Sasha McLeod (born 26 August 2001), known professionally as Sycco (), is an Australian singer-songwriter and producer from

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

. She was nominated for

Triple J Unearthed Triple J Unearthed is an Australian digital radio station and online music discovery platform. It is a sister station of Triple J, owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Unearthed began in 1995 as a regional talent competition open to ...

Artist of the Year in 2020, having released the pop singles "Nicotine" and "

Dribble In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score. As ...

" in the same year.

Early life

McLeod grew up in

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. McLeod is

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

, having reconnected with her Indigenous identity through her

Torres Strait Islander Torres Strait Islanders ( ) are the Indigenous Melanesians, Melanesian people of the Torres Strait Islands, which are part of the state of Queensland, Australia. Ethnically distinct from the Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal peoples of the res ...

descent in her teens.

Career

McLeod's father taught her to play the guitar at seven years old. She began making music from an early age, having created an album at the age of 15, and adopted the artist name Sycco as a reference to

psychedelia Psychedelia usually refers to a Aesthetics, style or aesthetic that is resembled in the psychedelic subculture of the 1960s and the psychedelic experience produced by certain psychoactive substances. This includes psychedelic art, psychedelic ...

. Sycco's debut single "Starboard Square" was released in August 2018, as part of her first album "Sycco 1/2". She also released "Tamed Grief" and "Peacemaker" in 2019. In 2020, Sycco released the singles "Nicotine" and "

", leading her to be nominated for

Artist of the Year at the

J Awards of 2020 The J Awards of 2020 were the sixteenth annual J Awards, established by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's youth-focused radio station Triple J. The eligibility period for releases took place between November 2019 and October 2020. Th ...

. Sycco has performed at

St Jerome's Laneway Festival The St. Jerome's Laneway Festival, commonly referred to as Laneway, began in Caledonian Lane, Melbourne, Australia, on Sunday, February 27, 2005. Beginning as predominantly an indie music event, the festival grew in popularity and expanded to ...

, and

Darwin Festival The Darwin Festival, founded as the Bougainvillea Festival in 1979 and named Festival of Darwin from 1996 to 2002, is an annual arts festival in Darwin, Northern Territory. It celebrates the multicultural aspects of the Northern Territory lifes ...

and supported

Vera Blue Celia Pavey, known professionally as Vera Blue, is an Australian singer-songwriter signed with Island Records Australia, which is part of Universal Music Australia. Her folk-inspired album '' This Music'' peaked at number 14 on the Australian ...

Spacey Jane Spacey Jane are an Australian indie rock band formed in Fremantle , Fremantle, Western Australia in 2016. The group consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Caleb Harper, lead guitarist Ashton Hardman-Le Cornu, drummer Kieran Lama and bassist P ...

and

Glass Animals Glass Animals are a British indie rock band formed in Oxford, England in 2010. The band's line-up consists of Dave Bayley (vocals, guitar, keyboards, drums, songwriting), Drew MacFarlane (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals), Edmund Irwin-Singe ...

on tour. She also covered

Tame Impala Tame Impala is the psychedelic music project of Australian singer and multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker (musician), Kevin Parker. In the recording studio, Parker writes, records, performs, and produces all of the project's music. As a touring a ...

and

Pnau Pnau, stylised as PNAU, is an Australian Electronic dance music, dance music trio originating from Sydney, Australia, Sydney. The trio, a duo before 2016, consists of the musicians Nick Littlemore (vocals, production), Peter Mayes (guitar, produ ...

for ''

Like a Version ''Like a Version'' is a long-running weekly segment on Australian youth radio station Triple J. It involves musicians playing two songs live in the Triple J studio, one of their own songs and then a cover version. The series was created by pres ...

''. In March 2022, Sycco released "Superstar". Of the song, McLeod said “I’m really proud of this song... the lyrics are satirical obviously – I used to work at a grocery store and it was fun to imagine a glowed-up future me having a tantrum in there." In September 2022, Sycco released "Ripple". In a press release, McLeod said the track was "really fun" to make and "came together super quickly". McLeod said

Flume A flume is a human-made channel for water, in the form of an open declined gravity chute whose walls are raised above the surrounding terrain, in contrast to a trench or ditch. Flumes are not to be confused with aqueducts, which are built to t ...

and Chrome Sparks "did such a great job on the prod ction, developing what she describes as "a beautiful environment of synths and drums that evoke such a nice feeling of ease but also discomfort at points". In July 2024, Sycco announced the forthcoming release of their debut album, ''Zorb''.

Discography

Albums

Extended plays

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Promotional singles

Awards and nominations

AIR Awards

The Australian Independent Record Awards (known colloquially as the

AIR Awards The Australian Independent Record Awards (commonly known as AIR Awards) is an annual awards night to recognise, promote and celebrate the success of Australia's Independent Music sector. History The inaugural 2006 awards were held at Blacket Hot ...

) is an annual awards night to recognise, promote and celebrate the success of Australia's Independent Music sector. ! , - ,

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, Herself , Breakthrough Independent Artist of the Year , , , - ,

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, "Weakness" (with

Alice Ivy Annika Schmarsel (born 8 July 1993), known by her stage name Alice Ivy, is an Australian electronic musician and producer. Alice Ivy was the winner of the 2016 Triple J Unearthed Listen Out competition. She has released three studio albums: '' I ...

) , Best Independent Dance, Electronica or Club Single , , , - , rowspan="2",

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

, "Meant to Be" , Independent Song of the Year , , rowspan="2", , - ,

Future Classic Future Classic is an Australian independent record label, artist management team, touring agency, and music publisher. Background Future Classic was founded in 2004 by Nathan McLay. McLay was appointed to the board of Music Australia, which ...

and The Annex ''Zorb'' , Independent Marketing Team of the Year ,

APRA Awards

The APRA Awards are held in Australia and New Zealand by the

Australasian Performing Right Association APRA AMCOS consists of Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS), both copyright management organisations or copyright collectives which jointly represent over 100,000 songwri ...

to recognise songwriting skills, sales and airplay performance by its members annually. ! , - ,

, herself , Breakthrough Songwriter of the Year , , , - ,

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, "Superstar" , Most Performed Alternative Work of the Year , , , -

ARIA Music Awards

The

ARIA Music Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...

is an annual award ceremony event celebrating the

Australian music industry The Australian music industry refers to the collection of individuals, organisations, businesses and activities that are involved in the creation, production, distribution and promotion of music in Australia. The music industry encompasses a wide r ...

. ! , - ,

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, ''Zorb'' , Michael Gudinski Breakthrough Artist , , , -

J Awards

The

J Awards The J Awards are an annual series of Australian music awards, established by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's youth-focused radio station Triple J, and which also extend to sister stations, Triple J Unearthed and Double J. The awar ...

are an annual series of Australian music awards that were established by the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...

's youth-focused radio station

Triple J Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...

. They commenced in 2005. ! , - ! scope="row" rowspan="1",

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

, Herself , Unearthed Artist of the Year , , , - ! scope="row" rowspan="1",

, ''Zorb'' , Australian Album of the Year , , , -

National Indigenous Music Awards

The

National Indigenous Music Awards The National Indigenous Music Awards (NIMA), also known as the NT Indigenous Music Awards from 2004 to 2008, are music awards presented to recognise excellence, innovation and leadership among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander musicians in ...

recognise excellence, innovation and leadership among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander musicians from throughout Australia. They commenced in 2004. ! , - ! scope="row" rowspan="3",

, Herself , Artist of the Year , , rowspan="3", , - , "Dribble" , Song of the Year , , - , "My Ways" , Film Clip of the Year ,

Queensland Music Awards

The

Queensland Music Awards The Queensland Music Awards (commonly known as QMA and known as the Q Song Awards from 2006 to 2010) are annual awards celebrating Queensland's emerging artists. They commenced in 2006. Each year, the QMA Song of the Year is immortalised in ...

(previously known as Q Song Awards) are annual awards celebrating

Queensland, Australia Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, ...

's brightest emerging artists and established legends. They commenced in 2006. (wins only) ! , - ! scope="row" rowspan="2",

, rowspan="2" , "

" , Song of the Year , , rowspan="2", , - , Pop Song of the Year , , - ! scope="row" rowspan="2", 2022 , rowspan="2" , "My Ways" , Song of the Year , , rowspan="2", , - , Pop Song of the Year , , - ! scope="row" rowspan="1", 2023 , "Ripple" , Electronic / Dance Award , , , - ! scope="row" rowspan="1", 2025 , "Meant to Be" , Pop Award , ,

References

External links

* {{Official, syccoworld.com 2001 births 21st-century Australian singers 21st-century Australian women singers Australian women pop singers Future Classic artists Living people Musicians from Brisbane