Pop Is Back — And These Are the 10 Acts We’re Most Excited About This Year

U.K. artist Jessica Winter is a pop-music obsessive whose sound and lyrics are high-concept experimentations that test how far she can take the genre. This was noticeable on her 2023 EP Limerence, where she explored the stages of limerence through the five songs on the project. In between her solo music, she’s worked with a diverse roster of artists, including electronic band Metronomy and Clipping’s Jonathan Snipes. According to her Instagram bio, she’s currently making her debut album, which means the best might be yet to come from this buzzy star-to-be.

Albuquerque’s Chezile has been going viral on TikTok with his psychedelic track “Beanie.” His sound has hints of Frank Ocean and Tame Impala, a powerful sound combination that has attracted over 17 million monthly listeners already. “Beanie” appeared on his 2024 EP 47, which shows off how addictive and moving and sexy his music can be. With his single still blowing up it’s anyone’s guess how much bigger he and his song will get in the coming months.

Dora Jar is probably a pretty familiar name to some pop fans. She’s opened for Billie Eilish and the 1975 on recent tours and has a slot opening for Gracie Abrams this year. She’s been bubbling under for a minute but her bedroom-pop sound really found its stride on her debut album, last year’s No Way to Relax When You Are on Fire. The production and lyrics are inventive and often moving, transporting her listeners into her fantastical musical world. And even before having a big mainstream break, she’s always impacting some other big names: Artists like Conan Gray and Remi Wolf have cited Jar as inspirations for their own music.

These downtown darlings have been swirling around the NYC scene for some time, but their debut EP Baggy$$ showcased the level of fun the band is about to bring to the dance and pop scene. Fronted by vocalist Shannon Wise, Fcukers was formed by former Spud Cannon members Jackson Walker Lewis and Ben Scharf who wanted to make a more house music-focused project. They’ve already become a festival circuit fixture globally and have gotten the attention of LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy, with whom they worked on a remix.

You’ve probably seen Flowerovlove before. The budding pop star was making a name for herself as a model in her early teens, walking in Paris Fashion Week and appearing in campaigns for brands like Gucci and Maison Kitsuné. After independently releasing her debut EP A Mosh Pit in the Clouds, she started getting global attention and famous fans, like SZA who has posted about the singer-songwriter multiple times. Last year, Flowerovlove performed at Glastonbury and released the dreamy Ache in My Tooth EP on Capitol.

New Jersey-born Gigi Perez is on track to become a household name this year. Her self-released single “Sailor Song,” from 2024, peaked at Number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 and hit Number One in the U.K. and Ireland. That wasn’t even her first taste of success: The 24-year-old singer-songwriter started posting her songs on TikTok, going viral in 2021 with the tracks “Celene” and “Sometimes (Backwoods).” Here indie-folk song and yearning-centric lyrics have captured a lot of ears and hearts, eventually getting her a contract on Island in the fall. While “Sailor Song” and latest single “Fable” still grow, her fans and global listeners are anxiously awaiting her debut album which could be what helps push her to superstar territory.

Drawing from shoegaze and grunge, the New Zealand newcomer’s sound is raw and moody. The singer-songwriter first started gaining attention for her artistic abilities outside of music, sharing her stop-motion graphics and animation on TikTok, which brings a whole visual layer to her music. She released her debut EP Why Aren’t You Laughing? in 2023 and has been dropping new singles every since, including the rubbery and weird “Look What You’re Doing to Me” from this January.

Detroit’s Sam Austins is limitless in his sounds and inspirations. He was homeless as a teen and started releasing music independently. Those early songs and projects got him a lot of attention; he performed with the likes of Vince Staples and Playboi Carti and got a song placed on Euphoria. He was signed for a bit but is independent again, with his biggest hit yet: the buoyant, dance-y, and hypnotic “Seasons,” which has captured nearly 30 million listens on Spotify. The song is bound to catch even more attention, especially as Austins sets out on tour with Magdalena Bay this spring.

Dirty Hit’s latest breakout is Saya Gray, who is gearing up to release her debut album this February. The Canadian singer was already an esteemed multi-instrumentalist, having toured with Daniel Caesar, Willow, and Liam Payne. She started releasing solo music in 2022 to acclaim and buzz. Her sound has hints of alt-rock and psychedelic-R&B, making for truly exhilarating sonic landscapes in her songs. Next up, she’ll be touring around the world in support of the album, hitting Europe in April and select North American cities in May.

French artist Yseult has been around for some time, but she experienced a huge global breakthrough last summer when she performed “My Way” at the Paris Olympics Closing Ceremony. Her appearance there came a decade after she competed in Nouvelle Star, the French version of Pop Idol. Her first label contract didn’t pan out the way she may have hoped so she entered the world of modeling for some time before establishing an independent label, from which she released her 2024 album Mental. The experimental, avant-garde pop star has been getting attention across the world from her peers, having collaborated with Anitta, Pablo Vittar, and Shygirl in the last year.