Future Pop is a weekly email featuring the hottest new pop songs and artists that you need to know about. Subscribe here to get it in your inbox every Monday, then read on, listen up and make sure you tweet me @poptastic to let me know what you think of my picks!
This Must Be Pop Live!
It’s now just one day ’til This Must Be Pop Live! Come down to The Workshop in Hoxton tomorrow from 7.30pm to see Oh My!, Luminites and Katie Sky perform and have a dance to some ace pop tunes. Click here to find out more and let me know if you’re coming.
Future Stars
Maxine Ashley is not a band named after the Coronation St couple, but a teenage girl with amazing hair, who you may recognise as the singer from the brilliant Alex Gaudino hit, I'm In Love. That song was written by Tim Powell, who Maxine met when she was part of a group formed by Xenomania which sadly never released anything. However, departing Xenomania led Maxine to her biggest break yet – being signed up by Pharrell Williams as his next protegée! She's now working on her debut album, from which nothing has been heard as yet. The Cool Kids song she features on suggests the new music will be laid back R&B, but having followed Maxine for a while I have good faith that it's going be much more poptastic than that.
The indie-pop revival continues with an interesting new track which is making Neon Indian a big name. Polish Girl is the latest single from the band's second album, and it's so far had over a million hits on YouTube. They're playing Coachella this year and recently performed on Jimmy Fallon's US chat show. The music is a combination of indie vocals and electro-pop production, the same formula that works so well for Bastille, but musically they are more similar to Ladyhawke, just with mumblier male vocals. I braved the rest of the album and it was pretty dull, but it's worth giving this one a listen so you can tick the “I know who Neon Indian are” box, should you ever be required to.
T. Mills released his first album on an independent label in 2010, but he's now signed to Columbia. He's getting more attention and his music's sounding more expensive, but personally I preferred his early stuff. The track that made his name originally was Stupid Boy, a super-catchy song in the 3OH!3 style, but his new song Scandalous is more urban and could be a Timbaland production. It also has very rude lyrics, with a video to match. Still, it is a good song, his voice is perfect for the current music trends (a little soulful but generic enough to mix well with electro sounds), and I will definitely be looking out for what he does next. The UK launch begins next month with a gig at XOYO in London.
Future Hits
This week's playlist features the songs that could make some of those 'big in 2012' predictions come true:
Tracklisting:
- Emeli Sandé – Next To Me
- Lana Del Rey – National Anthem
- Dot Rotten – R U Not Entertained?
- Spector – Chevy Thunder
- Niki & The Dove – DJ, Ease My Mind
Thanks for reading – I'll be back next Monday with more Future Pop! In the meantime 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 for more.