Songbirds: London's hottest pop princesses

I was hopelessly in love and it wasn't going my way,' she says of the record's theme. It was one of those times when something really grabs you and you have the feeling that if it doesn't work out, you might have to not bother continuing with your life any more.'

She says she's through all that now, that the person in question has heard the album and responded well to it. Did she ever end up with that person? I ask. Maybe.' Is she with them now? Maybe,' she says. Her expression tells
its own story: for the first time today Elly Jackson looks radiantly happy.

La Roux's eponymous debut album is released on 29 June

Little Boots

Victoria Hesketh's pop trajectory has been breathtaking.

The artist known as Little Boots first started putting her songs on the internet in February last year and by November she was appearing on Later with Jools Holland.

So far, in 2009, she has won the BBC Sound of Music poll (which tips the hottest acts of the year), has released her album Hands (it reached number five), toured the world and played Glastonbury in an outfit designed for the occasion by Henry Holland.

It's been pretty intense, but I don't overthink too much, I just try to keep going,' says the 25-year-old, the words tumbling out of her mouth as she stirs sweetener into her coffee, ending up with cappuccino foam all over her fingers.

We are sitting in a first-floor café near Victoria's house in Bethnal Green. Her tiny frame is clad in a black cardigan and her unbrushed hair frequently flops over her wide blue eyes.

It is a great contrast to her stage persona, a zany Ziggy Stardust-esque creation who is fond of
glitter make-up, sparkling asymmetric outfits, unicorns, stars and wolf sculptures; all of which chime perfectly with her scintillating synth-based pop sound.

I always think, "If my songs were clothes, what would they look like?" So I wear shiny stuff, futuristic shapes and crystals. It's all linked. As a kid I used to dress up as fairies, ballerinas, princesses, cats, butterflies.

I'm imaginative. I've always believed in fairies and magic, I still do, kind of.'

This is not so surprising. Victoria grew up in Blackpool and cites its ethereal lights and magical tackiness as inspirations.

Her father ran a car business and her grandfather was town mayor. He used to take me to the circus and to see the illuminations every year.

It's a massive part of me. I was brought up in a place where entertainment is quite normal and that is a big part of my personality.'

Although there are no musicians in her family, Victoria was always a performer: My mum's got a demo of me singing nursery rhymes aged two.'

And when, aged five, she begged for a piano, her uncle found her one in a local pub. She wrote her first songs at 13 and won a scholarship to music school where she learned the flute and the harp (she later sold her harp to buy a synthesizer, an instrument with which she is geekishly obsessed). At 16 she tried to get on to Pop Idol, singing Feeling Good' by Nina Simone, but didn't get beyond the third round, a rejection that left her in tears but which she now says wasn't a big deal'.

She paid her way through Leeds University playing Norah Jones covers in hotel lobbies (and wrote her dissertation on the concept of originality in Jamie Cullum's music), had a stint dressing up as a Blues Brother in Belgian theme parks as part of a big band, played harp in a Pink Floyd-inspired prog-rock band and formed an indie-jazz trio called Dead Disco.

But the Little Boots story really begins after she left Dead Disco in 2007 and started making music in her parents' garage. The name Little Boots is a reference to the film Caligula (a nickname given to the lunatic Roman emperor as a child) and in 2008, she posted cover versions of songs by artists such as Madonna and The Human League, along with her own material, on YouTube.

These were charming, ramshackle per-formances broadcast from her bedroom, wearing pyjamas, which quickly gathered a following and came to the attention of Jools Holland.

Since then her life has become a whirlwind of gigs and TV appearances.

In March she played before an audience of 2,000, including Kanye West, at a Texas concert hosted by the blogger Perez Hilton, and her Glastonbury performance was one of the highlights of the festival.

She is so busy, in fact, that she rarely spends time with her new boyfriend, NME journalist Jamie Hodgson, who inspired the final two tracks on her album.

It's been a roller coaster leading up to the album and there have been mood swings. I get emotional when I'm tired and other times I'm so happy, but Jamie's been amazing. I don't know anyone else who would put up with it.'

Jamie has also helped Victoria enjoy London more. It was a place she found rather intimidating when she first arrived in February last year.

I call it Northern trauma. I'd go into shops in East London and think everyone was looking at me.

But now I love London so much, I still get excited going on the Tube or the bus or walking around.' She's also enjoying the clothes that come with her new status. I wear a lot of Alexander McQueen and I like Versace.

Oh my God, I almost ran off with a dress that I was wearing the other day. It was by Balmain and it was so beautiful with Star Trek shoulders and covered in crystals. It was my dream dress and I didn't want to give it back.'

Soon she won't, because after so many years striving on the outskirts of pop, honing her talent, creating her identity, Little Boots has it all. I love being on stage and I love writing. I'm obsessed with melodies and hooks and choruses. I'll never stop.'

Little Boots' debut album Hands is out now and her new single Remedy' is released on 19 August

Ladyhawke

Ireally miss the sun,' says Pip Brown, in her soft New Zealand lilt, choosing a seat in the direct glare of the June sunshine.

This is a surprise. Peering out from beneath the brim of a black hat, pale arms snaking from her sleeveless denim shirt and legs encased in faded jeans and pointed black boots, 29-year-old Brown looks like many things – a rock chick, a member of some ultra-cool all-girl biker gang – but a sun-worshipper isn't one of them.

However, it is best not to jump to conclusions when considering Ladyhawke. Her look may be rock, but her debut record – which has sold more than 180,000 copies in the UK alone – is laden with irresistible pop hooks.

And despite regularly performing in front of thousands of people, she is shy, often cripplingly so, and will spend days at a time avoiding all human interaction.

Three years ago, Brown was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, a form of autism. She hates the idea of being defined by the condition, but the diagnosis helped her to make sense of the extreme shyness she has struggled to overcome all her life.

As a child, growing up in a small town near Wellington in New Zealand, she would spend hours on her own, absorbed in computer games and music. Her parents separated when she was ten and her mother married a music teacher, who encouraged her talents.

Pip endured a run of appalling luck with illnesses and allergies. First she contracted erysipelas, a potentially fatal disease, and then had an extreme allergic reaction to the penicillin used to treat her, which left her in agony.

But although she is open about the difficulties she has faced, and still succumbs to bouts of stage fright before gigs, she is working hard to stay positive.

This is definitely the lifestyle I've always wanted to lead,' she says. And I feel really lucky at this point in time.'

She moved to London a couple of years ago to develop an English fanbase. The city crowds make her anxious – she initially lived in Soho but found its bustle stressful so moved to Brick Lane – and she admits she has found it hard to make friends.

Her bandmates and record company employees comprise her main social circle, but I don't regret coming over here because the UK has been the most amazing thing for me'.

A sold-out gig at Camden's 1,500-capacity Koko a few weeks ago was evidence of how far Brown has come.

This time a year ago my life sucked. I'd be the support band, I'd be booed and people would be throwing stuff at me.

But at Koko the place was completely rammed. I had tears in my eyes.'

She has not been able to cut out the self-eproach altogether – I can be really hard on myself and lock myself away and not talk to anyone' – and the scrutiny that comes with dawn-to-dusk promotional work still leaves her feeling vulnerable. But as the popularity of her record grows and the crowds she plays to swell ever bigger, there's one fact that even Brown at her most self-critical can't avoid. I guess I'm starting to realise that people like my music.'

Ladyhawke's new single Magic' is released on 24 August