Hot For 2022: International Acts

Baby Queen:

One time record store employee Arabella Latham pours her Gen Z angst into spry pop songs that are by turns bubblegum and irreverent and brimming with angst. Coming on like the pop version of a character from teen soap Euphoria, she pithily delivers lines such as “My heart can’t break/ because my medication confiscated sex”. That couplet is from ‘Medicine’, a meditation on life with anti-depressants. Packing a punch while staying light on its toes, it captures the essence of Baby Queen – a star in the making whose journey to chart royalty has surely only just begun.

Hear: Single ‘Raw Thoughts’ sees Latham interrogating her introversion. “I live in my mind and you can’t make this right,” she says at the start of a plaintive and woozy ballad, which hides stiletto-sharp observations within a blanket of comfortable numbness.

Watch: The video to ‘Medicine’ sees Latham singing about her “friends online” who “know me better than I know myself”, against a haunting minimalist backdrop lit by chilling strobes.

Central Cee:

The release of London rapper Oakley Caeser-Su’s debut mixtape, Wild West, brought dramatic acclaim in early 2021. With heavyweights such as Big Sean giving him their blessing, Central Cee has found his voice through lockdown – as a UK number two chart placing of Wild West confirmed. He said: “My shit started picking up during the lockdown. It’s weird [because] it’s good and bad. While it’s more good than bad, it’s bad because I’m locked down just like everybody else, so it can get a bit frustrating and boring.” Still, he hasn’t allowed the melancholy get to him and a second mixtape is due for release later this year.

Hear: A roof-raising chorus is paired with an acoustic-guitar driven groove on ‘6 For 6’, a tune which blends the energy of grime with the dreamy propulsiveness of Atlanta trap.

Watch: Central Cee combines his love for livewire rhymes and bespoke sneakers in the video to ‘Retail Therapy’.

Enny:

Enitan Adepitan is a rapper and songwriter from South London who came to attention after Jorja Smith appeared on a remix of the single ‘Peng Black Girls’. Having started freestyling on YouTube, her Smith collaboration propelled her to five million online views – and a deal with progressive rap label FAMM. “I feel like everyone got sucked into this one image of what it means to be a female rapper,” Enny told Mix Mag. “There is no one way to be a black woman, there is no one way to be an artist, and there’s no one way to be a female rapper.”

Hear: That glittering ‘Peng Black Girls’ remix, with Jorja Smith delivering a gorgeous vocal hook, is a good starting point.

Watch: See her stunning rendition of ‘Keisha’s & Brenda’s’ on BBC Radio 1Xtra. “Searching for redemption but I need a little peace of mind,” she sings on a knockout chorus.

Everyone You Know:

London half-brothers Rhys Kirkby-Cox and Harvey Kirkby conjure with the ghosts of pop past with their slick R&B.

Hear: ‘There For You’ features house piano and vocals that brim with brotherly affirmation

Watch: They demonstrate their rock chops with a high-kicking take on Sam Fender’s ‘Play God’, which, in their hands, is reinvented as Bruce Springsteen fronting Kasabian.

Dylan Fraser:

Nine Inch Nails, Radiohead and Joni Mitchell are among the influences the 20-year-old West Lothian artist fuses, to intriguing effect.

Hear: ‘Supersonic’ has nothing to do with Oasis and is instead a doom-laden pop rush, suggesting Trent Reznor forced to collaborate with Ed Sheeran at knife point.

Watch: A live take on ’Nightmare’ sees Fraser singing with crocodile clips and wires attached to his shirt. Which doesn’t make sense but certainly helps him stand out.

Gracey:

Grace Barker is a Brighton artist who has written with hit factory Xenomania and cites Lorde and Robyn as influences.

Hear: ‘What A Waste’ is a great example of her plaintive songwriting and heart-piercing vocals.

Watch: An acoustic version of ‘What A Waste’ strips away the production and lets the song stand on its own feet.

Thomas Headon:

Born in London, raised in Melbourne, Headon started posting covers on YouTube a few years back. His 2019 debut single, ‘Grace’, channelled his love for Tyler, the Creator, The 1975 and Rex Orange County.

Hear: ‘Nobody Has To Know’ is a brisk indie ballad driven by a twinkling guitar line.

Watch: See Headon run through ‘Nobody Has To Know’, ‘Clean Me Up’ and ‘UrbanAngel1999’, on a BBC Music Introducing session from last year.

Lauren Hibberd:

Twenty-four-year-old Hibberd’s sound has been variously described as “Britpop catharsis” and a second coming of ’90s alt pop. Songs such as ‘Bleurgh’ certainly fizzle with fringe-in-face attitude – and the Isle of Wight singer has already signalled her potential by performing on the BBC Introducing stage at Glastonbury.

Hear: ‘Bleurgh’ is a clattering mash-up of ’90s rock attitude and Gen Z earnestness.

Watch: See Hibbered perform in a champagne-pink dress in a scrapyard in the video to ‘Charlie’s Car’.

Koffee:

Mikayla Simpson is a singer, rapper and producer from Spanish Town, Jamaica. Her reggae-fuelled repertoire draws on her Caribbean heritage while engaging with modern pop. And she’s already had incredible success, winning a Best Reggae Grammy in 2019 for her Rapture EP and touring South America with Harry Styles. Not every young person in Jamaica is enamoured of reggae, but Simpson has loved the genre since she first started writing and was determined to put it at the heart of her musical identity. “I took to reggae and just made my own path,” she told Rolling Stone.

Hear: ‘Toast’ blends classic reggae stylings with contemporary beats

Watch: Her cover Burna Boy’s ‘Ye’ on BBC Radio 1xtra Live Lounge.

Lyn Lapid:

TikTok was the forum in which the teenage artist blew up with ‘Producer Man’, a wrecking ball takedown of the condescending dudes still all too ubiquitous in the music industry. “She was only 17 when producer man came offering that all her dreams would come true/ He said, ‘come here sweetie, I could make you a star/ I just wanna see you flourish, and I know you’ll make it far’ /What she couldn’t see was, he was in it for the money.” Oof!

Hear: ‘In My Mind’ is an irresistible serving of indie-inflected R&B.

Watch: The video to ‘Producer Man’, the song that began it all, is a good starting point. It’s already notched up 8.5 million views.

M(h)aol:

The intersectional punk feminist group features members from Cork, Dublin, London and Bristol – and they’re named after “Pirate Queen” Gráinne Mhaol.

Hear: ‘Gender Studies’ is a pile-driver manifesto, driven by a furious post-punk energy and spoken word lyrics by singer Róisín Nic Ghearailt.

Watch: The video to ‘Clementine’, which features Dara Kiely of Gilla Band.

Ewan McVicar:

The heyday of the superstar DJ era is evoked by Ayr producer McVicar, whose teen-friendly floor-fillers have made him one of the UK’s most in-demand young deckticians. He scored a banger for the ages with ‘Tell Me Something Good’, a top five hit in Britain that’s cheesier than a weekend in Wensleydale.

Hear: ‘Tell Me Something Good’ has to be a starting point – it’s a euphoric piece of mass-market electronica shot through with the ragged quality of a 1990s rave anthem.

Watch: See the dancefloor whipped to a frenzy when he drops ‘Tell Me Something Good’ at a club in the UK.

Emmy Melli:

If you want to be famous in 2021, get on TikTok. That is the example provided by Emmy Meli, whose song ‘I Am Woman’ blew up when she had just 5,000 followers on the platform. Within a few weeks her song had 27 million views, with fans drawn by a chorus that came to the Long Beach, California artist in a dream in which a black cat scratched her. “I really think that is why TikTok just does something astronomical for musicians, because if your song becomes a trend on there, there’s literally no way that people aren’t hearing it and paying attention to it,” she told Variety.

Hear: The emotive yet defiant ‘I Am Woman’ is the obvious starting point.

Watch: See Meli strip back ‘I Am Woman’ with an acoustic version performed from her couch.

PinkPantheress:

Winner of the BBC Sound Of… award, Vicky Walker started posting music to TikTok while attending college in London. Her music combines the energy of hyperpop with a healthy seam of angst, acquired over the course of an adolescence spent listening to Paramore and My Chemical Romance.

Hear: ‘I Must Apologise’ is a poignant and claustrophobic mash-up of indie pop and jungle. Angst-slathered and with a sense of the walls pressing in – what could be more 2022?

Watch: ‘Pain’ drips poignancy and is accompanied by a video featuring… the Pink Panther.

Priya Ragu:

Of Swiss-Tamil heritage and based in London, Ragu blends Bollywood extroversion and lean R&B beats. She also puts her Tamil heritage front and centre. “We began using Tamil words in the songs,” she told The Guardian. “It’s the language that I speak. Why not put that into the songs that I create? We’re discovering more about ourselves every time we make music. I’ve reconnected with that culture on a deeper level.”

Hear: ‘Chicken Lemon Rice’ is an extraordinary calling-card from the 35 year-old, featuring an avalanche of beats and a glistening Euro-pop chorus.

Watch: Her performance of ‘Lockdown’ on Later… With Jools Holland is a genre-blending tour de force, recorded at Cecil Sharp House in London.

Reiley:

Reiley has red hair and hails from a damp rock protruding from the Atlantic Ocean. Incredibly, he isn’t actually Irish and in fact is from the Faroe Islands. TikTok has been his route into music – he has 11 million fans on the platform who flock to his short videos. His music is falsetto-powered R&B.

Hear: ‘You’, his October 2021 single, is driven by the 19-year-old’s high-pitched voice and powerful charisma.

Watch: The ‘Let It Ring’ video features Reiley chilling on a swing, which is hard to object to.

Mia Rodriguez:

The Australian singer clocked up a huge viral hit with the dark, disembodied ‘Psycho’, which opens with the memorable line, “I’ll wear pink to your white wedding’. With Australia’s borders shuttering just as her career was taking off, she’s had to cool her heels. But 2021 is shaping up to be the year in which her dayglo pop takes off.

Hear: ‘Pyscho’ drips menace even as its melody shoots straight inside your head.

Watch: Her acoustic take on her single, ‘Billion Dollar Bitch’.

Sad Night Dynamite:

Gorillaz, The Specials and Dr Dre are among the influences Somerset duo Josh Greaten and Archie Blagden have worn on their sleeves since they started writing together at school. They’ve gone on to work with Pa Salieu and FKA Twigs. And they’re gearing up for a landmark 2022, telling Equate magazine: “Making Sad Night Dynamite into a kind of cult is a big plan of ours, so you need to get ready for that”.

Hear: ‘Psychedelic Views’, with a feature from rapper IDK, sets out the Sad Night Dynamite agenda of lissom grooves and hazy melodies.

Watch: The video to March 2021 single ‘Krunk’ frames SND’s singular trip-hop sensibility through a prism of urban grit.

Sody:

Sophie Dyson is a 21-year-old British singer who grew up listening to McFly and Ed Sheeran, whose music blends indie angst with pop glitz. Having started writing when she was just 14, she feels her journey as an artist is just beginning. “Musically I want to keep flourishing and trying new things, but it’s definitely a process and a journey, and I’m so grateful to be on this journey and to be doing the thing that I love everyday,” she told Best Of Line Fit.

Hear: ‘Butterfly’ is a wonderfully awkward post-Billie Eilish ballad.

Watch: See her showcase her vocals and emotive piano playing in front of a roaring fire with a performance of ‘Old Flame’ at the “Old Barn”.

Arya Starr:

Not to be confused with Arya Stark, of Night King-slaying, Game Of Thrones infamy, Starr is one of a new generation of Nigerian pop singers. Born Oyinkansola Sarah Aderibigbe, she writes in both English and Yoruba and has her sights set on the big time. “I want to learn how to write better,” she told Rolling Stone. “I write amazingly, I know, but I want to get better. I want to record myself. I want to learn production better. I want to perform better.”

Hear: ‘Bloody Samaritan’ is a compelling blend of Afrobeat and R&B, with Starr making a statement of intent as she declares “nothing’s going to kill my vibe”.

Watch: Starr is in stunning form performing at UC Berkley, singing her power ballad ‘DITR’.

Stayc:

The K-pop girl group broke out in 2020 with debut single ‘So Bad’. They’re managed by High Up Entertainment, the company founded by Black Eyed Pilseung, the production duo which has had success with a stream of K-pop stars

Hear: Last year’s ‘Stereotype’ single is a tightly-coiled salvo of pop exuberance.

Watch: See Stayc rock the stage with a live performance of ‘Stereotype’ from the KBS Song Festival, a show broadcast annually on Korean TV (think of it as South Korean pop’s answer to the Toy Show).

The Velveteers:

Described as a “primal rock trio”, the Boulder, Colorado band certainly bring a unique perspective, with singer Demi Demitro backed by two drummers.

Hear: ‘Father Of Lies’ is a thrilling onslaught which marks The Velveteers as the missing link between Royal Trux and The White Stripes.

Watch: Their live take on ‘Deep Blue Sea’ is a masterpiece in Hammond organ-driven rawness.

Lola Young:

Young has already been introduced to the mainstream via-her John Lewis Christmas ad cover of ‘Together In Electric Dreams’. That rendition – which essentially immersed the original song in a vat of Coldplay – has divided opinions. But there is agreement that Young, a 20-year-old native of Brixton, is on the fast track to the big time. Her influences range from Joni Mitchell to Anderson .Paak, and she’s recently worked with producer Paul Epworth of Adele, Florence and the Machine and Mumford and Sons renown.

Hear: ‘Fake’ is a smouldering chunk of retro balladry, featuring John Barry-style orchestration and Amy Winehouse-grade vocals.

Watch: See her recreate ‘Fake’ in all its Bond theme majesty in a Brits Rising Star session.

Yung Filly:

YouTube musician Andres Felipé Barrientos has over 700,000 subscribers to his channel. He is best known for his skits but has won fans for his single ‘100 Bags Freestyle’, where he flexes a relaxed, generous rhyming style

Hear: ‘Confidence’, his collaboration with Chunkz, has clocked up over four million Spotify streams.

Watch: The ‘100 Bags Freestyle’ video features an extended spoken-word intro from the artist.

See more of our Hot For 2022 selections here.