Sydney’s own Chelsea Wheatley, better known as Chela, is made for alt-pop stardom. First swaggering onto the international stage with early earworms “Romanticise” and “Zero” on tastemaking French label Kitsuné, the multi-hyphenate artist and musician immediately owned her catchy electro-pop sound. 

After taking some time off from her solo project to pursue her own clothing line and styling career, Chela returned in 2023 with the spiky, tongue-in-cheek “Cool 2B Queer”, timed perfectly for Australia’s Pride Season. Soon after, she levelled up again with “Hard 4 You”, an instantly irresistible queer love anthem pairing sharp songwriting with 80s-drenched synth strut. Next up: a full-length album that cements the Chela aura. 

As well as performing at Coachella and SXSW, the Filipino-Australian artist has toured with the likes of Peaches, LE1F, Cub Sport, The Presets and Channel Tres.   

When Chela hits the Sydney Festival stage, expect charisma to burn and some seriously enviable dance moves. 

"Spangly 80s-indebted guitars channelling profound, intense euphoria."

– The Guardian

"One of the country’s hottest young musical talents."

– Herald Sun