Future Pop is a weekly email featuring the hottest new pop songs and artists that you need to know about. Sign up here then read on, listen up and make sure you tweet me @poptastic to let me know what you think of my picks!
Future Stars
With 3.7 million singles sold worldwide you could certainly say that Big Time Rush have already broken through, but actually in the UK they've never had a top 40 hit and very few people over the age of 14 even know they exist. That could be about to change however, as Windows Down, the lead single from their forthcoming third album, shows they are ready to compete in the real pop market. The song, which was originally a demo for Ke$ha, samples Blur and sounds like *N Sync meets 3OH!3, perfect for a 2012 American boyband. Its co-writers include Matt Squire and Mike Posner.
Karmin are a YouTube phenomenon who, like Conor Maynard and Lewis Watson, wouldn't have stood a chance of being signed without their online success. The difference here is that while they're not conventional pop stars, they do actually have talent. Because they became famous for cover songs their music has ended up being quite derivative of current artists like Katy Perry and Jessie J, which will make it difficult for them to assert their own identity. Still, their single Brokenhearted has been a US hit and is already getting lots of UK radio support.
Cleo is well known on the urban scene and a regular on SB:TV and 1Xtra, but her new single Never The Right Time is her first with potential to go mainstream. It's a very cool, sultry urban-pop track which you could imagine coming from a US artist like Beyoncé or Amerie. The video also helps to position Cleo as a proper pop star who deserves to be taken seriously. The song has been playlisted on Radio 1 but only as an In New Music We Trust pick so far, so it's yet to be seen whether it will rise up into the main list. Any Spice Girls fans reading should check out her cover of 2 Become 1.
Future Hits
My playlist for this week features five collaborations which I think could be UK chart hits:
Tracklisting:
- Josh Osho ft. Childish Gambino – Giants
- Devlin ft. Ed Sheeran – Watchtower
- Toddla T & Shola Ama – Alive
- David Guetta ft. Lil Wayne and Chris Brown – I Can Only Imagine
- Far East Movement ft. Cover Drive – Turn Up The Love
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 about Future Pop to anyone you think might enjoy it and encourage them to subscribe for more.