Sound of 2021

It's that time again, when the UK industry tries to steer the ship for the next 12 months. The longlist of names for its rundown has been released today:

BBC Sound of 2021 longlist includes Griff, Girl In Red and Greentea Peng - BBC News

The 10 acts in the running are:

Alfie Templeman
Berwyn
Bree Runway
Dutchavelli
Girl In Red
Greentea Peng
Griff
Holly Humberstone
Pa Salieu
The Lathums

I've heard of most of them already. But they do suggest 2021 could be a bit different.

The countdown happened last week, but didn't wave a ripple of interest. Here's the top 5 anyway:

05 Griff
04 Greentea Peng
03 Berwyn
02 Holly Humberstone
01 PA SALIEU

Well, there it is.

Box Fresh: 2021 Spotlight
To launch their new list, Abbie and Yinka went to Alexandra Palace to talk to and hear performances from Arlo Parks, The Snuts, Pa Salieu, Gracey and 220 Kid, all of whom have already had hits, some from 2019 even. Still, they're good shows.

Also in that Spotlight show were brief mentions for Ashnikko, Awa, Tion Wayne and Griff.

Fresh Focus: The Snuts
They hail from Scotland, and experience some rough jobs. They were able to get a lot of studio time to practice. They toured with Lewis Capaldi in the Autumn of 2019.

Fresh Focus: Arlo Parks
She was busy last year, writing her album. The songs were written over a long time. She talked of how she came up with her name.

Fresh Focus: Gracey
She's from Brighton, and started on Soundcloud before being spotted by Xenomania at 16. She spent time clubbing.

Fresh Focus: 220 Kid
He's a Londoner. He uses music as a form of therapy. He's had a couple of hits with collaborations already.

Fresh Focus: Pa Salieu
He's from Coventry, though has also spent time with family in the Gambia. He moved to London at the start of the pandemic. His parents are proud of his music. He's been in the business for 2 and a half years. I'd been pronouncing it Sal-yer, but it's Saloo apparently.

Ashnikko's album entered at #19 last week and fell to #95 this.

Olivia Rodrigo, who didn't feature in this list, is still #1 with her debut single.

Arlo Parks' album entered at #3, far more successful than any of the singles from it.

(Celeste, Sound of 2020 winner, saw her album in at #1.)

Fresh This Month - February
Back to the usual half-hearted form, with Disciples, Ava Max and Everyone You Know offering something a little extra than some of the other over-familiar contributors.

Later w/Jools Holland - Arlo Parks
He's back again with the same one-to-one format. Radiohead are her favourite band. A clip of Erykah Badu talking about how she took her name brought in how Arlo took hers. She was a short story writer, then a poet. Her mother is French, her father is Nigerian. The title of her album came from a Zadie Smith book. One of her tracks was included on Michelle Obama's playlist.

Fresh This Month - March
A mixture including Jade Bird, Bree Runway, Glass Animals, Tom Grennan, and the ubiquitous Raye.

Fresh From Home - Griff
She's from Kings Langley, and is half-Jamaican, half-Chinese. She took an A-level in Textiles. She had a varied musical upbringing. She performed Black Hole, and Good Stuff.

The three nominations for the Rising Star Brit awards were revealed as:

Griff
Pa Salieu
Rina Sawayama

Hmm.

misery guts wrote:The three nominations for the Rising Star Brit awards were revealed as:

Griff
Pa Salieu
Rina Sawayama

Hmm.

Griff got the nod this time.

Fresh From Home - Iann Dior
He's a Puerto Rican singer-songwriter based in LA. He grew up listening to Jay Z and J Cole. He's had a Billboard #1, and used Soundcloud. He speaks Spanish, so expects to tap into the Latin market. He's working on his album.

Fresh This Month (April)
A shorter selection for some reason, but Rag N Bone Man, Celeste and JC Stewart were good to hear from.

Tune & BBC Music Introducing presents...
Phoebe I-H and Shereen Cutkelvin introduced the likes of Alex Amor, Bemz, Aiitee ft Nathan Somevi, and The Snuts. Some chats, mostly performances.

Tune & BBC Music Introducing presents...
A 2nd run-out from Phoene and Shereen, this time with Taahliah ft Lucia, Dead Pony, Rianne Downey, Sarya and Memes.

Tune: Dead Pony
A separate (short) show of their own, a three-piece callling themselves "post-grunge". They talked about the tight-knit Glasgow scene, and the impact of Covid, and played songs like Everything Is Easy.

Tune: Jack Cochrane
The Snuts singer performed along (well, there was an un-named cellist/double bassist), who included a cover of Blowin' In The Wind among his choices, being a writer since he was a teenager, and adding late tracks to their album.

Fresh From Home: Kawala
Another month... they're a band from Kentish Town and had a few singles out in 2020 like Ticket To Ride (not a cover). One of their songs was used in a FIFA game, earning them a certain kudos.  They found George Ezra a nice bloke, and are unafraid to make silly videos.

Tune: The Ninth Wave
A duo, it seems, who also spoke of the pandemic and missing connection with fans. They managed a few songs too, such as There Is Nothing I Hate More Than Small Talk.

Fresh This Month (May)
A fairly un-fresh selection of material which has been out a while; at least the Snuts' track Glasgow was novel. NeYo did his first hit So Sick for reasons that elude me. Also the use of Ella Henderson & Tom Grennan's video rather defeats the object of the show.

Fresh From Home: Remi Wolf
She's from LA, but grew up in Palo Alto. She worked with Dominic Fike on a remix of one of her tracks. She got good feedback from Elton John. She played Photo ID, and Liz. She makes colourful weird movies in her videos.

Fresh This Month (June)
Perhaps next month they'll be back to the old format. Here there were performances from Maisie Peters, Becky Hill, Shane Codd, James Arthur and more. Some utilised technology to allow inclusions of guest acts who were clearly very elsewhere.

TUNE - Step into the Spotlight
A short but welcome showcase, introduced by Kerr Okan again, and performances from Nova Scotia The Truth, Oakzy B, India Ros3 and finally Sean Focus.

Fresh Focus: Mimi Webbe
Abbie Macarthy was finally able to talk to Mimi in a one-to-one setting about being from Canterbury, and becoming a hit during the pandemic. She had many wide goals, from winning Grammys to doing a Bond theme. She did her two current hits as well.

Fresh This Month (July)
Almost back to normal for this format, with Sigrid, Chloe Moriondo, Noizu and Polo G for a change.

Unmuted - Enny
A short chat to the rising star, about her Peng Black Girls video, her background and friends, getting writer's block in lockdown, and the problem of oversexualised female rappers treated as role models.

TUNE: Brooke Combe
Filmed in Strathyre Forest, she did a couple of numbers, talked about her tough year, and not having done any live gigs. Apparently her version of Yes Sir I Can Boogie garnered her a lot of attention.

Fresh This Month (August)
Still not back on the old format, so performances from London Grammar, Calum Scott, James Arthur, Bissett, Hamzaa ft Miraa May and finally some newbie called Ed Sheeran 

MTV Push presents: Olivia Rodrigo
She's  from Temecula, California, and was writing songs from young. Took piano lessons at 9, and was a great student. We got to hear Deja Vu, Drivers Licence, and Good 4 U. She keeps notes on her phone, and main collaborator is Dan somebody.

TUNE: Dylan Fraser
He sang at some nature reserve, and feels no qualms at the use of swearing in songs, though it seemed to be unhelpful to his material.

Fresh This Month (September)
It's not as though Abbie and Yinka have been dumped, but the same performance format persists, mixing acts who do actually need exposure like this, such as Mahalia and Maisie Peters, and those who are a bit saturated, like KSI and Rita Ora.

Tune & BBC Music Introducing presents...
A welcome return for this series, with Phoebe and Shereen again. Brooke Combe topped and tailed with performances, Cara Rose did a number, Declan Welsh and the Decadent West were featured with a performance from TRNSMT, but there was a long feature on Pretty Preachers Club, a duo who got together and had success with an EP during lockdown, but now had to make their live debut at Broadcast (and it went okay).