BBC Sound of 2011

[Katsuya]

I think she's got a chance of having a good year, actually. They had a thing on her and Jessie J on T4 this weekend (they were the ones I saw, anyway, from being on in the background) so if she gets exposure then she might be able to stick around. Sound of 2010 was pretty weak I thought from a mainstream point of view, only Owl City/Marina/Ellie were ever going to manage anything. Hurts have stuck around a bit and had a couple noteworthy songs I guess. The last "good" list was Sound of 2009, really.

[Blue Rosler]

From a mate of mine who gets invited as a tastemaker for this, he said that it's basically got to the point where everyone tries to think of the most obscure music act in hope they become big to claim they discovered them. It's stopped being an actual... sound of 2011 thing.

[Katsuya]

Jessie J won. Hurray .

[Dan]

Jessie J is great.

Wonderful ^_^

[tristy]

James Blake is quality.

[hackerjack]

Usually I've heard of a few of these but only one I know this time round is Warpaint, who I don't even know especially well.

Would dispute the point you made about acts from the list shaping the year's pop sound. The likes of Marina & the Diamonds, Potatoface Goulding and Daisy Dares You(lol) weren't really reflected in the styles of Taio Cruz, Black Eyed Peas, N-Dubz, Tinchy Stryder et al. Giggs and Devlin perhaps though.

There's always more than one stream of sound and most of those DID form part of at least the second most popular type. Certainly Marina, Ellie and others of similar sound/style formed a large presence during festival season.

From this year's theres not a single act I think I'm looking forward to seeing or hearing more from sadly. That doesn't mean that some of them won't grow on me, certainly others from years past have done so, but it's not a great sign. Jessie J will be a success at least initially because of the lady gaga ripoff thing but I can't say I'm a fan. For me Naked & Famous are probably the best but that's not a particularly high acclaim.