The Next Big Thing?

Spark
For the first half of her set at Hoxton Square Bar last night, Spark was just another Marina and the Diamonds – not a bad person to be compared to, but do we need two of them? However, the last four songs she performed transformed her into a whole new act, and one who I am very excited to introduce you to. These songs were bursting with girl power attitude and had a punky edge (proper punk, not skate punk – Spark is NOT the new Avril Lavigne) which has no presence in the UK charts at the moment. The music on her MySpace is fairly good but she has much better, and hopefully those songs are being saved to be unveiled as her future singles. Managed by 19 and presumably signed, or about to be, by a major label, Spark is definitely worth keeping an eye on – I reckon she’ll be making an appearance in quite a few ‘big in 2011’ lists.
Hit potential: 73% Poptasticness: 82%

Nikita
Polish singer Nikita caught my attention when I heard she was working on her new album with Joe Cross, one of the most interesting people in pop at the moment. Although I first heard of him as part of almost-good electro-pop act (We Are) Performance, I have been much more impressed with his work as part of the excellent duo Kiss In Cities and as the producer of Hurts’ debut album. You can still see a little of Nikita’s trip-hop background in new single Tonight, but she’s clearly moving on to better things. I love the full electro-pop sound of Tonight, Nikita’s fantastic Goldfrapp/Little Boots-esque vocals, and the song’s brilliantly disco-tastic closing moments. And this isn’t even one of the Joe Cross productions (instead it’s by a house producer called Chris Lake) so I can’t wait to see what they’ve come up with together!
Hit potential: 37% Poptasticness: 92%