Six-D
The new… Black Eyed Peas
I’ve known about Six-D for a while as they were put together by the same people who put together The Wanted, The Saturdays and Parade, but you’d never guess this was the case as they have a much more edgy, urban sound. They’re a mixture of singers and streetdancers, somewhere between Diversity and the Black Eyed Peas. The first track they put online surprised me as there’s no singing in it, it’s just one long talky bit. I wasn’t sure at first but after a few listens it grew on me massively, and although I’m hoping for something a bit bigger for the first single, I think this is a great statement of what kind of band they’re aiming to be. There’s not really anyone like them at the moment, at least in the UK. They’re bound to have N-Dubz comparisons (especially with the hyphen in their name) but Six-D are already creating their own distinct sound which hopefully will give them enough credibility to win over urban music fans despite the fact that they haven’t come from the underground scenes where such artists usually make their name.
Poptasticness: 77% Hit potential: 68%
The Narcoleptic Dancers
The new… Muchuu
I love a bit of twee-pop and this male/female duo are one of the best and cutest I’ve found in ages so it’s great to see them getting a fair bit of blog buzz at the moment. The Narcoleptic Dancers have a bizarre story of how they met – Melody and Anton are both children of a famous Dutch footballer, but only got to know each other when their dad died a few years ago. Discovering they both loved music, they decided to form a duo! The whole amazing story can be read on their MySpace. They’ve so far released an EP which features their brilliant song Not Evident as its lead track, but the other two songs, Unique Tree and Rastakraut are also incredibly lovely. If the EP is this consistently great then I can’t wait to hear the full album!
Poptasticness: 85% Hit potential: 36%
Washington
The new… Feist
I’m not sure if Washington (the stage name of 24 year old Megan Washington) will be releasing anything in the UK in 2011, but I wanted to include her here as she’s one of Australia’s most interesting new artists and is already doing deservedly very well over there. Her music is quite typical indie-pop singer-songwriter, but its her poetic and witty lyrics which make the songs something special. Her quirky sense of humour reminds me of Kate Miller-Heidke. She’s also done some fantastic videos, which will appeal to anyone who appreciates the brilliance of Aussie indie films. I especially love the videos for Rich Kids and Sunday Best. An if you want any more proof that she’s ace, listen to this interview and the performance that follows – her cover of Baby One More Time!
Poptasticness: 68% Hit potential: 32%
Yasmin
The new… Neneh Cherry
I was quite surprised when I saw what a positive reaction Yasmin’s new single On My Own received among my Twitter followees when it first went online, because it didn’t grab me at all on first listen. It has grown on me since, and I can see how it fits in with the musical trends that are emerging at the moment, but considering how much I loved her part in Runaway, the Devlin song Yasmin featured on, I did have higher expectations in terms of her poptasticness. Still, it’s good to see a new female artist doing something quite different, and I do like how it harks back to the 90s dance sound. It’s also undeniable that she is a very pretty girl (look at this amazing Sophie EB-esque photo!) with a beautiful singing voice. With that in mind, it’s no wonder the music industry seems to have such strong faith in her.
Poptasticness: 70% Hit potential: 76%
So that’s it for my A-Z of 2011… well, almost! Did you notice that some of my favourite new artists were missing? Come back tomorrow to see my list of the artists who I wrote about on This Must Be Pop in 2010 and have high hopes for in 2011.