By Colin Joyce, Austin Cox, Jaelani Turner-Williams, Brandon Ousley, Vrinda Jagota, Leah Mandel, Kemet High, and Andrew Marcogliese of Third Bridge Creative
Nokia Angel
Chartmetric Artist Rank: 71,277
Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap
Country: Switzerland
The dreary Swiss singer/rapper Nokia Angel wears his influences on his sleeve. Over the last few years, he’s drawn on the history of hyper-melodic, downcast pop-rap (from cloud rap to the Sad Boys to Drain Gang to fellow internet-damaged artists like smokedope2016) to craft singles like the yearning “Roll The Dice.” Familiarity aside, it's a winning recipe that has earned him cosigns from tastemaking artists like smokedope and Shadow Wizard Money Gang. While editorial support is still to come, he’s garnered a sizable fanbase through these collaborations and through word of mouth buzz—he already has over 133K monthly listeners on Spotify, a respectable sum for an artist who seems to be making moves on his own terms. He released In Haze, a seven-track EP in late July, which folds in new electronic influences and boasts a collab with smokedope2016—moves that’ll surely only continue to raise his profile.
Balu Brigada
Chartmetric Artist Rank: 4,776
Genre: Pop
Country: New Zealand
Since New Zealand brothers Henry and Pierre Beasley started Balu Brigada back in 2016, they’ve released just two EPs and a singles comp. In the past year, gearing up for their debut album Portal, due at the end of August, they’ve dropped four tracks including the laid-back “So Cold,” propulsive, late night drive-ready “Backseat,” and “What Do We Ever Really Know?” which landed at the top of Spotify’s Front Page Indie this month. They seem to be riding a serious summer wave; in the past six months alone, they’ve doubled their Spotify following, more than doubled their TikTok followers (from 30K to 66K), and nearly done the same on YouTube. The music is fun, kind of a poppier take on The Strokes, and the vibe is intriguingly hip and chill. You’ll maybe want to see what these guys are up to for the afters.
Tash
Chartmetric Artist Rank: 88,954
Genre: R&B/Soul
Country: U.S.
Rising Australia-born artist Natasha Ami Palmer—mononymously known as Tash—bridges nostalgic vibes into a new era with her pop-infused R&B sound. Sounding like a hybrid between Ariana Grande and Aaliyah, most will recognize the silken-voiced 23-year-old as a TikTok sensation, where her clever acoustic-based reworks of songs from Justin Timberlake to WILLOW have helped skyrocket her following to more than 538K on the platform. Since 2017, she’s released a handful of notable singles and EPs that showcase different facets of her smooth R&B-pop artistry, like “The Signs,” a breezy, trap-tinged bop that became her most-streamed song on Spotify at 5.5M streams to date. This year, the prolific singer-songwriter has continued to experiment with her melodic ‘00s-mined R&B sound across several catchy singles, including "Accolade" (163K Spotify plays), “Eventually” (153K), and her most recent, “Phone a Friend” (143K). At 250K Spotify monthly listeners with additions on several editorial playlists like ‘R&B Weekly,’ ‘Acoustic Soul,’ and ‘Fresh Finds R&B,’ Tash is sure to keep evolving with her ever-growing audience.
TAVE
Chartmetric Artist Rank: 68,958
Genre: R&B/Soul
Country: U.S.
TAVE knows a thing or two about mining worthwhile collaborations into feel-good R&B songs with deep emotional resonance and soulful depth. As a behind-the-scenes writer and producer, the London-born, Grammy-nominated polymath has weaved his R&B magic onto notables like Jazmine Sullivan, Masego, The-Dream, and Kelly Rowland. Freshly signed to Warner Music UK, he rose into the spotlight as a solo artist in 2024 with his lush debut single, “No More Maybes.” A jazzy self-worth anthem that featured the euphoric vocal prowess of German sensation Bibi Bourelly and Los Angeles singer-songwriter India Shawn, “No More Maybes” made a huge splash, garnering 487K Spotify plays to date. Now he’s putting his artistry on full display with the August 15 release of his debut EP, Fly Away. His ethereal, soulful melodies and vulnerable lyricism powers the guest-heavy affair, boasting the buzzy IDK and Musiq Soulchild collaboration, “BLOCK” (375K) and the swaying Kenyon Dixon-assisted bop, “Laid Back/Old Skool Chevy” (321K). Praised by outlets like UPROXX and BBC, TAVE’s life-affirming R&B sound has secured him 207.3K Spotify monthly listeners with support on editorial playlists like ‘Chilled R&B,’ ‘Raw & Uncut,’ and ‘BUTTER.’
CORTIS
Chartmetric Artist Rank: 14,746
Genre: K-Pop
Country: Korea
As the label behind BTS and Tomorrow x Together, BigHit Music is one of the labels most readily bringing K-pop to international acclaim. Their latest signing, the five-piece boy group CORTIS, looks poised to continue that chart domination. The group debuted in August with the alt-rock inflected “What You Want,” a Brockhampton-esque posse cut that was quickly followed by an English version featuring pop-rap mutator Teezo Touchdown. “GO!,” not yet on all DSPs but already accompanied by a breezy music video on YouTube, seems to be generating even more conversation, on the basis of its vibrant Neptunes-influenced beat and the colorful personalities the members demonstrate in the clip. With just this pair of tracks, the group already has over 629K monthly listeners on Spotify, a number that’s likely to climb higher with the release their debut EP on September 8.
