1. Jessie Reyez
Toronto’s Jessie (pronounced “Yessie”) Reyez says she’s been making music “since the first grade”, but the Colombian-Canadian (pictured above), 26, only dropped her first EP, Kiddo, last April. The burgeoning R&B prodigy’s Figures already has 27 million plays on Spotify, a second hit after her appearance on Calvin Harris’s Hard to Love. Indeed, she’s racked up an impressive list of collaborators, including Chance the Rapper, King Louie and Skrillex, who were no doubt drawn to her talent for bold, no-nonsense lyrics and unforgettable hooks. Her debut LP is due out this year.
2. Ms Banks
Having dropped her first name to avoid confusion with the US TV personality, Camberwell MC Tyra Banks, 23, is solely focused on putting her postcode on the map. “That’s always been the aim: to take the South London sound global,” says the rapper. She’s already collaborated with big names such as Stormzy, Stefflon Don and JME, been hailed as “the most important woman in UK rap” by i-D magazine, and recently dropped the infectious Bangs. She’s also Nicki Minaj- approved: the American rapper took to Twitter to endorse her lyrics in November last year.
3. Superorganism
Digital natives Superorganism come from all over the globe but they’ve made HQ a vast east London house that doubles as a studio. Fronted by Orono, a 17-year-old Japanese wünderkind who writes Vampire Weekend fan fiction in her spare time, the enigmatic eight-piece were formerly members of a “creative community” who stayed connected around the world online, before settling down in what they call a “DIY pop production house” around a year ago and promptly putting together pop banger Something For Your M.I.N.D, drawing rave reviews and comparisons with Gorillaz. Frank Ocean is a big admirer.
4. Yaeji
Raised in Atlanta and Seoul, the softly spoken DJ and singer (inset, top, full name Kathy Yaeji Lee) blends elements of dance and house layered with gentle melodies, and has stormed Brooklyn’s underground rave scene. Yaeji, 24, sings in both English and Korean, with 2 EPs — Yaeji and EP2, both released last year — featuring earworms such as the delightfully oddball Raingurl. Her lyrics confront issues of awkwardness, identity and self-doubt with songs intended to have you “dance your soul out until sunrise”, and she’s also been tipped to blow up by the equally irrepressible Grimes.
5. Lewis Capaldi
Scottish singer-songwriter Capaldi, 21, already boasts a catalogue that is balm for the most troubled soul. His debut single, Bruises, was a raw, brooding piano ballad of failed relationships that shot up the Spotify charts last year, garnering more than 13 million plays in a matter of months after its release. He’s also garnered plaudits from Ellie Goulding and Niall Horan, has supported Rag ‘N’ Bone Man on tour and Jake Bugg at Reading, and he released his first EP, Bloom, last October.