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Sound of 2022
The Sound Of list started in 2003 with the aim to showcase the most exciting rising stars in music. 19 years later, and the aim is the same - to continue predicting some of the biggest and most exciting global superstars.
The acts that appear on Sound Of are all hand-picked by a panel of impartial music industry experts from around the world. The longlist for 2022 was unveiled in December 2021. This week we are revealing which artists were ranked in the Top 5 by our pundits, with a different act named every day.
- Looking for the Sound of 2023? Click here
TOP 5
1st - PinkPantheress
For fans of: Mura Masa, Charli XCX, Doja Cat
- There’s an air of mystery around PinkPantheress, a 20-year-old musician who prefers to keep her real identity under wraps, despite growing acclaim. “It’s not about secrecy,” she says. “I’m avoiding stress and preconceptions.”
- Born in 2001 in Bath, she makes her music in the dead of night in her university halls. Her sample-heavy sound is an intoxicating marriage of UK garage, two-step, pop and alt-rock. She calls it “new nostalgic”.
- She uses TikTok as a “focus group”, posting snippets of songs to gauge fans’ reaction before deciding whether to continue with them.
- Her breakout hit, Just For Me, went from TikTok sensation to the UK top 40 hit in the summer. Coldplay later covered it in Radio 1’s Live Lounge.
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ News: PinkPantheress made hits from her bedroom - now she's won the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Sound Of 2022
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Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Sound of 2022: Meet PinkPantheress
20 year old musician from Bath, PinkPantheress, is the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Sound of 22 winner.
2nd - Wet Leg
For fans of: Arctic Monkeys, The Big Moon, The Magic Gang
- Wet Leg appeared out of nowhere in June with their perfectly-formed debut single, Chaise Longue. A wry, deadpan indie anthem – complete with quotes from Mean Girls – it quickly amassed 3 million streams and 1 million video views.
- The band comprises childhood friends Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers, who both grew up on the Isle of Wight.
- Rhian started out as a solo act, but found the experience lonely and alienating. So she asked Hester to join her, on the condition they had to “have more fun than every other single band” or else call it quits.
- The instant success of Chaise Longue took them by surprise – “We’ve been playing big stages that we haven’t properly grown into yet,” Hester told NME – but the cheeky confidence of their subsequent singles suggests the only way is up.
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ News: Wet Leg - “We started a band for fun, now it's doing really well!”
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3rd - Mimi Webb
For fans of: Dua Lipa, Becky Hill, Selena Gomez
- Singer-songwriter Mimi Webb’s career took off instantly in 2020, when her debut single, Before I Go, was posted by TikTok star Charlie D’Amelio, gathering over 85 million views.
- Subsequent singles Good Without and Dumb Love both made the UK Top 20, while her debut EP Seven Shades of Heartbreak, charted at number nine.
- Inspired by Adele and Lewis Capaldi, she describes her music as “powerhouse sing-your-heart out songs”.
- Hailing from Canterbury, she’s been performing since she was six – and even appeared on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ One’s EastEnders as a child.
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ News: Mimi Webb - “Writing my EP helped me realise my boyfriend wasn’t right for me”
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4th - Lola Young
For fans of: Adele, Joy Crookes, Amy Winehouse
- 21-year-old Lola Young has only released a handful of singles, but her deep, expressive vocals have already seen her compared to Adele and Amy Winehouse.
- A graduate of the Brit School, she wrote her first song – an ode to Santa Claus – when she was 11. “It wasn’t great but it was the start of my development,” she said.
- More recently, the attention-grabbing singles Fake and Bad Tattoo have seen her played on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 1, and Elton John’s Rocket Hour show. As a result, she ended up recording the John Lewis Christmas song, a cover of Together In Electric Dreams.
- She had a scare last year after developing two csyts on her vocal cords. “It was terrifying, but I got it chopped off,” she said. “Now I’m back and better than ever.”
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ News: Lola Young - “Hearing my music in Topshop is weird, but it’s all I’ve ever wanted”
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5th - Central Cee
For fans of: Stormzy, AJ Tracey, Tion Wayne
- With a playful, melodic take on drill, Central Cee has emerged as one of London’s most exciting new rappers.
- Born Oakley Caesar-Su in 1998, he’s been cultivating his lyrical style since writing his first verse at the age of eight.
- After releasing freestyles throughout his teenage years, his breakthrough came in 2020, with the colourful, jazz-inflected single Loading.
- Last March, his self-released mixtape Wild Wild West debuted at number two in the album charts; while the single Obsessed With You (featuring fellow Sound of 2022 nominee Pink Pantheress) gave the 22-year-old his first top 5 hit in September.
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ News: Central Cee - “My plan for 2022? Stay alive and get richer!”
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THE LONGLIST
Radio 1's Sound of 2022: Meet the Longlist
These are the 10 artists tipped by our pundits to make a big impression in the year ahead
Baby Queen
For fans of: Charli XCX, Tove Lo, Rina Sawayama
- Baby Queen’s bold, provocative pop makes fiercely honest observations about mental health, drug use and body image.
- Born Arabella Lathum in Durban, South Africa, she moved to London six years with a stack of demo CDs, hoping to get a record contract.
- Dozens of rejection letters and one disastrous relationship later, she started the project that would become Baby Queen, writing songs while working at the Rough Trade record store in Brick Lane.
- Signed to Polydor during the pandemic, she’s connected to fans through her unflinchingly candid lyrics: " I'm the most insecure person," she says. "And the weird thing is that I thought it was just me. But it's not just me, it's everyone.”
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ENNY
For fans of: Jorja Smith, Mahalia, Ray BLK
- Two years ago, ENNY was working in a bank when she had a divine intervention. “I believe that God told me to quit my job to do music,” says the South London singer.
- The same day, she went to a recording studio and came up with her best song to date - a jazzy hip-hop track called Same Old that railed against the gentrification of her neighbourhood.
- She surpassed that with 2020’s Peng Black Girls, a celebration of black womanhood that went viral after Jorja Smith jumped on a remix. It’s since been streamed 30m times on Spotify alone.
- “To see so many black women, young black girls and even people of other races understanding what the song meant; that was an important moment,” said ENNY.
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Priya Ragu
For fans of: MIA, Kehlani, Jai Paul
- Priya Ragu’s boundary-breaking songs combine the smooth grooves of US R&B with folk music from the Tamil population of south Asia. Her music is so distinctive, in fact, it’s been given a genre of its own: “Raguwavy”.
- The singer was born and raised in Switzerland after her parents fled the civil war in Sri Lanka in the early 80s – but they kept her aware of her heritage, hosting weekly jam sessions with people from the local Tamil community.
- Priya’s parents didn’t approve of her musical ambitions, though. Even when she signed a record deal with Warner Music in 2020, they advised her not to give up her day job – as a technical purchaser buying aircraft parts.
- She finally quit when her single, Good Love 2.0 picked up international acclaim this year. The song, which celebrates her parents’ marriage, was swiftly followed by a mixtape, Damnshestamil, that picked up four star reviews from the NME and DIY magazine.
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Tems
For fans of: WizKid, Burna Boy, Tiwa Savage
- Born Temilade Openiyi in Lagos, Nigeria, Tems released her first song, Mr Rebel, in 2018 – after teaching herself how to produce and release music on YouTube.
- The song’s stripped-back groove propelled her to the forefront of Nigeria’s alté movement – a leftfield, experimental scene that promotes originality and freedom of expression.
- Over the last year, she’s collaborated with Wizkid and Justin Bieber; appeared on Drake’s Certified Lover Boy album; and released her second EP, If Orange Was A Place, leading rock bible Rolling Stone to declare: “Tems is the future”.
- “It's time to adjust to this new level that I'm on,” the 26-year-old told Elle magazine. “This is just the beginning and I can't disguise myself anymore.”
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Yard Act
For fans of: Sleaford Mods, Pulp, The Fall
- Acerbic and mischievous, Leeds quartet Yard Act have become one of the UK’s most quotable new bands, with tracks like Peanuts and Fixer Upper railing against capitalism, the media and conformity.
- The group formed in 2019, when bassist Ryan Needham moved in with vocalist James Smith – and a long-promised musical collaboration took shape.
- Their danceable, post-punk anthems combine the angular guitars of Wire and Franz Ferdinand with the spiky, spoken-word delivery of The Fall’s Mark E. Smith.
- Their debut album, due in January, tells the story of a (mostly) fictional character who finds themselves in financial difficulties and “ricochets from desk job to desperate illicit activity to police investigation.” Originally titled Yard Act: The Musical, it’s since been rechristened with a more evocative name: The Overload.