Hello and welcome to the ninth issue of Future Pop from This Must Be Pop! Sign up here to receive this as a 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
Lawson's lead singer Andy Brown (the one in the hat) already knows a bit about the pop star lifestyle – he was in the boyband Avenue alongside Max from The Wanted, and he's also the former boyfriend of Mollie from The Saturdays. As the Lawson lads write their own songs, it'll be interesting to see if any of them are about failed boyband careers or dating famous popstars! Andy and his equally attractive instrument-playing bandmates, Ryan, Adam and Joel, played gigs all over the UK, built up a following online and even toured with The Wanted before at last Polydor signed them this summer. The music online at the moment is a little bit lacklustre in my opinion, but they've been working with some top writers since being signed and I've heard a few songs which are much stronger. Hopefully they have a hit up their sleeves for when they eventually launch in 2012.
If you want to be the next protegée of a major star, there are worse things to do than cover one of their songs. Mateo attracted blog attention with his lovely ballad version of Alicia Keys' Empire State of Mind in early 2010, and a few months later was signed to Alicia's producer/songwriting partner's label, Krucial Noise. He releases his first EP for the label tomorrow, and the lead single Say It's So features both Alicia and her producer husband Swizz Beatz. Mateo has a gorgeous voice, perfect for his radio-friendly R&B sound, and Say It's So is a great start. There aren't many people talking about him yet, but with his voice and star connections he surely stands a very good chance of success.
19-year-old Conor is in an unusual position at the moment. He is a huge star and yet a total unknown at the same time. His videos get millions of YouTube hits and he has nearly 200,000 Facebook fans, but neither adults nor your average British 13 year old would recognise his name. Even people in the industry are rarely heard talking about him. I was quite surprised to find him acknowledged on MTV's Brand New For 2012 list the other day. Although he has those great online numbers, stats show his fanbase is spread around the world. If he released a single right now without any TV, press or radio support, I think he'd get it in the top 40 but it certainly wouldn't be a massive hit. However, if his debut single is strong and the YouTube success story is used cleverly, he could have that massive hit in 2012, even though he's not that cute or a good singer. We all know the public can be pretty dim.
Future Hits
This week's theme for my Future Hits playlist is songs I think will be worldwide hits:
Tracklisting:
- Sean Paul – She Doesn't Mind
- Mohombi – In Your Head
- Lloyd ft. Andre 3000 & Lil Wayne – Dedication to My Ex (Miss That)
- Nicki Minaj – Roman In Moscow
- Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa ft. Bruno Mars – Young Wild & Free
Yes, I could have just called that Future R&B/Rap Hits, but what else achieves worldwide success these days? Fingers crossed an amazing pop song is a surprise hit too to balance things out a bit!
Thanks for reading – I'll be back next Monday with more Future Pop! In the meantime check out This Must Be Pop for loads more like this and don't forget to email and tweet me with your thoughts on the songs and artists above, and any suggestions for next week. Plus it would be great if you could spread the word to anyone you think might enjoy Future Pop and encourage them to subscribe.