2009's hot new acts La Roux, Daniel Merriweather, Boy Crisis, Violens, Kid Cudi, The Days, Emma Deigman, The Virgins, Metro Station (2)

Prev

• 
• 
• 

Next

View gallery

La Roux

Elly Jackson, a 20-year-old  Londoner, has an Olympic flame of hair and a note-straining falsetto that gives you goose bumps. She’s ­supporting Lily Allen later this year, but their only similarity­ is ­physiological. She’s one half of La Roux, who play ­addictive, otherworldy synth-pop ­propelled by a rampant 80s obsession, with a capital OMD.

Daniel Merriweather

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but I think we’ve found the hottest talent of the new year. Australian ­Merriweather, 26, rose to prominence with his brilliant Smiths cover of Stop Me for Mark Ronson. Since Ronson has ­produced his debut, Love & War, it’s a fair chance it’ll be pretty darn good, too.

Boy Crisis

Boy Crisis are a musical hot potato – not literally, ­although that’s something the guys at Samsung should look into – but they divide opinion. For some, the New York ­hipster band are too cool, too try-hard, too throwaway. They’re mates with MGMT and sound a bit like them, as well as Beck, Tiga, and Scissor Sisters. But I love ’em. The only Crisis is how we’ll cope till the album comes out.

Violens

Violens (pronounced Vy-lens) produce warm, hazy West Coast indie, despite hailing from the East Coast... of America that is, not Great Yarmouth. Like Boy Crisis, they have something of MGMT about them, which is no bad thing, if a bit predictable.

Kid Cudi

The huge crossover appeal of 23-year-old Cleveland rapper Kid Cudi makes him the hip hop artist to watch. Kanye West not only signed him to his label, Good Music, but featured him on his CD 808s & Heartbreak. Like ­Kanye’s smash Stronger, Cudi walks the line between hip hop and dance with a more  light-hearted approach than most of his po-faced peers.

The Days

This Devon quartet are a Hoosier-McFly pie with Kaiser Chiefs filling. Chirpy sing-alongs, just the right side of ­irritating, and a cheek-pinching cute factor. I wasn’t convinced till I heard their cover of Usher’s Love in this Club.

Emma Deigman

Why do we need another Joss Stone? “­Because the old one is so bloody annoying” would be the simple answer. There’s no denying the sunny soulfulness of this 20-year-old from Buckinghamshire. Her ­biggest influence is Rod ­Stewart – already a fan, along with Gary Barlow. Deigman has tasted fame, singing Hard Knock Life with Jay-Z on Top of the Pops when she was 10. A great start – but things can only get better.

The Virgins

Another post-Strokes band who play sexy as well as guitars. The New Yorkers do the laid-back nonchalance thing, but also a nice line in MOR disco-funk-lite with the odd lick of falsetto. Being a virgin (Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus) is so 2008 – being a Virgin is totally now!

Metro Station

Talking of Miley Cyrus, her tattooed and pierced brother Trace, 19, is in an electro emo band. Considering how wank they look, they don’t sound as awful as you’d imagine. Imagine a fey Fall Out Boy. What? That’s not a good thing?