![Christine & The Queens: We were a little trepidatious when we discovered that the French electro-pop singer is recording English language versions of her best songs for her forthcoming debut album. The way the French lyrics trip from her tongue, surely, is part of her music's beauty? Well, one listen to new single 'Tilted' (a re-recorded version of 'Christine') put our minds at ease. She's genuinely brilliant, whatever language she's singing in.]()
Christine & The Queens: We were a little trepidatious when we discovered that the French electro-pop singer is recording English language versions of her best songs for her forthcoming debut album. The way the French lyrics trip from her tongue, surely, is part of her music's beauty? Well, one listen to new single 'Tilted' (a re-recorded version of 'Christine') put our minds at ease. She's genuinely brilliant, whatever language she's singing in.
![Halsey: Is it possible to be a left-field cult hero and a mainstream pop singer at the same time? Just ask Halsey. The singer produces (excellent) radio friendly hits like the poignant 'Ghost' and 'New Americana' while speaking out on race, gender and sexuality and influencing a legion of young fans. The era of sanitised, overly media-trained popstars is over. Long live Halsey.]()
Halsey: Is it possible to be a left-field cult hero and a mainstream pop singer at the same time? Just ask Halsey. The singer produces (excellent) radio friendly hits like the poignant 'Ghost' and 'New Americana' while speaking out on race, gender and sexuality and influencing a legion of young fans. The era of sanitised, overly media-trained popstars is over. Long live Halsey.
![School Of Seven Bells: The duo were partway through making their new album when Benjamin Curtis was diagnosed with lymphoma. Less than a year later, Curtis was dead and the album's fragments were put to one side while Alejandra Deheza grieved. Two years on, she's finished what they started together, and released SVIIB's final, and best, album in his honour. He would have been proud.]()
School Of Seven Bells: The duo were partway through making their new album when Benjamin Curtis was diagnosed with lymphoma. Less than a year later, Curtis was dead and the album's fragments were put to one side while Alejandra Deheza grieved. Two years on, she's finished what they started together, and released SVIIB's final, and best, album in his honour. He would have been proud.
![Rosie Lowe: The London-based singer-songwriter was scheduled to release her debut album last year, but it seems proceedings have stalled a little. Which is fine - because it gives you time to catch up with her splendid releases thus far, and start getting excited for what she's capable of with a full-length release.]()
Rosie Lowe: The London-based singer-songwriter was scheduled to release her debut album last year, but it seems proceedings have stalled a little. Which is fine - because it gives you time to catch up with her splendid releases thus far, and start getting excited for what she's capable of with a full-length release.
![The 1975: What we've heard so far of The 1975's new album sounds like the 21st century musical love-child of Prince, Arctic Monkeys and David Bowie, made entirely unique by Matt Healy's ever-perplexing vocals. It bodes pretty well for the rest of I Like It When You Sleep For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It. (Yep, that's what it's called. Unfortunately.)]()
The 1975: What we've heard so far of The 1975's new album sounds like the 21st century musical love-child of Prince, Arctic Monkeys and David Bowie, made entirely unique by Matt Healy's ever-perplexing vocals. It bodes pretty well for the rest of I Like It When You Sleep For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It. (Yep, that's what it's called. Unfortunately.)
![Aurora: Can the Norwegian teenager do no wrong? Is she incapable of writing an underwhelming song? Not if new single 'Conqueror' is anything to go by. The electro-pop musician makes crisp, impactful songs whose lyrics and melodies never fail to cut to the heart of the matter.]()
Aurora: Can the Norwegian teenager do no wrong? Is she incapable of writing an underwhelming song? Not if new single 'Conqueror' is anything to go by. The electro-pop musician makes crisp, impactful songs whose lyrics and melodies never fail to cut to the heart of the matter.
![Chairlift: If one of your New Year's resolutions was to take up running, and you've already lapsed, might we suggest sticking 'Romeo' into your earholes and stepping out your front door? It's not just the line,]()
Chairlift: If one of your New Year's resolutions was to take up running, and you've already lapsed, might we suggest sticking 'Romeo' into your earholes and stepping out your front door? It's not just the line, "put on your running shoes I'm ready to go," that makes us want to run a marathon, it's the sheer, glitchy auto-tuned joy of the song. The rest of the album, Moth, follows in the same suit.
![Little Mix: With today's sad news that recent X Factor winner Ben Haenow has been dropped from Simon Cowell's label, you might be beginning to wonder if the show serves any purpose whatsoever. Well, it doesn't seem to anymore, but we can be grateful for its existence, because it trudged up pure pop sensations Little Mix. Their latest single, 'Secret Love Song', is perhaps their strongest yet. Even Jason Derulo couldn't ruin it.]()
Little Mix: With today's sad news that recent X Factor winner Ben Haenow has been dropped from Simon Cowell's label, you might be beginning to wonder if the show serves any purpose whatsoever. Well, it doesn't seem to anymore, but we can be grateful for its existence, because it trudged up pure pop sensations Little Mix. Their latest single, 'Secret Love Song', is perhaps their strongest yet. Even Jason Derulo couldn't ruin it.
![Lucius: It's actually quite difficult to stop listening to 'Born Again Teen', which sees Lucius move from folk-pop to a synthy electro direction, with a cacophany of hooks and orchestral refrains almost alarming in their suddenness. Good Grief. That's the name of their forthcoming album, and our reaction to hearing their new stuff. In a good way. A very good way.]()
Lucius: It's actually quite difficult to stop listening to 'Born Again Teen', which sees Lucius move from folk-pop to a synthy electro direction, with a cacophany of hooks and orchestral refrains almost alarming in their suddenness. Good Grief. That's the name of their forthcoming album, and our reaction to hearing their new stuff. In a good way. A very good way.
![Astrid S:]()
Astrid S: "People look at me like I'm an alien," the Norwegian pop-noir sensation told Gigwise at the start of this year. Well if that's true, then we can only hope there's more extra-terrestrial life out there. If you needed proof that the talent show format still occasionally splutters out something great, Astrid S found game after appearing on Norwegian Pop Idol.
![Kali Uchis: Determined to march to the beat of her own drum, the Colombian musician directs her own videos, hones her own aesthetic and, of course, writes her own material. It's part hyper-feminised pop, part neo-soul and just a sprinkle of old-school doo-woop. A formidable formula.]()
Kali Uchis: Determined to march to the beat of her own drum, the Colombian musician directs her own videos, hones her own aesthetic and, of course, writes her own material. It's part hyper-feminised pop, part neo-soul and just a sprinkle of old-school doo-woop. A formidable formula.
![Shamir:]()
Shamir: "This me on the regular so you know," sings Shamir on his biggest hit thus far. We certainly hope that's true, because we sense big things to come. No one single sounds like the next, so his 2016 is hard to predict - all we can say is that it's probably going to be great.
![Sia: Sia's a veteran to the world of pop, of course - her contribution is hardly limited to 2016 - but given that she's just put out This Is Acting, we'd be remiss if we were to miss her off this list. Becoming one of the biggest popstars on the planet without even showing your face is no mean feat.]()
Sia: Sia's a veteran to the world of pop, of course - her contribution is hardly limited to 2016 - but given that she's just put out This Is Acting, we'd be remiss if we were to miss her off this list. Becoming one of the biggest popstars on the planet without even showing your face is no mean feat.