For many musicians today, the city of Sydney is a source of vivid inspiration. From its tourist-filled landmarks, to its temperamental train system, rising housing prices, acai bowl craze, and underground music subcultures, Sydney has always had the biggest stories to tell. In the wake of its evolving architectural development and cultural vibrancy are generations of musicians who use the very city they call home as a source of creative expression.

In the last decade, the cafe-lined, trendy Surry Hills has served as a reminder of drunken belligerence for Pist Idiots. Sydney’s quiet waterfronts during the cold season juxtaposes the idyll Bondi-boasting Sydney that many travellers seek out on Alex The Astronaut’s What Sydney Looks Like In June. Sydney is multifaceted – there will never be enough music to fully describe the city in all of its greatness and obscurity.

If you’re looking for a glimpse into contemporary Sydney, or just wanted a keen reminder on why (or why not) to book that flight,  use these five songs about Sydney by Sydney artists to help make up your mind.

Jerome Blazé - Hyde Park (The Late Afternoon Light Runs Along Macquarie Street Near Hyde Park)

Taken off of the artist’s debut project Living Room (an 11-track dedication to the city in itself), Jerome Blazé’s Hyde Park (The Late Afternoon Light Runs Along Macquarie Street Near Hyde Park) plays out like Autumn in the city. Gentle string arrangements, key melodies, and snippets of birds chirping soundtrack an afternoon spent soaking up golden hour at Hyde Park (if you know, you know). 

Allow me to set the scene: the wind picks up slowly as the day inches further and further into nightfall, but a final glimmer of sun still touches that one patch of grass at Hyde Park long enough to provide you with warmth for the journey home. While that experience can be likened to any experience sitting in a park during the sun’s peak, Blazé’s delicate instrumental arrangements help visualise a moment of wholeness and stillness, as you run your fingers through the grass of Hyde Park’s semi-soggy lawn. Coined the oldest park in Australia, and one of the most well-known parks in the country, Jerome Blazé pens his love letter to Sydney, its natural reserves and the memories these places hold on Hyde Park (The Late Afternoon Light Runs Along Macquarie Street Near Hyde Park).

Slim Set, Shady Nasty - Warrang

Slim Set – made up of MC Kal and DJ Atro – speak on Sydney’s rapid overdevelopment, catch ups with mates in Chinatown, and the city’s indigenous name on their 2019 track Warrang. 

Teaming up with DIY experimental post-punk trio Shady Nasty, Warrang is very much ahead of its time. Blended in between elements of UK bass, rap and industrial, experimental electronica, Slim Set make candid and cheeky nods to Australiana, and Sydney, as we know it. From criticisms of overdevelopment in the city in the lines “bulldozers humming, bitumen drumming, the sun cries for Warrang, now fibro covered”, to Shady Nasty frontman Kevin taking to the hook to describe Sydney’s multiculturalism in the lines “every nationality under the sun, copping a piece of the red one”, to name dropping Nike TNs, chicken kievs and the ibis bird, Warrang is an earnest depiction of contemporary Sydney through and through. 

MC Kal told Liminal Mag in 2019 that “it's easy to lose sight of the small things under the boom of new apartments and scaffolding”. As such, Warrang amplifies the voices of migrant, blue collar workers and Dri Fit-clad Sydney youth, penning both observations and appreciation for the city of Sydney.

SOLLYY - WOODCROFT MACCAS FREESTYLE 1

Sollyy’s WOODCROFT MACCAS FREESTYLE 1 is full of hefty punchlines and storybuilding that centres on every Sydney archetype you will find on a walk through Pitt St Mall. From Range Rover-driving Bondi mums to Incu and Sanrio girls, Cliff Dive patrons and art kids in overpriced innerwest sharehouses  – Sollyy doesn’t shy away from provocatively calling out the characters that keep the city interesting, and evidently, alive.

Sollyy shouts out Sanctuary Hotel, Glebe Markets, the undoubted embarrassment you experience when you’re on a date and can’t find a single parking spot in the city, Cronulla riots and casual racism in the Shire on WOODCROFT MACCAS FREESTYLE, packing a punch where only real Sydneysiders will recognise the blow. Pieced together by rowdy production courtesy of Petespace, WOODCROFT MACCAS FREESTYLE details a love-hate relationship with Sydney and the people within it.

The Great West - St Marys

The band’s name alone pays homage to the Greater Western Sydney area in which they reside, and riddled within their indie-pop sound are sentiments that hark back to the innocence and youthful exuberance of growing up in the suburb of St Marys. The Great West assesses the life and dreams that exist outside of their humble origins in their hometown on St Marys, and with it, cultivate a feeling of nostalgia and longing. Taking the listener outside of the hum and scurry of the CBD, St Marys is a quaint, buoyant track that fuels a need to go back to your roots and reset. With empowering vocals, driving drum patterns, scattered keys and a leading guitar melody, the Filipino-Australian band tells a story that many outercity kids can relate to.

Yibby, Chub.e - Syd City

In a writeup for The Music, Yibby and Chub.e’s 2022 The Chubby Tape was described as the distinct sound of their hometown of Sydney, and for good reason. On the opening track Syd City, Yibby’s soulful cadence speaks from the head and the heart, making nods to the city that birthed him while simultaneously flexing his Goretex fit (a predominant fashion style in Sydney). He goes on by stating how he’s on his path to greatness while others are on Busways, Sydney’s main bus service. The slick innuendoes and references Yibby makes are told through the guise of someone who undoubtedly looks at the allure of Sydney for keen inspiration.

“Everything is style to me at the end of the day. We really have our own shit, our own style out here,” Yibby said in a Milky Interview. Chub.e went on to explain the song is “Sydney through our boys eyes…I tried to capture that through the sound - tell our own narrative, you know”. Packaged together by distinct samples and lo-fi elements, Syd City pays homage to a place jampacked with personality that you can’t find anywhere else.