The NIVA Live List: Where Are They Now?

The National Independent Venue Association began publishing its annual Live List in 2023, a poll of independent venues and promoters, curated by NIVA’s membership to select the most exciting up-and-coming live performers on independent stages across America. With the NIVA’s 2026 Live List on the way soon, here’s a look back at a few of the artists who made the list in previous years, and how their careers have taken off since then. 

Doechii

Jayla “Doechii” Hickmon was already arguably the fastest rising rapper in the music industry when she appeared on NIVA’s 2025 Live List after signing to Top Dawg Entertainment and releasing her breakthrough Alligator Bites Never Heal mixtape. Since then, though, Doechii’s ascent has only accelerated with the official release of one of her early independent tracks, “Anxiety,” which became the Florida-born MC’s first top ten hit on the Hot 100. After winning a Grammy for Best Rap Album in February 2025, “Anxiety” received six more Grammy nominations, including Song of the Year and Record of the Year. Highly in demand for guest verses, the self-proclaimed “swamp princess” appeared on tracks by The Weeknd, A$AP Rocky, Westside Gunn, Jennie, Banks, and Alameda. She wound down 2025 by headlining halls and theaters for the first time on her Live from the Swamp Tour, and opened stadium dates for Kendrick Lamar and SZA in Australia. Reteaming with her TDE labelmate SZA, Doechii recently released “Girl, Get Up,” the first single from her highly anticipated 2026 debut album. 

Dijon

Dijon Duenas’s unique, forward-thinking take on modern R&B, first with the duo Abhi//Dijon and then as a mononymous solo artist on the 2021 album Absolutely, landed him on NIVA’s 2023 Live List. But even Dijon’s diehard fans couldn’t have predicted the way he would take the mainstream by storm in 2025. His sophomore album Baby was widely declared one of the year’s best albums, landing at or near the top of lists from the New York Times, Vulture, the New Yorker, Pitchfork, and Rolling Stone. His fall tour included theaters, halls, and a quick detour to appear as a musical guest on Saturday Night Live in December. He was nominated for the Grammy for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical for his work on hits including Justin Bieber’s ubiquitous “Daisies.” And as if he hadn’t made enough of an impact on the music world, Duenas also made his acting debut in one of the biggest films of the year, One Battle After Another. 

The Beaches

The Beaches had just broken through in America with the TikTok-boosted success of their single “Blame Brett” when the Toronto quartet appeared on NIVA’s 2025 Live List. Since then, they’ve released their third album No Hard Feelings and notched another alternative radio hit, “Can I Call You in the Morning?” on the strength of frontwoman Jordan Miller’s clever, relatable lyrics and the band’s sleek alt-rock hooks. In 2025, The Beaches toured America, Canada, and Europe, making their debut appearances at major festivals like Coachella and Governors Ball, and won Group of the Year at the Juno Awards. They covered “Ultimate,” the song that Lindsay Lohan sang in 2003’s Freaky Friday, for the blockbuster sequel Freakier Friday, and then kicked off 2026 with another cover of the iconic ‘80s hit “I Ran (So Far Away)” by Flock of Seagulls. 

MJ Lenderman

Since appearing on NIVA’s 2023 Live List on the strength of his 2022 word-of-mouth hit Boat Songs, 26-year-old MJ Lenderman signed to Anti-, and has become one of busiest people in indie rock. In addition to his 2024 solo album Manning Fireworks, which spawned the Triple A radio “She’s Leaving You” and “Wristwatch” and gathered rave reviews, the Asheville, North Carolina native released two albums with his longtime band Wednesday, as well as the debut by Snocaps, a supergroup with Katie and Allison Crutchfield.  By the end of 2025, Lenderman had been featured in GQ’s Men of the Year issue, performed with Waxahatchee on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, guested on the latest album from soul legend Mavis Staples, and jammed onstage with one of Asheville’s other hometown heroes, Gov’t Mule’s Warren Haynes. 

Raye

London-born singer-songwriter Rachel Agatha Keen, better known as Raye, appeared on the NIVA Live List in 2024 after the surprise success of her independent album My 21 st Century Blues. Since then, the album won British Album of the Year at the Brit Awards, and Raye has stayed in the spotlight collaborating with Mark Ronson, Lisa, Doja Cat, Central Cee, and Lucky Daye, and appearing on the soundtrack to the Netflix series Black Rabbit. Her latest solo hit “Where is My Husband!” has set expectations sky high for Raye’s sophomore album, and she’ll be opening for Bruno Mars on one of 2026’s biggest tours. 

Gianmarco Soresi

NIVA’s Live List isn’t limited to just musical performers, and Gianmarco Soresi is one of the most notable standup comics to make the list in 2024 after appearing on Comedy Central, Netflix, and The Late Late Show with James Corden. In 2025, the New York-based comedian performed 119 sold-out shows in 2025, including several Edinburgh Fringe performances. Thanks to countless viral posts on social media, his 2025 comedy special Thief of Joy, and an appearance on CNN’s Have I Got News For You, the 37-year-old Soresi regularly appears on lists of new comics to watch with a perspective that’s at turns both playfully absurd, and unafraid to grapple with America’s fraught political landscape.