Chartbreaker: Temper City Scored a Hot 100 Hit With Its First Release, Relying on ‘Raw Energy’ Over AI
The alt-rock group’s “Self Aware” has also reached No. 8 on Hot Rock Songs.
Black News 
For most of the last decade, it’s been a rarity for new rock bands to cross over to the Billboard Hot 100. Yet, Temper City did just that — and not only as an unsigned band, but with its first-ever release.
“Self Aware,” a fraught-relationship anthem with echoes of 2010s alt-rock hitmakers Cage the Elephant and The Neighbourhood, almost immediately became a viral hit for Temper City following its release in early 2026. It spread like wildfire on TikTok and ultimately cracked the Hot 100 in April (and reaches a new No. 72 high on the June 13-dated chart). The song gained traction so quickly, with Temper City such a new act and so little information about the group widely available, it invariably led to the question: Who the hell are these guys, exactly?
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Temper City is an L.A.-based trio of Israeli writer-producers: Eytan Peled, Chen Kordova and Aviv Barenholtz. All three have extensive industry experience working with international artists across genres, ranging from Canadian-bred EDM mainstays Zeds Dead to English alt-rock radio hitmaker Barns Courtney — and occasionally recording for their own artist projects with Kordova and Barenholtz working together as a producer duo and Peled as a singer-songwriter.
“We met over the past five years creating music for other people,” Peled says, explaining that the three of them would spend about six months each year coming to L.A. for studio work. “We did a lot of stuff for video games, pop artists, dance [acts], TV shows … really all the behind-the-scenes, in-the-session grind kind of [stuff].”
As the trio spent more and more time working together, they realized they might have something more to offer in front of the decks and on the stage in their own right. A full-band lineup unfolded naturally for the writer-producers, with Peled singing, Kordova on guitar and Barenholtz drumming.
“Our chemistry and our connection through making music led to us deciding to start a band together,” says Peled. “We all love indie rock … So we said, ‘This time, when we’re coming to L.A., we’re going to focus only on our artist stuff.’ ”
As they gathered in late 2025, “Self Aware” came about very early — and largely by happenstance — for the newly formed trio. “The day that we made ‘Self Aware’ is the day that an artist didn’t show up to a session,” recalls Barenholtz. “I think it was the second [song we ever did together.]”
By the time Temper City started teasing “Self Aware” to its socials in January, it already had recorded most of its prospective debut album, with grand designs of how to roll all of it out. But the immediate response to the song snippet sped up the trio’s timeline considerably. “We filmed a bunch of content for all of the songs,” says Kordova. “We didn’t really expect [“Self Aware”] to be that big that quick.”
The band estimates it took around 80 meetings with different labels before ultimately signing with indie Thirty Knots in February. Three days after the ink dried, the official release of “Self Aware” arrived and quickly took over TikTok with its relatable, singalong lyrics and nostalgic alt-rock sound. In the months since, it has climbed to a No. 72 high in eight weeks on the Hot 100 and to No. 8 on Hot Rock Songs chart. The success also led to Temper City signing with Full Stop Management.
“We were very intentional in the early stages of marketing on TikTok to discover who was consuming the record and why they were consuming it,” says Peter Rugo, co-founder of Thirty Knots. Specifically, he says, the team sought out new seasons of popular TV shows, sports-adjacent moments in key markets and creators in specific regional areas. “We were able to target a wide variety of cultural trends [and] communities that were raising their hands and converting to consumption on DSPs. Reacting to what was working in real time on the platform allowed us to consistently refine and optimize our approach.”
With rock in general majorly on the upswing on the Hot 100 since early in the year, the timing of Temper City’s alt-rock sound harkening back 10 or 20 years proved even more fortuitous. Stars from the 2010s like The Neighbourhood and Twenty One Pilots have been out on some of the biggest tours of their careers — and paving a lane for acts like Temper City, too.
“We kind of feel that with the rise of [artificial intelligence] and all of that technology, people are trying to go back to the original sources of music — and live music,” says Kordova of why audiences might be gravitating more to rock in 2026. Peled adds: “As producers and songwriters, we’ve been in the studio, really seeing AI and everything becoming so incorporated with the way people create music. And it’s almost [become] like an anti-movement … this project we made has no AI in it whatsoever, just us playing in the room, and very raw, raw energy.”
Temper City plans to bring that “raw, raw energy” to rooms across the country with a mini-tour starting in June, along with festival dates at Milwaukee’s Summerfest and Austin City Limits, and an opening slot on star singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi’s October show in Milan. Currently, the trio is holed up together in a house in the Topanga community of Los Angeles, which Peled describes as having “tree house kind of vibes,” prepping for those shows — along with a longer headlining tour they’re planning for near the end of the year. “For us, the live [aspect] is really the main focus in this project,” Peled says. “We really want to make sure that the music translates.”
In the meantime, the group already has its debut album finished (outside of some last-minute mastering) and hopes to have it out in time for its bigger U.S. tour toward the end of the year. From there, Full Stop Management’s Adam Harrison hopes Temper City — who has reached a No. 27 high on the Billboard Global 200 with “Self Aware” — can go international, with plans already mapped out through 2028 for its expansion. “This feels like a worldwide band,” Harrison says. “We should be in Europe by the beginning of next year; we should be at festivals next summer; we should be seeing the rest of the world.”
“Artists who have been in the industry prior to their breakout moment have had the opportunity to build up resilience,” adds Nathaly Pacheco, Thirty Knots label director. “We find that they are generally more prepared for the work that comes after the first big win. You can see that with Temper City. They are excited by what is happening, but they are not treating it like the finish line.”
