There’s an unignorable, dark trend within the music industry that’s quickly developed alongside the rampant growth of capitalism more broadly: an inability to create without the pressures of competition. Whether it be the constant impact of awards shows, the increasing significance of streaming and social media numbers, or the auditions to become Smashing Pumpkins’ new guitarist, it seems as if artists are being pitted against each other at every turn, fostering a deeply unhealthy sense of winning or losing at a practice likely initially pursued for the sake of chasing creative fulfillment.
Yet there’s another, more recent trend that’s only added to the crabs-in-a-bucketism of the industry: artists keep naming themselves things that are comically similar to what other artists are already called. I posted 54 theses on this phenomenon last year, yet 2024 only felt more confusing as two of the artists I listed in that piece shared a release date; the Babeheaven/Babehoven situation has only worsened with the introduction of Babe Haven; Dessa, Sessa, and Messa now have to contest with Pressa. If anything, these similarities have even extended beyond the realm of artist monikers this year: Levitation festival now has a reggae doppelgänger in Levitate; multiple artists riffed on those Now That’s What I Call… comps for their album cycle; there were two songs called “Baby Bangs” released the same day, while two albums largely about genocide that shared a street date both opened with singles about being dog. Perhaps in brighter news, there’s apparently a trademarked sequel to disgraced NSBM villain Varg making a bid to reclaim the name.
With all that being said, I’m pretty sure I started compiling this sequel list a day or two after publishing the initial one last December—and I’m fairly certain a part-three will be underway not too long from now. For now, find 54 unreasonably similar sets of artist names below.
Annie Blackman / Angry Blackmen
Rare case where both artists are equally justified in choosing the moniker. Plus, I don’t think I’ll ever mistake Annie Blackman for being angry, nor will I ever mistake Brian and Quentin for being Annie.
AVOID / AVOWD
Probably a much bigger issue for folks who struggle to differentiate metalcore from dissonant black metal, though as someone who largely avoids the former and is an avowed fan of the latter I appreciate the mnemonic device.
Bairi / Barrie / Beharie
Somehow missed the Barrie/Beharie dichotomy last year, but thankfully Bairi is now here to clear things up.
bby / bbymutha
No relation, as far as I know
Beans / Beans
I believe the Beanses released their albums two days apart, yet thankfully also nearly two months before the new Beams album.
Big Ups / The Bad Ups
Big Ups died in 2019 (though they re-banded this year to celebrate an album anniversary), while Bad Ups were born in 2018—not quite a “welcome back Big Ups” situation.
Bongripper / Boneripper
Two physical acts of vastly different intensity, though both sound metal as hell.
Buck Meek / Neek Bucks
Are the individual members of Big Thief famous enough already that we’re starting to get those early-’10s punning-on-celebrity-name monikers inspired by them, like Com Truise?
Christian Lee Hutson / Christa Lee
No word from American Idol’s Caleb Lee Hutchinson this year out of respect for the other CLH’s latest album release cycle, though that didn’t stop the truncated Christa Lee from entering the chat.
Clairo / Cairo
Nothing but a slim line break separating the new-to-the-scene jazz-inspired R&B artist from hyperlinked-parent-on-Wiki accusations.
crushed / cruush
“Crush” seems like a natural word to gravitate toward when naming your dream-pop band, given the dual implications of romantic interest and smothering reverb. I assume it’s why we’ve had so many bands called things like Slow Crush, Majesty Crush, and Honeycrush over the years.
Deary / Diary
…whereas shoegaze bands are now inspired by/riffing on the name of their favorite Sunny Day Real Estate record.
DIIV / DV-i
Given that DV-i’s music sounds like a cracked version of something pre-existing, for all I know it could be Oshin.
Ellis / ELLES
I’d buy that “ELLES” is Ellis’ all-female touring band.
EMEL / Emei
Watch the caps lock.
Far / FARR
Almost certainly inspired by the Hum/Humm dialectic we pointed out last year—maybe it’s a sign of a Far reunion.
Florry / Florrie
Gotta be a headache for anyone whose two favorite corners of music are slacker-rock informed alt-country and British nu-disco.
Goon / G.O.O.N.
G.O.O.N. feels to me like what Goon would call themselves if they were playing an all-hardcore set for some Gen-Z Halloween show.
HAAi / HAAL
Watch the caps lock.
Hana Vu / Fana Hues
Something about Fana’s conscious omission of the “gh” in “Hughes” puts this one over the line for me. I’m grateful she opted to keep the “es,” though.
HIDE / HYDE
I guess this one isn’t particularly timely, given that HIDE hasn’t released any new material since 2021 and HYDE evidently dates back to the early 2000s. Not to mention the fact that the Chicago-based former artist harkens back to the city’s ’80s industrial scene and the latter seems to be stuck in a much less maligned era of Linkin Park’s history.
Horsegirl / horsegiirL
That latter moniker feels like Horsegirl wearing those Groucho Marx glasses.
Ivy / Ivy 2
Imagine if Led Zeppelin 2 played club music.
James Blake / James Black
I need to stop getting James Blake and James Blunt mixed up before I can conceive of the existence of a James Black.
Jessica Pratt / Julia Pratt
Not sure which one would be more surprising to hear on the new A$AP Rocky album.
JOUJOU / JUJUJUJU
Again, both bands have been kicking for a decade or so, though the former French disco-punk outfit seems to have rematerialized for shows again in 2024 while the latter’s Desert Daze festival notably took a hiatus this year.
Kesha / Keshi
Seems like the latter first materialized around the time the former recorded a song for the Angry Birds 2 movie, presumably under the assumption that it would be a career killer.
Kneecap / NoCap
There’s no ’Cap like Kneecap.
KOYO / Koyo
My editorial rule is that your band name can only be all-caps if you can prove that they’re initials or if your release cycle overlaps with another artist who goes by the exact same name.
Lawn / Lawns
Both bands are at least peripherally post-punk, and, more importantly, both bands seem like they might be willing to play a set in your freshly mown backyard.
Logic / Logic1000
This feels like the pettiest form of artist-naming and also my favorite. Like, “Oh, your name is Logic? Well mine’s Logic One Thousand, and also my remix collection is dropping two days before your ambitious double-album.”
Lovelost / Timelost
Better to have timed and lost than to never have timed at all.
meth. / Sarah Meth / Meth Math
Maybe these aren’t particularly similar, though I feel like “meth” has always been out of bounds for band-naming. Kinda like how rappers have started breaking the aughts taboo of calling yourself something with “Osama” or “Taliban” in it.
No Joy / N*JOY
Not sure if the latter is pronounced “Enjoy” or “N’Joy.”
Noun / PRONOUN
Maybe we’ll get new Nouns material in 2025, too.
Pangaea / together Pangea
Could’ve sworn together Pangea initially added the “together” because “Pangea” was already taken. Should’ve just gone with the Greeker spelling of it—it’s cleaner.
Pedro the Lion / Pedro da Linha
“Pedro da Linha” is evidently Portuguese for “Pedro the Line,” which is still an available band name.
Perennial / Parannoul
Should I be reading “Parannoul” like “Perennial” but in a baby voice? “Pawannouow”?
Puma Blue / Uma Bloo
I think this one was a reader submission posted as a reply to last year’s list. Thank you, reader, but also, “Just when I thought I was out,” etc.
Purient / Prurient
Two very different forms of electronic music indicated by the distinction in these two monikers, though this is a rare hand-me-down case of one artist adopting the name just as the other is being outed as a serial collaborator of Nazis.
Ragana / Magana
Would love to hear bedroom-pop artist Jeni Magana sing the lyrics “Death to America and everything you’ve done.”
Romy / Rommii
Two rising house sensations, though I guess the difference here is that one of these artists’ PR’s is billing them as a “rising house sensation” and the other’s is just like…“You know, it’s Romy.”
Shyguy / Shybaby
Must be the Shygirl effect.
Sierra Spirit / Sienna Spiro
It’s a race to see who gets famous enough to adopt the nickname, uh, Sie Spi first.
Skullcrusher / Skullpresser
Two artists that could not possibly be any more different in decibel levels.
Slow Hollows / Stars Hollow
Consistently receiving pitch emails for both artists on the same day due to nearly aligning release dates was like saying hi to someone and then immediately saying hi to their twin. Or something.
Snarls / SNARL
Somehow “snarl” is the perfect term for a lightly twee indie-rock band by pluralizing it and a viscous hardcore-punk band by capitalizing it. Well, in this case the latter is a London producer, for whom “SNRL” seems like a more appropriate stylization, though apparently Parker Cannon from The Story So Far fronted an HxC group called this in the ’90s.
Snõõper / Snoozer
Surprisingly neither artist is signed to Sooper.
The Struts / The Snuts
Weirder still is that both post-Britpop bands have been around for at least a decade and this is the first I’m hearing of them.
TisaKorean / TiaCorine
His and hers Southern pop-trap rappers.
Torres / Torrey
Shouldn’t be hard to come up with a tour name for either artist.
Villagers/Villagerrr
Can only assume we have that Animal Crossing game that dropped at the onset of the pandemic to thank for this.
Washer / Basher
Given that the latter was named for band leader Byron Asher, I’d guess “Washer” comes from vocalist Mike Quigley’s nickname, the condensed surname ’Wigley.
Winona Fighter / Winona Forever / WyndRider
They’re all so close to explicitly being references to Winona Ryder, but none are quite there.
