// Part 2
JMR
Hailing from ‘The Swamps, United States’, JMR’s sound is anything but that. Sexy, soulful, and packing some serious production skill, we have been wowed by everything we have heard from this guy so far.
If this is the second coming of Justin Timberlake then you god-damn heard it here first.
Alice Jemima
If we are looking for an artist on this year’s list who has been simply killing it with their covers, then it has to be the exceptionally talented Alice Jemima who gave a few people heart attacks last year with her superlative inducing take on Blackstreet’s seminal hit “No Diggity”.
We’re still waiting to hear more of her much anticipated solo material, but considering she recorded and produced all of her stuff so far, we are damn excited.
Great Good Fine Ok
These guys have been building their online presence for a while now, which culminated in the fantastically uplifting “Body Diamond” EP which they dropped in Summer 2014. Singles such as “You’re The One For Me” and “Not Going Home” have the undeniable catchiness that will propel these guys into the Billboard 100 with ease in the future.
We can only imagine how flawless their debut album will be, which we hope will arrive some time in 2015.
Vic Mensa
Whilst everyone seemed to be talking up Change The Rapper as the future of Chicago hip-hop, we were always pushing Vic Mensa as the next big thing. Undoubtedly he made a massive breakthrough in the UK in 2014 when his amazing single “Down On My Luck” managed to make some waves in the charts.
Since then we have heard banger after banger from an artist who has the chops to keep pace with his amazing ear for beats. More please.
Shura
When Shura’s debut single “Touch” landed in our inbox back in Q3 of 2014, we knew we had listened to something truly special. A gorgeous mix of an understated instrumental and some top-drawer songwriting had us slamming the repeat button for the rest of the year.
Since then we have two exceptional singles to complement it, “Just Once” and “Indecision”, but all we are thinking about now is the album <3
POWERS
How do you back up your billing as one of the most exciting duos to come out of the states in 2014? Create “Classic”, arguably the most catchy tune of the Summer with fellow duo The Knocks. I only wish that they had attempted to push this over to radio in the UK as it would have made them a household name.
That’s all to come though I’m sure, as these guys are going to go from strength to strength next year.
Mansionair
If we talk some of the original sounds on this list then Mansionair are definitely up there in terms of the freshness of their material. They sprung their “Hold Me Down” EP on us only a couple of months ago, and it really didn’t take much for us to fall in love.
This Aussie trio obviously has the chops to cut it with the best of them, but what can they bring to the table in 2015?
Shivum Sharma
Ever since we heard the demo version of Shivum Sharma’s debut track “Flicker” we have been in love with him. In 2014 he grew from strength to strength as he teamed up with world-class producer Liam Howe for his next single “All These Years” which doubled up as an impressive EP of new material.
We could see a new album next year, and it could be one of the most groundbreaking releases of 2015.
RatBoy
If you had told us last year that we would be featuring a rapper from Chelmsford, Essex on our Sound of 2015 list we seriously wouldn’t have believed you. I guess that’s the beautify of the music industry though, anything can happen.
RatBoy has really impressed us with his organic, gritty sounding material in 2014, and his ‘mixtape’ was one of our hip-hop highlights. We’ll let him convince you below as to why he is on the list though:
Emma Louise
If you were to look at Emma Louise’s SoundCloud account, you would see a hastily made page put together with a couple of well written acoustic numbers on there. It’s therefore hard to imagine that Emma has behind two of the biggest dance tracks in recent years, firstly teaming up with Wankelmut for the incredible single “My Head Is A Jungle”, and then joining fellow Aussie natives Flight Facilities for their sexy single “Two Bodies”.
She dropped a very low key album last year, and we’re not quite sure what to expect from the blonde bombshell in 2015, but we do know that whatever she touches turns to gold.
