The Debut 2026

Hear it here first.

The Debut is an annual showcase for emerging artists: four of them, on a professional stage, with the production to match. Hip hop leads the night, and R&B and what surrounds it are on the bill too.

Why come

Every artist on this bill is a graduate in a music-related field. Every one of them writes their own material, and every one of them has collaborated with other artists to make it. This is not an open mic. It is four trained writers given a real stage, proper sound and lighting, and a room that came to listen.

Some of what you'll hear has never been played to anyone. Several of the songs are exclusive first releases — performed live at The Debut before they exist anywhere else.

And every artist plays twice: one set in the first half, a second after the DJ's half-time show. Twenty minutes tells you whether someone can perform. Forty, across a night, tells you who they are.

You are hearing these four before most people have.

Who's playing

RYO and Scartown Koom return for a second year.

Peel Baby JSav and Seth take The Debut stage for the first time.

The night

Doors at 7:30, with the DJ playing you in. First set at 8:00. Eight sets and a half-time show later, it's done by 11:00.

Year two

The first Debut set out to bring 100 people into this room and 120 came. Same room this year, and the aim is all 250 of it.

Tickets: $20.

Saturday 17 October 2026 · The Rec Room, Square One, Mississauga