Tomorrow’s Five: PlaqueBoyMax, Saga Faye, Oklou, Macario Martínez, Ray Lozano

Third Bridge Creative -

By Kemet High, Colin Joyce, Leah Mandel, and Brandon Ousley of Third Bridge Creative

PlaqueBoyMax

Chartmetric Artist Rank: 5,199

Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap

Country: U.S.

When it comes to rap, streamers are the next tastemakers of the genre. Even as a teenager, New Jersey native PlaqueBoyMax has been skillful at building a community online. In 2024, he signed to FaZe Clan, a professional esports and entertainment brand, which boosted his platform, adding credence to his Twitch channel. The rapper-producer launched multiple series about music: there’s “Song Wars,” where undiscovered artists showcase new music, and “In The Booth” series, where artists record music in real time. The latter has produced viral tracks such as “Cooln” featuring BabyChiefDoIt and Nino Paid (4.6M Spotify streams), “Laced max” with Lazer Dim 700 (36.4M Spotify streams) and “Pink Dreads” with DDG (17.8M Spotify streams). Since the beginning of the year, PlaqueBoyMax’s monthly listener count has gone up 205%, taking him to 2.3M total and counting.

Saga Faye

Chartmetric Artist Rank: 1,839

Genre: Indie

Country: Sweden

Within the span of two months, Stockholm-based artist Saga Faye has amassed nearly 8M Spotify streams on her only released track, “Who are you?” A wistful, melancholic, self-released single, the existential song has landed at the top of Spotify’s Pop Rising and Chill Pop playlists, in addition to 24 other official playlists. With over 411K TikTok posts, the song—which laments the dissolution of a friendship–has been used to chronicle anything from questions about high school teachers to something called the “cute trend.” Saga Faye herself prompted the latter use of her song, asking for posts from users who have “gone through two completely opposite aesthetics/styles” to show their different phases. Soliciting aside, Saga’s chorus is resonating, evoking questions of self-presentation and identity: Who am I?

Oklou

Chartmetric Artist Rank: 2,177

Genre: Art Pop

Country: France

French producer Oklou's latest album of moody art pop, choke enough—released on February 7 and featuring Swedish rapper Bladee—has garnered heaps of attention from critics and fans alike. Oklou was featured on the cover of Spotify’s “genre-less” playlist POLLEN post-release, and in total has been placed on 42K+ playlists across streaming services. The album received critical acclaim in the form of an 8.0 from Pitchfork. Critics have noted the “confidence in [choke enough]’s quietude,” and fans have declared that “only people with a pure heart and soul can connect with Oklou's music I fear.” 

Macario Martínez

Chartmetric Artist Rank: 2,679

Genre: Latin Rock

Country: Mexico

The young Mexican musician Macario Martinez has a headline-worthy story: just a few weeks ago, he was a sweet sweeper with a songwriting hobby in Mexico City. The 23-year-old Martinez made a TikTok video with his song “sueña lindo, corazón,” encouraging viewers to listen to it while they walk. Released in early January, the sweet bop racked up 9M Spotify streams, 1.1M YouTube views, and 436 radio plays in just over a month. On Instagram, Martinez’s bio reads, “proyecto musical-emocional,” and on Spotify it’s simply, “hola, gracias x escuchar. <3” With such a charming, adorable vibe, and good music to boot, Martinez is easy to root for—here’s hoping his musical-emotional project continues to take off.

Ray Lozano

Chartmetric Artist Rank: 5,707

Genre: R&B

Country: Germany

German-Filipino singer-songwriter Ray Lozano leans on personal memories to write honest, emotionally-charged songs that she dubs as “musical polaroids.” Fusing her German-Asian cultural background with a unique marriage of lo-fi soul, electronic, and pop, the breathy-voiced artist’s 2023 single, “Velvet Blue”—from her acclaimed debut album, Pairing Mode—made her a force in Germany’s alt-R&B scene. After garnering significant support on local German radio stations WDR Cosmo and Radio Fritz, “Velvet Blue” eventually became her most streamed track on Spotify at 37M plays. As she gears up for the March 28 release of her forthcoming second album, SILK&SORROW, Lozano is teasing fans with several preview tracks. Following two introspective, electro-laced singles—“DRAGON” (320K Spotify spins) and “HiYA” (1.2M spins) at the tail end of 2024—she’s brought fans deeper into her emotional journey with the January 16 release of the album’s third single, “KIKI” (130K spins), and the most recent, “I DON’T CARE” (30K). At 961K Spotify monthly listeners with additions on editorial playlists like R&B Weekly, Lowkey and Jasmine, Lozano’s confessional R&B style is poised to grow far and wide.

Portions of this are included in Sound Signal, a bi-weekly newsletter from Third Bridge Creative. Sign up here.

Visualizations by Alejandra Arevalo and cover image by Crasianne Tirado; data as of Feb. 24, 2025.