It is our great pleasure to reveal that Years & Years are the winners of the BBC Sound Of 2015 poll.
Watch our live session with Years & Years below
We've admired the band since we first heard them two years ago - so much so that Gigwise put them forward for the BBC's Sound Of 2014, and spent much of the last 12 months catching them live at any given opportunity. But what makes them so exciting?
Few bands that could threaten the charts have arrived recently with as much integrity or a vision as fully formed as this. With a string of flawless electropop singles under their belts in the form of 'Real', 'Take Shelter', 'Desire' and new one 'King’, their following has grown from cult to some pretty serious radio attention.
Instead of rushing out a release in 2014, they've been playing the slow game to hone their craft and become something rather special indeed: the sound of tomorrow.
They're formed of bassist Mikey Goldsworthy, keyboard player Emre Turkmen and vocalist Olly Alexander, an actor who has starred in the likes of Skins, Penny Dreadful and God Help The Girl. But this is no vanity project of a rising actor, this a band of true promise.
Expect them to be a true success story and dominate the festival season - and they're more than worthy.
Watch Years & Years perform a mash-up of 'Real' with Basement Jaxx's 'Romeo' below
“We can't really get our heads round it, Olly nearly passed out when we found out, it was so surreal and emotional," said the band after hearing the news of their winning the BBC poll. "It feels like it means we’ve got a real shot, which means the world to us. People are going to listen to what we’re going to do, and we’ve just got to not muck it up. We’ve got to make the most of it and deliver."
We're sure that they will. Welcome to 2015 - the era of Years & Years.
Listen to 'King' by Years and Years below
Years and Years will be hitting the road for their headline tour in February, including a date at London's Heaven.
FEBRUARY
26 Birmingham, Institute Temple
27 Manchester, Deaf Institute
28 Nottingham, Bodega
MARCH
02 Bristol, Thekla
05 London, Heaven
07 Brighton, The Haunt
