2. Charli XCX
Website:http://charlixcxmusic.com/ Sometimes you hear an artist and immediately think 'They are definitely American' and I got that vibe when I first heard Charli XCX (Charlotte Aitchison to her parents). Nope, I was wrong - she's from Hertfordshire despite having a sound that wouldn't have been out of place in New York 1986. She's got a big ol' deep voice which can flit from flirty to menacing, a black heavy but distinctly polished image and has that 80's feel pinned down to within an inch of it's life. She's wasn't an 80's kid mind, she's only 19 but that didn't stop her wanting to be in music since she was little (the story goes she tried to rope in other kids in the playground to create a band with her - a Simon Cowell at age 7 clearly). So to her actual music, which is the make and break of it all really. Stay Away was the first song I heard from her and is a HUGE slice of power ballad, pulsating electro brooding out of every pore with slightly emo-esque lyrics which hide the fact she was only 18 when she released it. Her cover of Athlete - Wires converts it into a menacing gospel crypt sermon, Nuclear Seasons has just a hint of No Doubt/Gwen Stefani with a harder core wrapped in static and Oh-Oh-Oh's whilst new single You're The One juxtaposes nauseatingly fierce verses (like Katy Perry - ET done harder, better, faster, stronger to quote Daft punk) with a stupidly catchy chorus. If you want more evidence of her musical credentials, check her 3 mixtapes on Soundcloud and Youtube which are experimental electro to say the least. Once she's broken through the ranks, Charli XCX will be soaring out of the stratosphere. http://youtu.be/TGmM2l39LEs