The Next Big Thing?

Elouise
With the success of retro-pop female singers in the past few years, and the current 50th anniversary celebrations for Motown, it’s no surprise that Elouise is going for a Motown sound with her music. She even samples the classic Marvelettes single, Needle in a Haystack on her song Since You’ve Been Gone. It’s a lovely, jolly pop song, but it sounds more like Emma Bunton’s last album (nb: not a bad thing!) than Duffy or Amy Winehouse. Her songs are certainly poptastic, and her live shows get great reviews, but I believe that the retro trend has been around long enough now that there are so many bandwagon-jumpers, only something spectacularly original and special will be successful. Elouise is not that, but she’s good fun anyway. My favourite is Miracle Man, cos it sounds like Ace of Base!
Hit Potential: 27% Poptasticness: 87%

Liam and Me
This new American indie-rock act have made what is a very clever choice in this musical climate – they’re releasing their most electro song (Say It Out Loud) as a single, and it’s a pretty good one too. It does remind me a bit of Protocol, who were not particularly successful, but I loved them personally, and now that electro is in fashion, Liam and Me may have a bit more luck. With the crapness of The Killers new album (except for Human, of course), maybe Liam and Me can take their place. Their only problems are a) their ungrammatical name (not as bad as “The Yeah You’s” though, eek!) and b) they’re hilariously geeky and ordinary-looking. I think some of you (eg. those who like Melody Club) will love this group, and Say It Out Loud is a great single, but I wonder if it may be a one-off success. We’ll see.
Hit Potential: 50% Poptasticness: 82%

Jessie J
This young British singer has had an excellent start to her career, although unfortuantely one she may not want to mention too much at the moment – despite being a total unknown, she supported Chris Brown on his recent European tour. The songs on her MySpace sound extremely professional, and will make great album tracks, but I’m still waiting to hear a brilliant debut single from her. Stand Up sounds just like Natasha Bedingfield, and is better than anything she’s released since I Wanna Have Your Babies. Hello is another great track, the most poptastic one she’s done – it reminds me of the Swedish singer Pauline, who I love. I still don’t think it would be a hit, at least not as a debut single, so her future success all depends on whether her management find her something ace to record. It will probably be a while before anything’s released, but I think we will definitely be seeing more of Jessie.
Hit Potential: 68% Poptasticness: 83%