If you’re like me, you don’t listen to the radio anymore and it feels like the same six songs are playing every day for months on end. As much as I love repeatedly hearing Magic! plead to his girlfriend’s dad about marrying her, it might be time for a change of pace. There are a lot of talented musical artists vying for the spotlight, and a good number of them are women.
With Beyoncé’s surprise album release last year still in conversation and Nicki Minaj’s overwhelming list of recent accomplishments, women in the music industry are topping the charts. There are plenty of other quality artists out there, and most of them aren’t well-known at all.
Many of these women are slowly building themselves a fanbase, though, and if you want to stay ahead of the game, you should be keeping an eye on them.
Ella Eyre is a 20-year-old singer-songwriter from London. She began making waves thanks to her collaborations with Rudimental in “Waiting All Night” and with Naughty Boy and Wiz Khalifa in “Think About It.” Ever since then, she’s been steadily cranking out songs in the pop, R&B and soul genres. Her songs tend to start out slow and muted, which attracts your attention and makes you listen to what she’s saying. The songs then build into the verses and suddenly explode when the chorus comes on, and before you know it, you have a crazy urge to jump up and dance. This happens in her most recent track, “If I Go,” which has garnered nearly 4.5 million listens on Spotify.
Make sure to also keep your eye on FKA twigs (nicknamed Twigs), a 26-year-old from Gloucestershire, England.
Like Eyre, Twigs began to sing professionally in 2012, but she has a very different style of music. Specializing in PBR&B, trip hop and electronic, her tracks have a strange, ethereal feel to them. Her most popular song, “Two Weeks,” has a slow, steady beat throughout, and her voice overlaid onto the number of background add-ins gives the song the smoky atmosphere of a trance track. Twigs already has a lot of performing experience under her belt; she paved her way by appearing as a dancer in videos for Ed Sheeran, Jessie J and Taio Cruz. She’s definitely someone to watch out for on the charts this fall.
Finally, SZA is a 23-year-old American-born singer-songwriter who set out on her musical career in 2011, focusing on the styles of PBR&B and neo-soul. SZA’s music has a dreamy feel that puts you in a bit of a daze, and her voice alternates between an appealing rasp and clear, steady notes.
Her popular releases feature a variety of famous names including Chance the Rapper, Kendrick Lamar and Isaiah Rashad, a track record that has given her a lot of exposure over the years. SZA’s name is getting bigger and bigger, and fans are waiting to see what she releases next.
With names like Beyoncé and Nicki Minaj at the top of the charts, these women have a lot to compete with. But give their music a try, let their songs take you to another world and soon they’ll be sure to make it to the top.
By Kelsey Klosterman, Staff Writer
The Emory Wheel was founded in 1919 and is currently the only independent, student-run newspaper of Emory University. The Wheel publishes weekly on Wednesdays during the academic year, except during University holidays and scheduled publication intermissions.
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