Conrad Sewell, Hermitude, on Pandora’s 2016 Artists To Watch list
Brisbane singer songwriter Conrad Sewell(pictured) and Blue Mountains duo Hermitude, have made it onto Pandora’s 2016 Artists To Watch list.
The tastemakers at Pandora worked out its list of 25 future blow-ups on how well their music is doing on the platform, as well as data from Next Big Sound and the volume of social media mentions.
Sewell for instance, who’s touring the United States behind Hold Me Up, is this week ranked #2 on Billboard Social 50 and Next Big Sound.
Hermitude recently toured the US again, where they’re this week #15 on the US Electronic Chart and where their latest album Dark Night, Sweet Light is getting media attention.
The other predictions range from those who’ve already cracked the charts recently to those making serious waves on the more underground scenes.
Alessia Cara: the 19-year-old Canadian singer songwriter signed to Def Jam, is buzzing the US Top 10 with Here, a delightful anti-social anthem about being in a crowded room and being bored shitless. It comes with a sample of Isaac Hayes’ Ike’s Rap.
BJ The Chicago Kid: Chicago R&B singer songwriter Bryan James Sledge came to attention collaborating with the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West and Warren G before finding his own success. A new album drops in early 2016.
Blackbear: LA singer songwriter Matthew Musto started out in rock until he co-wrote Justin Bieber’s #2 smash Boyfriend. After that he went the R&B/rap route and had success with Sex.
Bryson Tiller: Having just dropped his debut album T R A P S O U L , rapper introduced himself in one lyric as “hottest thing from it (Louiseville, Kentucky) since Muhammad Ali”. He was discovered via SoundCloud after ten tracks each notched 1 million plays and got the shout out from Timbaland, Drake and Omarion.
Cam: Camaron Marvel Ochs is a US country singer whose My Mistake and Burning House started to cause ripples. But she’d done that earlier when she co-wrote Maybe You’re Right from Miley Cyrus’ album Bangerz.
Daya: 17-year-old Grace Tandon from Pittsburgh introduced her brand of R&B pop dance on her self-titled debut EP some months ago which includes breakout track Hide Away. Learning to play jazz piano by eleven, she also plays guitar, ukulele and saxophone and flute.
Dorothy: LA blues rock band fronted by singer Dorothy Martin quickly found success on YouTube and Twitter. Little wonder: in a time of pop poppettes, the Budapest, Hungary-born Martin has model looks and a gritty voice, and totally badass onstage complete with crotch grabs and f-bombs.
Hinds: Spanish indie rock band emerged from Madrid’s garage rock scene is already well known in Australia from their tours under their first name Deers. Totally sassy, they walk the walk when it comes to their motto: “nuestras mierdas, nuestras reglas” or “our shit, our rules”.
Gallant: fast rising US alt-R&B 23-year old started out writing songs as therapy. After graduating from New York University, he moved to LA where his soaring vocals quickly grabbed attention. His high-energy shows are now selling out everywhere: “my live show is almost like a meditation,” he says.
Jacob Whitesides: folks are impressed by how the songs of the 17 year old seem to cover love realistically. Maybe it’s because the muse on his six-track Faces On Film EP was girlfriend, fellow singer and former X Factor contestant Bea Miller. MTV also has him as an Artist To Watch.
Jess Glynne: her mother was an A&R at Atlantic Records, and as a kid growing up in London’s Muswell Hill, she would listen to records by Aretha, Whitney and Mariah “imitating them note for note”. In the last 18 months she’s had three #1s in the UK for collaborations with Clean Bandit (on Rather Be for which she won a Grammy in February), Route 94 (My Love) and Tinie Tempah (Not Letting Go), as well as a solo number one with Hold My Hand.
Lawrence Taylor: 22-year old Birmingham, UK -born singer-songwriter has won critical acclaim for songs as Bang Bang and Waiting For Your Love and is on the Up escalator. “I’m pretty sure I was born with headphones on, I can’t remember a time when I didn’t listen to music,” says the man who was taught to play guitar by his father at 11 and started out at Open Mic nights.
Post Malone: Dallas singer songwriter (real name Austin Post) is another rising star discovered through SoundCloud. Inspired to play guitar from Guitar Hero, his track White Iverson in particular threw the spotlight on him this year with 4 million streams.
Roam: UK pop punk band not only built themselves up through YouTube and Spotify but also hit the road hard. They’ve tapped into a new audience that, they say “brings people together so they can all sing their hearts out.” The name by the way came from the song by US band The Story So Far.
Ruth B: Canadian singer and songwriter of Ethiopian descent who found a following spectacularly through Vine and YouTube. Earlier this year she posted her first full song Lost Boy and quickly got 1 million views. She followed it up with others as Superficial Love.
Rudimental: their 10-piece carnival-style excitement onstage has made them one of the most sought after festival acts in the UK – not to mention Australia where they’ve just been doing shows. From all indications, their upcoming album is set to become a soundtrack of 2016, running a pencil through house, garage, jungle, DnB, soul, and reggae.
Tor Miller: Brooklyn indie pop singer says he got inspired by music when his parents split briefly. In the long drives between Brooklyn and New Jersey, his mother would play albums by David Bowie, Elton John and Fleetwood Mac. He fits into the “big voiced male balladeer” which seems destined to dominate playlists through 2016.
Tory Lanez: Toronto rapper, record producer, director, and fashion designer was born Daystar Peterson. But got his stage name from the first word as a tribute to Biggie Small and the second of the hoods he hung out in when homeless at 14. Now 22 he’s worked with a number of high profile collaborators and got the inevitable Drake comparisons.
Ty Dolla $ign: LA rapper Tyrone William Griffin, Jr., ticks off all the right boxes. While working on his own album, he also appeared on tracks by Rhianna Chris Brown & Tuga and Big Sean. The dreadlocked skateboarder looks the part, not least when he appears in clothes with 50 gold dollar pins. He admits singing aggressive raps to smooth backs “allows me to sing the stuff a rapper would but only more cool.”
W.E.T: Brooklyn R&B trio came from a classic style background. Kelly Zutrau, Marty Sulkow and Joe Valle met at students and clicked immediately. Zutrau began singing musicals at the age of 10 and told her folks she’d been on Broadway by 20. She did a shift to R&B however, and a killer debut EP made them the buzzed about in the buzz-trends.
Michael Morgan: 22-year-old American country music singer and songwriter from Vicksburg, Mississippi. He’s a harkback to the golden days of country music where story telling and plaintive singing were the hallmarks. His debut single I Met A Girl has him hailed as the next sound of the style.
Zhu: electronic music producer and singer (born Steven Zhu) came to attention last year with a mashup of OutKast songs. Taste making blogs and SoundCloud plays followed, with a Grammy nomination for Faded. “The project (Zhu) is all about art, and we try to make it about the songs and the response,” explains the man who once appeared on Pete Tong’s BBC Radio 1 After Hours show with a 40-minute DJ mix of unreleased remixes.