Michael Chugg’s City Pop Records signs Mason Watts

City Pop Records is expanding its roster with the signing of Mason Watts, a 20-year-old singer and songwriter from sunny Queensland.

The new deal is a dream come true for Watts. “Signing a deal has always been a dream of mine and to have such a passionate and talented team like City Pop behind my music is super exciting,” he says in a statement announcing his signing.

The promising Toowoomba lad joins TikTok star Mia Rodriguez at the new record label, which sits in Chugg Music and is operated by Michael Chugg and Andrew Stone. The teenage Sydney artist released ‘Emotion’ last December, and more recently dropped ‘Psycho.’

“Mason is the most exciting young singer / songwriter coming up in Australia at the moment,” says Stone, Head of Chugg Music. “We were instantly hooked hearing the songs he had been working on in his bedroom and the local scene in Queensland and feel it’s just a matter of time before Mason is a household name.”

Watch Mason Watts’ acoustic video of ‘Recovery’:

Mason’s self-released debut single ‘Recovery’ arrived last year and has more than 350,000 hits on Spotify.

The track was a collaboration with U.K.-based producer, writer and mixer Edd Holloway, who is signed to BMG Publishing/Gravity Management and has worked with the likes of Lewis Capaldi, James Bay, Tom Walker, Tom Grennan, Gabrielle Aplin, Wrabel, Lauren Aquilina, Rhodes and Nick Wilson.

“We’ve always believed that pop music isn’t just for the major record companies,” said Chugg ahead of the 2019 launch of City Pop Records. “We hope to sign a few more great young people and help them have global careers from the outset, as well as fly the flag for the independent sector in this space.”

The young artist is said to be working on his first cut for City Pop Records, to be distributed by independent digital specialist Believe.

Watch Mason Watts’ ‘Recovery’ lyric video:

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.