From Cricket to the Catwalk: Australian Pop Newcomer Oliver Cronin Has Created His Own Piece of ‘Paradise’
In a sliding doors moment, Oliver Cronin might be jostling for a place in Australia’s national cricket team instead of releasing his own creations through Warner Music.
The breakout Australian artist was born and raised in Mullumbimby, a town in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, not far from Byron Bay. That dot on the map has produced Amy Taylor, the iconic singer with Amyl And The Sniffers, and Amethyst Kelly, better known by her former rap name Iggy Azalea. Add Cronin’s name to that list of Mullum’s music luminaries.
It might’ve been an entirely different journey. As a young teen, it was cricket, not music or even surfing, that dominated Cronin’s dreams. A talented bowler of the ball, throwing it down with pace, Cronin was selected for state teams. Before he would get the call from national team selectors, Cronin fell hard for music. “I had to choose between music and cricket because I understood what it took to be elite at something. And it takes a lot,” he tells Billboard.
He went all-in with music, and never looked back.
Cronin was a bright student, and a career in engineering awaited. He followed his music dreams, with the support of his mom, who studied and taught music, played in bands, and introduced the youngster to rhythm and melody before he could walk; and his father, a former professional photographer, now author.
If he was to tread that tricky path, he would need to study at a school of rock. Cronin, with his parents’ assistance, pursued a daily “regime” where, for the first three hours of the day, he’d study the music business, then write songs for several hours, and finish up with music videos and tutorials of artistry and the business behind it.
Now aged 24, Oliver has a record deal with Warner Music Australia, and the new EP Lost On The Way To Paradise, out today, July 17. Playing in the space between pop and R&B, the seven-song collection gathers the previously released cuts “Closure,” “7500 Miles,” and “Eyes Wide Shut.”
It’s the followup to 2024’s Halfway To Paradise, released in a year when he performed showcases and promo tours in North America, Canada, Germany, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong, and caught the attention of WMG executives around the globe, culminating in a global partnership with Warner Records.
Halfway To Paradise expanded at the start of 2025 with Edge Of Paradise, a deluxe edition including the track “Maria,” a collaboration with Filipino band Lola Amour.
Cronin first signed with Warner Music in 2019, and released his debut Beautiful Nightmare in 2022, an EP that featured “Boys Don’t Cry,” a cut that caught fire on TikTok, a platform on which he boasts 1.1 million followers. Several releases have gone viral in India, the Philippines, and Germany.
Earlier this year, Cronin stepped out of his comfort zone and onto the catwalk. He debuted his 6’4” frame at Australian Fashion Week 2026 where he walked in Christian Kimber’s show — a moment he describes as “very scary” and “a bit of fun.”
With the release today of another slice of Paradise, Cronin has similar feelings.
“It’s always weird when I’m about to release music,” he told Billboard earlier this week. “Especially because this body of work is so personal to me and so, like, vulnerable and I sometimes have trouble letting go of these songs. I think once they’re out into the world, it’s no longer really mine. It’s kind of up,” he continues. “It’s for people to interpret and to listen to and to make their memories from my songs. So right now I’m holding on to the last little bit I have of these songs to be mine until they’re all out into the world. I’m excited because it’s been a long time since I’ve dropped a project.”
