Hello and welcome to the eighth Future Pop mailer from This Must Be Pop! Sign up here for the weekly email featuring the hottest new pop songs and artists that you need to know about. Then read on, listen up and make sure you tweet me @poptastic to let me know what you think of my picks!
Future Stars
Super-talented singer/actress Naomi had a few close calls with UK success, even recording with Xenomania, but she’s probably glad that didn’t work out now as she’s fast becoming a huge teen star in the US. A small part in a UK Disney show led to a bigger role in Disney’s TV musical Lemonade Mouth, and now Naomi plays a main character in Spielberg’s latest TV drama Terra Nova. She’s sure to get many more big acting roles after this, but I hope her music isn’t put aside. She’s got a strong, soulful voice and is a great performer. Here’s a school performance that really shows her talent. Her career’s progressed so much in the last year I can’t wait to see what will happen for Naomi in 2012.
Last time I wrote about Mohombi it was in shock/amusement at his reinterpretation of The Cranberries’ song Zombie, where he replaced the chorus lyrics with “who’s in your bed? Mohombi!” The ridiculousness has been toned down since to “who’s in your head? Mohombi!” and the production of the track has hugely improved since the leaked demo. In fact, I think In Your Head could actually be a hit. As a RedOne protegée I had high expectations for Mohombi and he’s certainly more on the Akon than Gaga side of RedOne’s work, but it’s good fun catchy music and I do think we’re going to be in need of a bit of silliness in 2012 so there could well be a place in the UK charts for Mohombi.
I’ve been following Liverpudlian teen singer Chelcee Grimes for almost two years now and it finally looks like she might be ready to release something in early 2012. After building up a YouTube following she was signed to RCA in 2010 and played pop festivals all over the UK in 2011. You can hear some of her brilliant urban-pop songs on her MySpace which will definitely appeal to anyone who liked Soundgirl’s singles, and get to know her better on YouTube. It’s great to see her transform from a normal girl singing in her bedroom to a polished performer, and she’s got a lot of personality so I think she will make a great fun pop star. Now we just have to wait to hear her debut single and hope it’s as good as the demos!
Future Hits
This week’s playlist features five of the songs I think will be post-Christmas hits:
Tracklisting:
- Lana Del Rey – Born To Die
- Gotye ft. Kimbra – Somebody That I Used To Know
- Cover Drive – Twilight
- One Direction – One Thing
- Professor Green – Never Be A Right Time