(no subject)

[poptasticuk.livejournal.com]

I know it's not even Christmas yet, but I'm too excited to wait for my favourite time of year, when we get to predict who will be big in 2008! So I'd like to know who you're all expecting, with your plentiful pop knowledge, to be 'taking the charts (or just our hearts) by storm' in the new year. I'll introduce some of my suggestions

Adele



So, let's start with an obvious one, because I have a strong feeling that Adele will be topping many prediction lists in January, since her last single, Hometown Glory, won great praise and the new one, Chasing Pavements, was already getting played in Sweden when I left, which leads me to believe it must be pretty big in the UK too. She's also an easy choice, what with female British soloists being big news in 2007, and she'll get support as a role model for young girls since she's certainly not a size 0. I've been following her career since about April as she is a friend of a friend of mine, but I don't think I'll be namedropping since I've never met her or even seen her live. She seems like a talented girl with some nice songs but it's nothing special to my ears. Neither love nor hate is the reaction from me.

Lykke Li



We've been waiting so long for a new album from Robyn, and I fear it'll still be a while yet, since she hasn't even put out Be Mine yet in the UK (she will in a few weeks), so here is Lykke Li with some ace new Swedish urban-indie-electro-pop to keep us going. Like Adele she has been getting a lot of buzz recently, both in Sweden and outside, and it seems like she will soon breakthrough worldwide (even in just an indie way rather than getting no.1 hits quite yet) even though she hasn't even released her first album in Sweden yet. I'm not sure when that will be as I don't think it's quite ready yet but I'm very excited for hearing it. This is her first hit, Little Bit, but I also thorougly recommended her gorgeous love song Tonight.

The Ting Tings



Some of you might remember a band called Dear Eskiimo, who were around 2 or 3 years ago, made some great, unusual pop songs but never got any further than an appearance on MTV's Brand Spanking New live show. They disbanded, and the cute and charismatic singer Katie and the drummer Jules created a new group called The Ting Tings, which is really hard to type without writing Thing. They're similar to Dear Eskiimo but so far I'm not as impressed with the music, although NME has had the opposite reaction and put That's Not My Name quite high up in their chart of 2007. Personally I prefer Fruit Machine. Ka-ching ka-ching!

Santogold



A recent discovery for me, but an interesting one - reminds me of M.I.A, Nelly Furtado and Laleh (a Swedish singer), especially at her poppiest, on LES Artistes. I think she will go down well with a lot of Poptimists actually. She's from New York and had some recognition from Rolling Stone, but I doubt she'll become a huge star over there or over here, just 'critically acclaimed' like MIA. I like the refrain in Shove It: "We think you're a joke, shove your hope where it don't shut!"

Colbie Caillat



Not particularly a recommendation here as I think Colbie's album will be more suitable for your mum's birthday gift than your own, but her single Bubbly is one you'll find either cute or terribly annoying. I do always laugh at the phrase "bubbly face" - spotty teenage boys will rejoice! You'd better get used to it anyway as I'm pretty sure we're going to hear a lot of it in the next few months, at least if the radio stations of America and the rest of Europe are anything to go by. UK commercial radio and Radio 2 will love it, and I can even see Radio 1 getting on board if they're not feeling too superior when they pick their next playlist. If someone can tell me how to pronounce her surname I'd be rather grateful...

Hmm, feisty females seem to be the order of the day. No problem for me!

So, let me hear your suggestions and what you think of mine...

P.S. Merry (almost) Christmas!

Comments

cal-LAY sorta apparently

[anatol-merklich.livejournal.com]

If someone can tell me how to pronounce her surname I'd be rather grateful...

Wikipedia has an ogg soundfile (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9c/Colbie_Caillat.ogg) to help with the pronunciation. Haven't tested it myself.

Re: cal-LAY sorta apparently

[poptasticuk.livejournal.com]

That's nice of them! But sadly my computer won't play .ogg so I'm not much the wiser. Cal-LAY doesn't seem very logical but I think it's what they say on the radio.

Re: cal-LAY sorta apparently

[edgeofwhatever.livejournal.com]

Cal-LAY is right. She says it in her interview here: http://music.yahoo.com/promo-29644410-159-20071120

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Adele will probably be massive. I haven't heard her stuff yet - I've seen her pitched as "Lily Allen/Kate Nash but GOOD" which is on the one hand promising, b/c it shows that the people who say that know Allen and Nash are bad, but on the other hand invoking their names at all fills me with suspicion. At home on creakingly slow leeching of neighbours' wireless so can't see videos now. I guess I'll hear them anyway as and when.

Santogold sounds intriguing. Bjork recommended her in the OMM recently.

I refuse to believe that any people who call themselves THE TING TINGS could possibly have any merit at all.

I hate doing "tips for the top" (does one pick terrible artists who will inevitably be big? or good artists who will inevitably flop and get dropped?) but -

1) BASSLINE obv. I'm not sure if any one artist will become a big star or anything but it'll be like the heyday of 2-step, a drip-drip-drip of random one-offs in the chart. T2 sounds like he has quite a few amazing pop songs up his sleeve, and it'll help him that he broke through first; and Gemma Fox is of course a pretty lady singer with a personality rather than an anonymous producer. But I hope for and expect lots of Sweet Female Attitudes, B15 Projects and so on.

2) Keri Hilson should finally finish her album - given that she's a proven songwriter in her own right, and thanks to 'The Way I Are' people already know who she is, she should be pretty successful. What I've heard ('High Heels', 'Hands & Feet') is promising.

3) Dunno how successful she'll be but even if her album consists of 'Is It You?', 'Turn The Lights Off' and 'In Love With The DJ' and NOTHING ELSE, I predict with confidence that Cassie will be topping my ballots this time next year. Love the girl. I think she's deposed Ciara as my Top Favourite Pop Star now.

Yelle will probably be a bit of a hipster favourite but I think she's dreadful. Poptimists will love her.

[koganbot]

Hah. Jimmy Draper and I both deleted Yelle. She's not dreadful, just kind of not-quite-there with the songs.

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

I kind of like her, but I couldn't imagine anyone feeling all that strongly about it (which means if she does get popular I probably won't care either way). It's good background music for reading and not as in-your-face as other hipster favorites.

[poptasticuk.livejournal.com]

I didn't even know there was a genre called 'bassline', I must be very behind. Well it's not something they'd go for in Sweden, that's my excuse.

Keri Hilson might be a bit limited by looking like Beverley Knight. If Amerie can't get a no.1 with Gotta Work, Bev II's single will have to be very great to keep up with the success of The Way I Are. I suppose that song will give her people's interest for the first solo single at least.

I hadn't heard of Yelle but a quick detour to MySpace and she's definitely caught my interest! Seems a bit like Annie/Bertine Zetlitz but I don't like her vocals as much so far, which is surprising since I'm quite a Francophile.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

You've heard 'Heartbroken' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTsHWzvJWDQ) by T2 and Jodie Aysha? Or did that slip under the radar while you were in Sweden...was a pretty big hit here. Anyway that is bassline. It's the new form of garage basically.

If Keri H doesn't ensure her first song is AMAZING her solo career will probably be like Kandi's back in the day (Kandi Burruss, wrote a ton of hits for TLC, Destiny's Child et al, had none herself, though 'Don't Think I'm Not' was a great song).

Yelle's voice...is not great. Annoying.

[poptasticuk.livejournal.com]

Yes, I've heard it a few times. It did just seem like garage to me. It's interesting that that kind of music could have a resurgence since it sounds so connected to that certain time when garage was huge before, which makes it seem very dated, at least to an outsider to that sort of music. But maybe it's a new generation of teenagers who are getting into it now.

I liked Don't Think I'm Not. Sometimes it seems like just chance whether the circumstances and public feeling will be right for someone to have success, no matter how good the song is, but then if she didn't do too well in the USA as well as the UK then I guess it really wasn't meant to be.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

It's garage from The North - it's actually never really gone away (though the new stuff tends to have more of a 4/4 kick to it), but 'Heartbroken' really re-broke it in London (and hence Radio 1, video channels &c).

Another two artists I forgot to mention the other day - Kid Sister and Lil' Mama! If Lil' Mama EVER releases 'Lip Gloss' in the UK she could be huge - though given that an October release date was pencilled in, I was in contact with her PR and everything, but...nothing happened and he is no longer replying to emails, signs aren't THAT good.

Kid Sister's 'Pro Nails' is definitely out in January though, the amazing finger-dancing video + Kanye's support will benefit it, plus it's a fantastic pop song. I think the world is ready for a hott new pop-hip-hop lady rapper, Missy seems to have all but retired apart from the occasional guest spot. And as brilliant as Lil' Kim and Trina are they're always going to be a little too hardcore for the mainstream.

[poptasticuk.livejournal.com]

I know Lil' Mama but I don't like Lip Gloss, although G-Slide is OK. Kid Sister looks fun but it's a bit much rap for me. Sorry Alex! I like female rappers in theory but in practice it doesn't do much for me.