Photo: Ray Hill
The BBC have unveiled the longlist for the Sound Of 2015 - tipping the likes of Years & Years, Wolf Alice, Lapsley, Slaves and more for big things in the year ahead.
An impressive 13 of the 15 longlisted names are from the UK - with a wide variety of genres represented. The past 10 years of the BBC Sound Of poll have championed the likes of Haim, Florence + The Machine, Ellie Goulding, Sam Smith, Adele and many more.
The list was compiled by around 140 influential music industry experts, such as DJs, critics, broadcasters and bloggers - and including Gigwise. We were all asked to pick our top three new artists. The top five will be announced in the new year, with the winner announced on Friday 9 January 2015.
See the full longlist below:
George The Poet
James Bay
Kwabs
Låpsley
Novelist
Rae Morris
Raury
Shamir
Shura
Slaves
SOAK
Stormzy
Sunset Sons
Wolf Alice
Years & Years
Watch Years & Years perform 'Real x Romeo' for Gigwise below
“If you want to embark on a journey into the future of music, BBC Music’s ‘Sound Of 2015’ is a brilliant starting point," said George Ergatoudis, Head of Music, BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra. "With around 140 of the UK's key tastemakers taking part, the longlist is wide ranging, including grime artists, singer-songwriters, an electro-pop band, a garage punk duo and a poet amongst others.
"It’s a list full of talent and promise and I very much look forward to seeing how each artist’s story unfolds over the coming year.”
