Kid British
The new… Ordinary Boys
This Manchester band are not my usual cup of tea but I discovered that I rather like their song Lost In London when I heard it on the radio. They live up to their name by displaying a typically British attitude in their lyrics and interviews, but at the same time I think the singer sounds a lot like the guy from Under the Influence of Giants in the line “I’m just tryna find my way arouu-und” in Lost In London. I am sure that Kid British will soon be regarded in the same way as The Ordinary Boys, Hard Fi and similar British lad acts (the singer has already been seen in a white polo shirt), and Lost In London will undoubtedly be a hit at some point, so I’m going to have to enjoy it now as much as I can before it gets pinched away by those pesky young lads.
Poptasticness: 73% Hit potential: 82%
Lady GaGa
The new… Gwen Stefani
When I wrote this list, Lady GaGa was a nobody in the UK. She had not even had a Top 40 hit. Now, as I write this, Just Dance is on course to become this week’s no.1 single! I couldn’t be more proud – finally, the UK have got themselves a brain between them, and figured out that 2008’s best single deserves to be a no.1, even if it is in 2009. It’s a great start to the year, so I’m hoping it’s a signal of what’s to come. Making this list hasn’t, admittedly, helped me discover all that many really great new pop acts, but perhaps what has happened with Lady GaGa will also happen to others of my favourite foreign acts, and they will at last take their deserved places atop the UK charts. Well, a bit of optimism to start the year never goes amiss, does it?
Poptasticness: 98% Hit potential: 100%
La Roux
The new… Bertine Zetlitz (well, if Little Boots is the British Annie)
When my mum saw the Quicksand video on TV the other day, she said “is that the new Doctor Who?” She can hardly be blamed for being confused – they both look like boys with silly haircuts after all. Watching Elly’s video on BBC Sound of 2009 on Monday, I was quite disappointed. She seemed so cool and elegant in photos, but in reality she is really young and talks quite annoyingly, as well as appearing to have got her clothes from a dressing up box. I didn’t totally hate her, but at the same time my perception of her definitely changed. She name-checked David Bowie in the video, and I can see that she’s trying to be a quirky, unique popstar as he was, but unfortunately it doesn’t appear genuine. She could just be one of my younger sister’s friends (although she’s actually almost my age) who’d taken a liking to 80s electro. Quicksand’s a pretty good song, but the others on their MySpace are not particularly interesting. It’s no surprise, though, when the other member of the duo is known for his work with Faithless and Kubb. Hmm, what credentials!
Poptasticness: 74% Hit potential: 77%
Little Boots
The new… Annie
This young lady has not yet been mentioned in the BBC’s Sound of 2009 poll. We know she is in the top 15, and numbers 5 to 2 have been announced so far. Tomorrow the no.1 will be revealed, and considering the success of recent winners, we will then know for sure the fate of Miss Boots. When I first heard her brilliant song Meddle last summer, I planned to post it on Into The Groove, but I forgot, so I haven’t pointed out yet how great it is. I’ll do it now: It’s great! I can definitely imagine it being a hit, and if Stuck On Repeat is all you’ve heard so far then give Meddle a listen cos it’s far more poptastic. I haven’t heard anything else as good from her yet, but she is working with Richard X on new material, so if his work with similar act Annie is anything to go by, we should have some ace pop music in store from Little Boots. Yay!
Poptasticness: 86% Hit potential: 88%