This is a bio about Royel Otis. Royel Otis is a band. There are two members: Royel and Otis. Royel is the one with the hair covering his face. Otis is the one with the voice. Together, they make deceptively simple, emotionally complex anthems perfect for drinking beer in the sun, dancing with your friends, and finally working up the courage to kiss your crush on the mouth.
Hailing from Bondi Beach, Australia, Royel Maddell and Otis Pavlovic met while working in bars and cafés around the area. They first entered the studio as relative strangers but quickly discovered a shared knack for crafting glowing, addictive melodies with dynamite hooks. Their music evokes the thrill of firsts—the first gig, first kiss, first hickey—and resonates with an irrepressible sense of cool.
The pair first caught attention with their viral covers of The Cranberries’ “Linger” and Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s “Murder on the Dancefloor,” the latter of which became a cultural phenomenon, climbing to #2 on Alternative Radio in the U.S and earning the band #2 spot on Triple J Hottest 100 2024. Their original tracks, like the balmy “Oysters in My Pocket”, the punchy “Sofa King,” and the yearning anthem “who’s your boyfriend” combine jangly guitars with laser-focused hooks, helping them to climb up to a billion combined Spotify streams while achieving viral successes on TikTok, regular radio play, and landing coveted syncs with major brands and series. Their acclaim comes as no surprise. Whether it’s the soaring choruses that hum in your head for weeks or the tangible warmth of their melodies, listening to Royel Otis feels like falling in love with music for the first time.
Last year was a breakout year for the band. They made their U.S. late-night television debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and embarked on an ambitious tour that saw them sell out over 100 shows across the States and internationally. Their live performances have an almost magnetic quality, transforming crowds into a unified, euphoric consciousness. Onstage, their camaraderie shines as they lean on each other’s shoulders and share knowing glances, locked into a shared language of friendship. “I used to get so nervous before shows that I threw up,” says Royel. “But now it’s become second nature.” Now focused on giving their audience a feeling of “pure ecstasy,” they've both let go of their pre-show fright. “We just want to make people dance together,” says Otis. “Everyone’s invited.”
They channeled everything they’d learned from firing up audiences into their new album, hickey. True to its name, this latest project is, in Royel’s words, “dirty, naughty, raunchy and romantic all at the same time.” It is also a clear step forward for the band—cleaner, more confident, and constantly dazzling. Tracks like “moody,” a slacker rock anthem that’s Melbourne’s answer to Arctic Monkeys’ “Mardy Bum,” and the motorik rhythms of “say something” showcase a refined yet propulsive sound. It’s far less oblique than their “oysters in their pockets” past, with the lyrics more direct, literal, and meant to be understood by everyone. Working with an esteemed team, including their longtime collaborator Chris Collins, as well as Amy Allen, Omar Fedi, Blake Slatkin, Julian Bunetta, and Lydia Kitto and Josh Lloyd-Watson of Jungle, they honed their songwriting and storytelling skills, ensuring everything was clear-cut and super sharp.
It’s already paying off. Lead single “moody,” co-written with GRAMMY winner Amy Allen and produced by Slatkin, hit #1 on the Billboard Adult Alternative Airplay chart, holding the spot for over seven weeks and becoming the first new act in 2025 to earn a Triple A crown. “car” earned BBC Radio 1’s Hottest Record, and “say something” delivered a powerful late-night moment on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. The band also feature in BBC Radio 1’s Sound Poll longlist for 2026.
The album’s breakout moment, though, belongs to “who’s your boyfriend,” whose music video stars Lola Tung of The Summer I Turned Pretty. The song exploded across TikTok (over 6.4M views pre-release), surged at radio with 2,200+ spins in a single week, and landed major syncs on both TSITP and Netflix’s Nobody Wants This. It’s become one of the defining indie singles of late summer; a teasing, sunburned banger.
Royel Otis know implicitly that this is music to swim and sip to. ‘dancing with myself,’ one of the album’s floatier numbers, ends with the sound of a can opening. With glowering Beach Boys-like harmonies, puckered up guitar and dazed-for-days production, across the album, the boys conjure a very specific time and place: an early evening on the beach in late summer. Listening to it, you can almost smell the salty hair and sea-soaked swim trunks.
It’s not all breezy. There’s some vague hints of melancholy and heartbreak on songs like ‘i hate this tune’ and the summer’s standout ‘who’s your boyfriend’, capturing the whole picture of young adulthood in all its chaos. It’s this blend of shimmer and sting that’s made the album become a global breakout, charting #1 in Austria, Top 15 in the UK, Netherlands, and Germany, and earning ‘Best New Music’ nods from NPR, Stereogum, and Nylon.
hickey is a clear glow-up from their earlier, pub-soaked past, and has cemented Royel Otis as one of the most exciting indie bands this side of the decade. Their songs leave a mark. And like any good hickey, it’ll take a long time to fade.
