Taken from this week’s Future Pop mailer. Click here to subscribe.
Andra Day may not yet be a big star, or have any hits to her name, but the support she has received from the music industry is enough to suggest she’s one to watch. Andra was discovered in 2012 when she posted a powerhouse cover of Jessie J’s Mama Knows Best on YouTube. She was signed by Warner Bros and went on to release her debut album Cheers To The Fall three years later. Although the album has only peaked at 61 on the US chart, she has been tipped for success by Rolling Stone, NPR and Shazam. She was nominated for two Grammys (Best R&B Performance, Best R&B Album) and performed at the BET Awards and Good Morning America. Andra’s clear, emotive vocals and simple, soulful songs make her the kind of artist that other musicians love, and many have been keen to associate themselves with her, from Raphael Saadiq producing her album to Lenny Kravitz inviting her on tour. But the collaboration that really got her noticed was 2015’s Apple Christmas advert, where she performed a duet with Stevie Wonder. So far, she has been embraced by R&B fans in the US, but I think she also has great potential to cross over to a mainstream audience and to achieve international success. With the right song, she could be a female John Legend.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmHfo_3EGFA]