Heaps Indie is your go-to destination for the indie tracks making waves in Australia right now, from festival faves to electronic earworms. If there’s one artist we feel sums up everything we loved this year within the ever-growing, ever-indefinable and boundary-expanding world that is indie music, it’s Clairo. The Atlanta-born singer-songwriter’s third album Charm is intimate, creative, innovative and completely, totally hers. “I just feel like I’m getting closer to being the person I want to be and making the records I want to make,” Clairo, aka Claire Cottrill, told Apple Music at the time of its release. Cottrill’s sound (much like indie as a whole) is constantly growing, always in flux. There are plenty of lo-fi, folksy and indie rock elements on Charm that draw from earlier releases, but they share the stage with new sounds and styles, like classic but refreshed soul, psychedelia and jazz. It might sound like a lot, but it works. It’s why Clairo stands out—not to mention her willingness to explore creative challenges (“It’s definitely very important to me to try something new every record”), new themes (“Exploring my sensuality through music…was important for me to do”), unexpected collaborations (“Meeting my producer for this record, Leon Michels, totally changed my life”)—and, maybe most importantly, having a really great time along the way (“I think I just really wanted to have fun and enjoy myself”).