The Next Big Thing: an A-Z of 2011 – Part 1

Alex Winston
The new… Kate Earl
I’ve already written quite a bit about Alex but I couldn’t exclude her from this list as I am very excited to see what she does in 2011, and very pleased to see her making appearances in quite a few 2011 prediction articles. I have a feeling that the time for new quirky-pop girls to have mainstream success has probably passed now that Florence is becoming known in the US and Ellie has 2 songs in the top 40 top sellers of 2010 in the UK, but Alex’s music is, in my opinion, twice as good as either of theirs so I’m hoping that will be enough to get her at least a reasonable amount of attention in the year ahead. If she uses the songs she performs live, her album will be well worth buying, and I definitely recommend seeing her live if you get the chance as her gig a few months ago was one of the best I’ve seen recently.
Poptasticness: 94% Hit potential: 35%

Big Time Rush
The new… Jonas Brothers
When the kids TV series Big Time Rush began in late 2009 in America I watched the trailer, heard the distinctly average music of the eponymous ‘pop’ group, and decided never to think of them again. Unfortunately American kids don’t seem to be very discerning in their musical tastes as the show has been a success and the band are becoming very popular in a Jo Bros Without Guitars kind of way. The music is very childish but they actually have some great names on their album, including a song written by Lucas Secon (Boyfriend) and another that features Jordin Sparks (Count On You). A few months ago I wrote that America would probably have their own 2011-style boyband soon and it looks like Big Time Rush are the strongest candidates. They could be massive if their music improves.
Poptasticness: 57% Hit potential: 63%

Brother
The new… Oasis
I’m very confused by this influx of new bands influenced by Oasis. Surely an old sound needs to be reminisced about before a new wave of imitators comes along and I haven’t seen anyone saying how much they loved Oasis recently. If it has to make a return, I can handle a 2011 equivalent of Don’t Look Back In Anger or Wonderwall, but it looks like the ‘ugly beer-drinking blokes’ side of Oasis and their unpleasant fans is more likely to make a comeback. And Brother are very ugly indeed. The only positive I can think of is that with a new Oasis will hopefully come a new Spice Girls shortly after! Pleeeeeease!!!
Poptasticness: 3% Hit potential: 80%

Calvin Goldspink
The new… Abs
Remember Calvin, the boy everyone fancied from S Club 8? Since the disaster that was I Dream he has been very much absent from Planet Pop, but was occasionally rumoured to be preparing for a solo career over in LA. The rumours turned out to be true and he recently premiered the first song from his recording sessions, a track called Supa Swag. I was quite excited to hear his music as he has been working with big names such as Claude Kelly, so I was very disappointed to find that Supa Swag was absolute rubbish. It’s actually quite hilarious as his voice is autotuned out of recognition and full of American slang like “shorty got the supa swag”. Oh dear. And worst of all, he is apparently signed to Polydor so presumably someone there said it was OK for him to put this song online! At least he’s still quite cute so he may have a chance to sort things out for himself.
Poptasticness: 32% Hit potential: 25%

Cher Lloyd
The new… Verbalious
My favourite on X Factor 2010 by far was Cher (once Nicolo was ousted, anyway) so I was very happy to see her reach the finals. She seems to be a controversial figure with many people criticising her for being “a chav”, but honestly those people don’t even deserve an exciting, contemporary act like Cher on their TV screens cos they are totally missing the point. Cher is just a normal young girl who’s grown up with rap and r&b music and, unlike most of the teenagers on The X Factor, she was able to sing the songs she would listen to herself rather than pandering to the older age group who typically vote on the show. She may not have won over the voting audience but she won over a wider audience who are hopefully the sorts who would rather buy music than vote in a TV talent contest. All she needs now is their loyalty and to hope their need for a super-talented young female rapper/singer hasn’t been fulfilled by Jessie J by the time she releases anything. Fingers crossed there is room for them both.
Poptasticness: 88% Hit potential: 70%