Music Capital of the World”, Austin, TX. Known for his charisma, lyricism, smooth witty delivery, and crafty wordplay.