Hot For 2025: International Acts Set To Make A Splash This Year

Frankie Archer

Folk goes eclectic and electric in the music of Northumbria’s Frankie Archer, whose plugged in take on the ancient songs of her homeland has drawn comparison to James Blake and Hannah Peel.

Hear: ‘Elsie Marley’
Watch: An early calling card was her performance of ‘Oxford City’ on Later...With
Jools Holland.

Bini

Forget K-Pop and say hello to this Filipino girl group, with eight members who boast a maximalist sound.

Hear: ’Salamin, Salamin’
Watch: A live performance of single ‘Cherry On Top’ filmed before a screaming crowd in the Philippines captures the group at full tilt.

Victoria Canal

The Spanish-American singer strode confidently into the spotlight when invited to guest with Coldplay at Glastonbury last year. Her piano-based pop is both delicate and expressive – sustenance for the head and heart.

Hear: ‘Swan Song’
Watch: Check out the folksy ‘California Sober’, performed live with her band in a room outfitted with candles.

Delivery

Signed to Kneecap label Heavenly, this Australian garage-punk quartert are in a proud tradition of Southern Hemisphere bands cutting and pasting shoe-string production and melodic songwriting to dazzling effect.

Hear: ‘Baader Meinhof‘
Watch: The video to Pavement-esque single ‘The New Alphabet’ has the quintet dressed in purple cult robes and goofing off at a local park.

Divorce

Nirvana-meets-Wilco in the tuneful-yet-apocalyptic rock of the Nottingham outfit.

Hear : ‘Antarctica’
Watch: A live acoustic recording of ‘Antartica’ amps up the soulfulness to stunning effect and showcases Tiger Cohen-Towell’s expressive vocals.

Doechii

Tampa, Floria rapper Jaylah Ji’mya Hickmon has already clocked up two Grammy nods for their sparklingly accessible mash-up of hip hop and chart pop.

Hear: ‘Denial Is A River’
Watch: You can tell Hickmon is going places because she’s already received the accolade of an NPR Tiny Desk concert.

FCUKERS

New York electro trio FCUKERs come on like Yeah Yeah Yeahs possessed by the restless ghost of early LCD Soundsystem, with a nod to Crystal Castles.

Hear: ‘Bon Bon’
Watch: The video to ‘Tommy’ is a grimy epic featuring a chap body-popping down a mysterious dark alley.

Good Neighbours

The Essex pairing combine a first-foot-forward pop sensibility with a love for full-on production, brimming with beefy bass and Vampire Weekend-style guitar.

Hear: ‘Bloom’
Watch: A live reprisal of their single, ‘Home’ captures their giddy charms.

Rose Gray

The London producer is kicking up a fuss via euphoric beats and free-floating vocals – like a rave in a confession box.

Hear: ‘Angel Of Satisfaction’
Watch: It all goes high-concept in the cinematic video to 2024 single ‘Afraid Of Nothing’, which finds Gray trying out a spot of synchronised bopping with dancers in orange facemasks. We’ve all been there.

Heartworms

Goth is back courtesy of gloom-infused North London songwriter Jojo Orme, whose cool-to-the-touch monochrome pop has seen her support St Vincent and drawn the support of Speedy Wunderground, the label run by Fontaines DC producer Dan Carey.

Hear: ‘Warplane’
Watch: The video to ‘Extraordinary Wings’ unspools like a stylised folk-horror movie – a Blair Witch Project you can dance to.

H.LLS

Pronounced “Halls”, this elusive London artist has kept their real identity under wraps – but the secret is out about their gorgeously dark production.

Hear : ‘Can’t Wait’
Watch: The visualiser video to ‘Here We Go’ ripples with loopy charm.

HotWax

Hear the 1990s come alive in the sludgy, grunge-meets-shoegaze onslaught of this female-fronted UK four-piece who channel The Breeders and Veruca Salt, whilst bringing their own blend of Gen Z angst.

Hear: ‘Wanna Be A Doll’
Watch:  A live zip through ‘Wanna Be A Doll’ from RAK Studios confirms their incendiary powers.

Honesty

Improvisation is top of the agenda for the Leeds collective, whose music draws on everything from jazz to hip-hop and whose collaborators include Florence Shaw of Dry Cleaning and rapper Kosi Tides.

Hear: ’Tormentor’.
Watch: Thrillingly creepy single ‘Cease’ is accompanied by an appropriately un-mooring video, in which the countryside is filtered through a prism of uncanny static.

Jasmine.4.T

With a debut album produced by indie supergroup Boygenius, it’s no surprise Manchester songwriter Jasmine Cruickshank is causing a stir – with songs that blend confessional lyrics and dexterous indie songcraft.

Hear: ‘You Are The Morning’
Watch: ‘Elephant’ is filmed on a shoestring video, with Cruickshank singing her heart out while walking around inner Manchester.

Sarah Kinsley

Raised between Singapore and Connecticut, 24-year-old Kinsley specialises in taut singer-songwriter pop that hangs in a haunted liminal space between St Vincent and Angel Olsen.

Hear: ‘The Last Time We Never Meet Again’
Watch: The video to ‘Knights’ finds Kinsley looking appropriately windswept as she dallies in a churning ocean.

Lambrini Girls

Scorched earth guitar and bass blend with by turns tongue-in-cheek and heart-on-sleeve lyrics from a Brighton duo championed by, among others, Iggy Pop.

Hear: ‘Cuntology 101’
Watch: A 25-minute show filmed for US radio station KEXP catches the duo in all their messy, political, uproarious glory.

Anthony Szmierek

A product of the Manchester spoken-word scene, there are echoes of Kae Tempest and Sleaford Mods in his mix of sophisticated word-play and old-school beats.

Hear: ‘Yoga Teacher’
Watch: The video to The Great Pyramid Of Stockport’ finds the artist taking an EasyJet flight to Cairo and grooving in the shadow of the pyramids.

VCHA

K-pop’s new kids on the block, VCHA, can do blockbusting ballads, stripped-back rap and energetic pop numbers with effortless aplomb.

Hear: ‘Y.O Universe’
Watch: Unfolding in a Barbie-style playhouse, ‘Only One’ blends catchy hooks, blistering choreography and impressive home decor.

Wishy

The 1990s soar again thanks to an Indiana five-piece who tap into The Sundays, Cocteau Twins and My Bloody Valentine.

Hear: ‘Triple Seven’.
Watch: Lo-fi visuals  match up perfectly with the effervescent bedroom pop of ‘Just Like Sunday’.

Yoo Doo Right

As you’d expect of a post-rock outfit named after a song by Krautrock icons Can, Yoo Doo Right are all about noise cranked up for maximum effect.

Hear: ‘Spirit’s Heavy, But Not Overthrown, Part 1’
Watch : The discombobulating video to ‘Eiger Glacier’ features robed figures ascending a black and white hill as torrents of feedback build.