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Tom Odell

Now, it's no secret whatsoever that I absolutely detested Tom for a long while, and Joseph can confirm that. Every mention of the name from him on MSN and it was greeted firmly with Britney Spears' daggers (also known as eyes x). I still don't believe he has the *best* voice ever, but after I blackmailed Joseph into listening to Frankmusik's wonderful album 'Between' in exchange for me giving 'Long Way Down' ANOTHER try; I was left surprised. It's actually a really good and consistent album. He has a lot of potential to flourish into a great artist (but in terms of Critics' Choice winners, he's a long way off being anywhere NEAR as good as Queen Emeli). But after that success, he's definitely shown that he is a great artist and has given this year a lot! (as well as getting a 0/10 rating from NME)

Favourite track by Tom: 'Can't Pretend'
What should you check out?: 'Grow Old With Me', 'Another Love', 'I Know', 'Supposed to Be'
(all from the album 'Long Way Down')

Chart Runs
N/A

Edited December 1, 201311 yr by Emeli Santá

:o Colour me shocked! G'WON TOM ODELL :cheer: Such an amazing album, I can't even explain.

 

Favourite track by Kacey: 'Can't Pretend'

 

:kink:

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Lucy Spraggan

The first (yes, there's more to come!) of the X Factor alumni to appear here is Lucy Spraggan who starred in the 2012 series of the show. She had to pull out though due to illness and not wanting to proceed because of that and see other people eliminated in her place. From her audition, she was probably one of the most quirky contestants of the year, and she went on to prove this this year with her début album, 'Join the Club'. It's amazing, and shows exactly how amazing she is. Although she had already released music onto iTunes in 2012, it was this year that she "exploded" (if that's a word to use here). She's given a lot - especially in the form of her fantastic single, 'Mountains' - I'm not ashamed to say that although it's so soon since it's been released; I can't wait for her second album!

Favourite track by Lucy: 'Mountains'
What should you check out?: 'Lighthouse', 'The Tourist', 'Mountains', 'Last Night (Beer Fear)', 'You're Too Young'
(all from the album 'Join the Club')

Chart Runs
Join the Club - (8-9-11-16-17)
Mountains - (25-23-30-34-41-44-49-47-46)
Someone - (46)

Kacey and Tom :wub:

I wish someone besides me loved "Blowin' Smoke" off Same Trailer Different Park

Oh and Lucy! She had a great year!

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Iggy Azalea

Somebody who started off with the year brilliantly but has now gone a bit skeewiff is Iggy Azalea. I'm not that big a fan of her début, 'Work', but it's a nice enough song. The one that really grabbed my attention and made me fall in love with her was 'Bounce'. She's gonna have a tough job ahead of her trying to top that. The third single 'Change Your Life' was an early challenger, but it soon got quite irritating. Nonetheless, no matter how irritating the songs are, she's one of the most talented female singers/rappers 2013 has produced, and it's just a shame we now have to wait until 2014 to hear her album which is no doubt going to be brilliant (and, as the title suggests, a new classic).

Favourite track by Iggy: 'Bounce'
What should you check out?: 'Work', 'Bounce', 'Change Your Life'
(all from the album 'The New Classic')

Chart Runs
Work - (16-18-26-32-39)
Bounce - (4-8-9-16-22-34-39-47)
Change Your Life - (9-11-16-24-32-35-39-43-50)

NO.

 

This Union J & Stooshe love is completely unacceptable.

I like Blowin' Smoke, Riser! It's just not as good as a couple of the other ones. :kink:

 

Lucy Spraggan is great, surprisingly love her album as I wasn't massive on her when she was on X Factor. Iggy though *.* three singles, three of the best songs of the year.

Nice to see Iggy making an appearance; one of my favourite artists of 2013 too! :wub: Big fan since 'Work' was released and I've loved all 3 of her singles. Quite a few albums I'm looking forward to in Q1 of 2014 with Iggy's included.

Edited December 1, 201311 yr by liamk97

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Lewis Watson

I discovered Lewis around about August time when I was looking through Facebook for some new artists. He's just a normal guy with a guitar, and it's great that he's getting a bit of recognition now! He's been featured as 'upcoming star' in a few newspapers as well as taking Facebook by storm just a tiny bit. He's also now got a collaboration with Gabrielle Aplin which is absolutely stunning; so to have him on a song with another of 2013's finest is great! Likewise with another of the top 15 here, he can easily be slotted into the acts to look out for in 2014 too because that'll be when his début album (hopefully) drops and he becomes the star he is so obviously destined to be!

Favourite track by Lewis: 'Calling'
What should you check out?: 'Droplets', 'Calling', 'Into the Wild'
(all from the EP 'The Wild')

Chart Runs
The Wild EP - (9-8-8-11-13-15-16)

Yay for Lewis Watson, Calling is an absolute beauty. Can't wait for an album of his.

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Austin Mahone

Despite having a few songs out before this year, Austin seems to have exploded in a massive way this year following the release of his AMAZING single, 'What About Love', and the impending release of new single 'Banga! Banga!'. He's such a cute little bundle of joy, and he is so SEXY in the video for 'What About Love'. He has such a fantastic voice, so it's great to see somebody challenging the likes of Justin Bieber, Cody Simpson, Ulrik Munther and Greyson Cance for my support. As applies to the others, he can probably come under those to come in 2014 due to his album (hopefully) coming then, but he's given us one of the greatest songs of 2013 and is one of the best new talents! I do think that his SEXINESS, HOTNESS, CUTENESS and just general AROUSING LOOK distracts from his music somewhat, though.

Favourite track by Austin: 'What About Love'
What should you check out?: 'Say You're Just A Friend', 'What About Love', 'Banga! Banga!'
(all new music not on an album)

Chart Runs
What About Love - (7-4-3-2-2-2-4-6-9-12-18-20-13-15-18-24-29-33-40-46-49-42-47-48)
Banga! Banga! - (5-4-7-15)

Greyson Cance

 

:)

 

Yay for Austin, he's showing a lot of promise right now. Just no more Say You're Just a Friend type stuff please.

Yep expected Union J to be #1. Woop, was very surprised with it after the singles didn't completely wow me.

 

Quite a few good names here too. Austin OF COURSE deserves to be massive (as i'm sure he is~).

(as i'm sure he is~).

We'd both LOVE to find out

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The 1975

I'm not really sure WHY I love these guys as much as I do, but one thing I'm sure of is that I DO. They've had numerous EPs out before releasing their début self-titled album, but it was only this year that they were really recognised. They had success with both 'Chocolate' and 'The City'. But more interestingly, what I did not know is that the band's lead singer Matthew Healy is actually the son of Denise Welch and Tim Healy (silly not to have known that now given the surname). Denise had always spoken on Loose Women of having a son in a band, but I didn't realise it was THIS band. 'The City' is by far my favourite song of theirs, and I believe they have a great future ahead of them after leading 2013 as one of the best groups!

Favourite track by The 1975: 'The City'
What should you check out?: 'Chocolate', 'Sex', 'The City', 'Girls', 'Menswear'
(all new music on 'The 1975')

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Jack Walton

So he only really has one song available at the moment, but Giles Potter's friend Jack Walton (who happens to be incredibly sexy) has SO much potential and I can see him making a name for himself if he builds up a good enough and strong enough fanbase and manages to release a few songs following 'The Way Out' on iTunes. He already has some friendly support in the form of Giles, and it appears he has a good management team behind us, so I'm hoping that 2014 has big things in store for him, following the in-success of his material released this year, massive among his fanbase. Of course, most of you probably won't have heard of him, but DO give the song a try; it's stunning!

Favourite track by Jack: 'The Way Out'
What should you check out?: 'The Way Out'
(all new music not on an album)

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James Arthur

Another X Factor alumni and this time it's the 2012 champion James Arthur. He's had a fantastic year this year, but as he described on The X Factor earlier this evening it's had its highs and it's also had its lows. He started off by claiming #1 with a cover of Shontelle's 'Impossible' which is MILES better than the original. He then went on to release 'You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You' which fronted his self-titled début album. And now, he's going on to release 'Recovery' as the third single which he performed so beautifully on The X Factor. But, there's one song screaming out to me and that of course is the Emeli Sandé duet, 'Roses'. He's been one of THE stars of 2013, and I think that his career is going to continue to blossom and he's going to be an act to TREASURE. I imagine he'll be headlining (or at least being a part of) a lot of festivals next summer.

Favourite track by James: 'Roses'
What should you check out?: 'You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You', 'Impossible', 'Roses', 'Is This Love?', 'Certain Things'
(all new music on 'James Arthur')

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Jake Quickenden

Yet another X Factor alumni and this time it's the absolutely fantastic Jake Quickenden. This is the guy that I fell in love with first on last year's series of the show, before he was swiftly overtaken by the sensational Carolynne Poole who was CRUELLY taken from us before her time. He was sadly eliminated at the Judges' Houses stage of the competition, but this year he has gone on to independently release his own music and has been lucky enough to have them on iTunes! They're absolutely fantastic, with both of them being #1 smashes in Sandénia - and they are of course 'Mile High' and 'Walk Away'. He's yet to release another single but throughout the year he's been putting some of his self-penned tracks on YouTube for us to see, so I think the future's bright for him, but he just needs to get a label to sign him; surely can't be that difficult for somebody to spot the talent he beholds?! Plus, he's looking DAMN FINE on this month's edition of GT #shamelessplug

Favourite track by Jake: 'Mile High'
What should you check out?: 'Walk Away', 'Mile High'
(all new music not on an album)

Edited December 2, 201311 yr by Calum Sandé

I approve of The 1975 the most so far. x

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Naughty Boy

One of the finest talents to come out of 2013 is the still-emerging Naughty Boy, who doesn't sing (which appears to be a common misconception), but produces. His début album 'Hotel Cabana' is one of the best of the year. I don't want to make this post about Emeli, but I AM. She's probably partly responsible for him being recognised in the major way that he has. Not only did he feature heavily on her début album 'Our Version of Events', by producing most of the tracks and featuring on the second single 'Daddy', but she also featured a lot on 'Hotel Cabana'. In a sense, they've both given each other a platform to spring from, and they're both best friends, so it's great to have something like that in the industry - two power forces collaborating a lot of the time and making some of the best music around! One of the biggest talents to have emerged this year, and I sense this is just the beginning for him with many more great tracks (and #1's!!) to come.

Favourite track by Naughty Boy: 'Pluto'
What should you check out?: 'Wonder', 'Hollywood', 'Pluto', 'So Strong', 'One Way', 'Lifted'
(all new music on 'Hotel Cabana')