Chloe Howl, Banks, Jungle: The Future Of Pop In 10 Artists
A facet of popular culture that frequently is at the receiving end of derision of ‘indie’ or ‘underground’ circles, pop music is in actual fact often the site of technological and stylistic innovation- channelling the sounds of the underground and disseminating them to the masses.
Timbaland’s fresh production techniques completely altered the pop landscape of the early naughties, whilst recently, professional egotist and sometimes rapper Kanye West’s ‘Yeezus’ injected the stark and abrasive sounds of experimental hip hop into a mainstream context. It’s a continuous and cyclical process of obsolescence and fresh ideas that has sped up as the instantaneous nature of the internet becomes the central tool in the transportation of the cultural to-and-fro.
But who will usher in a new era of pop in 2014? Which artist will emerge brimming with new ideas, or even just provide fresh spins on existing concepts? Here is a list of the ten most likely candidates:
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Read Our Live Review Of Chloe Howl At Oxjam Here
Having signed a record deal with Columbia Records shortly after leaving school, her 2013 track ‘No Strings’ caused ripples amongst bloggers, leading to an including in BBC’s Sound of 2014 list as well as a nomination for a Brits Critics Choice Award. At only 19, Chlöe is set to release her eponymous debut album of modern pop which details the trials and tribulations of teenage life with acute first-hand observation. The young songstress possesses copiously more ‘edge’ than the likes of current pop stars such as the rather bland Ellie Goulding. Having won accolades for her straight-laced and unperturbed observations of teenage sexual exploits with the upfront ‘No Strings’, Chloe could easily be described as 2014’s teenage version of Lily Allen but that would not do the young Chloe justice. With over 3 million followers on Soundcloud, it seems summer will usher in the teenage Howl as a certified pop star.
Clean Bandit have worked with a wide array of vocalists, including Sharna Bass (Pictured, far left)
Read Our Review Of 'Rather Be' Here
Having scored a huge number one with the effervescent breakthrough single ‘Rather Be’, which stayed at the top spot for a commendable four weeks, the quartet of Cambridge graduates look set to further instil themselves on the wider public conscious with the impending release of debut album ‘New Eyes’. Offering an idiosyncratic blend of dance, electronica and classical, the foursome provide a fresh take on the pop-dance crossover smash hit, successfully fusing string instruments and supremely danceable beats with incredibly catchy results. With ‘Rather Be’ alone resulting in a full UK tour which culminates in a show at the legendarily imposing Brixton Academy, their effortless and summer-ready pop will be a familiar feature on radio and in clubs for the next year at the very least.
Mø
Originally starting out as a crunk-pop project, the Danish singer has instead opted for the pathway of kaleidoscopic pop which fuses several in-vogue pop styles into a thrilling and unique electro-pop sound. Her music is indicative of the internet age, where a host of disparate styles and genres are only a click away, and as such her debut album No Mythologies To Follow is awash with nods to various contemporary oeuvres. Southern US bass music, Scandinavian pop and brash electro are all represented in equal measure. What’s more, her vocals are alive with a startling array of hooks, leaving most of the tracks bearing distinct potential as singles. With an emotional range every bit as wide as that of her vocals, Mø presents a riotous pop party where nothing is sacred and her only demand is that you dive headfirst into her electro-pop maelstrom.
Jungle
Jungle Announce Debut Album Plus Autumn Tour Dates
The formerly esoteric collective have finally unleashed a statement of intent in the guise of ‘Busy Earnin’, a gorgeous exercise in Bee Gees-flavoured falsetto vocals, slap bass, glaring synthesizers and a generally sumptuous production. Their previously mysterious media presence stoked a huge amount of interest and hype which the aforementioned single, plus the likes of tracks ‘The Heat’ and ‘Platoon’, have more than lived up to. Capable of dispensing hooks with a veritable aplomb, the collective present a thoroughly modern sound palette with bass capable of shaking houses, balanced out by the bright tones of males falsettos. Each track is an invitation to cast off inhibitions and dance like no one is watching as the collective proceed to emit slinky synth-funk. Having recently signed to XL Records, home of pop giants Adele and M.I.A, their ascension to pop hierarchy seems a dead cert.
Azealia Banks Vows To Leak Debut Album Online
The potty-mouthed New York vixen may have garnered the public’s attention for all the wrong reasons after Twitter spats with a growing selection of celebrities, including, most memorably, Lilly Allen, it is no wonder the rapper’s music has taken a backseat. Yet, her sole release to date, the ‘1991’ E.P, offered a brash production and instrumentation to match the viciousness of the singer’s lyrical output. It was in-your-face and unabashed yet an extremely intoxicating mix of street-smart gutter talk and memorable dance hooks, meaning Banks was as likely to bring the good-time party vibes as she was to bring da ruckus. Label wrangles and mis-management means the world is still waiting for her debut album to drop but despite the fast turnover and short shelf-life of artists in the internet age, interest in Banks refuses to wane. She is simply too stubborn and interesting an artist to disappear without a trace.
Next page: Banks, Glass Animals, Sophie
Banks
Having gained the approval of much of the often fickle bloggersphere in the past year, LA singer Banks specializes in a bass-heavy pop that belongs in the 2am club slot. Alongside an engrossingly dark and moody production style, it is in Banks’ lyrical fare where things get very intriguing. Far from the standard brash and unrealistic declarations of love or overt hyper-sexual drizzle, Banks’ lyrics are fervently truer to the human experience, digressing upon vulnerability and insecurity whilst offering flashes of coy flirtation. As such, the music of Banks penetrates through to a level of consciousness beyond the base emotional response solicited by a bog-standard club track, coaxing you into her world with that sultry production and infinitely relatable lyrics. Here’s hoping the pop world takes note of Banks, because she’s currently making a lot of gaudy pop artists look horribly out-dated.
Glass Animals
Glass Animals Announce Debut Album Zaba
The Oxford quartet are sitting rather pretty at the moment. With a debut album Zaba primed for imminent release on Wolf Tone, a label started by the man responsible for the success of such artists as Friendly Fires and Florence and the Machine, Glass Animals look set to reach the hallowed ground of critically acclaimed pop stars. Boasting a thoroughly contemporary and intelligent production which imparts R&B’s warm sonics over rather quirky pop incantations. In an electronic counterpart to Bon Iver’s mythological song-writing process, the group produce their music from the confines of a hut in the woods but far from the campfire acoustics of Iver’s output, the group suffuse influence from the likes of Burial and latter-day Radiohead. ‘Gooey’, the first single from their debut, is a woozy and delicate slice of late-night pop brimming with production nuance and a chorus that wraps around you like a blanket of sumptuous sound. Expect these lads to get the critics a little hot under the collar.
Night Time, My TimeFerreira Suffers Serious Injury On Miley Cyrus 'Bangerz' Tour
After a brief sojourn as a highly stylized Britney Spears clone at the behest of her then label, Sky has thrown off the shackles of label contracts and image management to carve out her own pop sounds that brims with a menacing punk attitude. Debut album Night Time, My Time has managed to impact despite a convoluted release thanks to the very label problems that have plagued Ferreira throughout her career. With a scuzzy production and incredibly frank and upfront lyrical content, Sky is every bit the Riot Grrrl and her no nonsense attitude has recently won her a place as support slot on the controversial Miley Cyrus Bangerz Tour. Her individualism and refusal to be pinned down may have stunted her grown commercially, but most importantly it has allowed the 21 year-old to establish a firm and unique identity on her own terms rather than that of label executives. The antidote to the irritating ‘brat-pop’ of Kesha, Sky looks set to continue her idiosyncratic pathway to superstardom with as little outside input as possible.
Sophie
Sophie is the moniker appointed to a clutch of producers whose aim is to produce hyper-real strain of dance music which owes as much to the ultra-saccharine state of J-pop as it does to glitch and other niche spheres of electronica. It’s been dubbed as pop’s new avant-garde yet it maintains a stringent catchiness amongst the often busy and hyperactive production style. ‘Blipp’, the single which initially turned heads, features cut-up cutesy vocals and an inherently contradictory nature as it manages to be both minimal and maximal in the same song. It’s strange, unique and in growing rarity amongst the electronic world- completely fresh. It may be overly abstract to make a huge impact on the mainstream, but it is surely only a matter of time before the oblique electronica filters through to big-time producers and the mysterious textural palette is brought to bear on the wider public.
Solange Sees Record Sales Boost After Jay Z Elevator Incident
Having recently entered the public eye for all the wrong reasons, Solange Knowles altercation with Jay Z looks set to overshadow the sultry pop star’s truly unique musical stylings as the press will surely choose to remember her for such a widely-reported incident. Despite being the sister of the undisputed Queen of pop, Solange had, until recently, enacted a rather low-key entry into the music business. Her 2012 E.P True was a massive hit with Pitchfork types and despite cynics suggesting it was only a ploy to rebrand herself as apart from her sister, it nonetheless earned her a huge amount of cred from indie blogs who commended her dark and thoroughly contemporary take on soul and electronica. With a full length tentatively pencilled in for a 2014 release, this summer could see Solange stepping into the limelight whilst providing the soundtrack to a very different type of party than her sister’s showbiz bombast.