What a truly great year for music 2022 proved to be with plenty to rave about. Who will be charming our ears in 2023? Here at Voir, we are always looking ahead to discover new talent that our readers will love. Let us introduce to you the baddies that will make your 2023 pop.
Doechii
If you haven’t yet heard of the alt hip-hop artist Doechii that’s all about to change. The 24-year-old from Tampa, Florida has burst onto the scene and gained attention with her fast-paced energetic rapping and smooth delivery. It’s easy to see why she achieved viral success on TikTok back in 2021 with the vibrant single ‘Yucky Blucky Fruitcake’ which now has over 3.4M views on YouTube.
In the lead single, released on Doechii’s self-funded EP Oh the Places You’ll Go…, she cleverly weaves references to her childhood, with lyrics on silly bandz and Junie B Jones and Narnia, to create a fresh sound that will bring all girlies that grew up in Y2K era nostalgia.
Doechii, whose real name is Jaylah Ji’mya Hickmon, won over fans after her song ‘I Told Em’ was used in the trailer for Jordan Peele’s new spooky animated film Wendell & Wild in 2022. The artist produced an anthem for bad bitches when she collaborated with American rap star Rico Nasty on ‘Swap Bitches’ released back in August on her EP She / Her / Black Bitch. The EP also featured the amazing ‘Persuasive’ featuring our modern R&B hero SZA. Doechii served us fierce looks with stunning pops of colour in the video for the song. Try not to dance along challenge for sure. Fans of Doja Cat and SZA will hard fall for Doechii’s creative tracks in 2023.
Yunè Pinku
If chilled-out ethereal alt-pop is your thing, make sure not to miss out on Yunè Pinku’s music in 2023. The Irish-Malaysian producer, singer, and songwriter is one of the most exciting musicians on the scene right now giving us all the dance beats we crave.
Asha Yunè’s, better known by her stage name Yunè Pinku, EP Bluff released in April 2022 combines hazy moody electronic beats with stunning vocals. Her nonchalant delivery makes all her songs feel cool and oh-so captivating. She flew onto electropop fan’s radars after she collaborated with rising Australian dance star Logic1000 on breakout hit ‘What You Like’ back in 2021.
Pinku’s year started off with a bang when she was featured on Radio 6 sharing a mix for American DJ The Blessed Madonna on New Year’s Day. She’s also received extensive radio support from the likes of big names such as Pete Tong, Giles Peterson, Mary Anne Hobbs, Danny Howard, and Clara Amfo. The 20-year-old from London continues to turn heads featuring on NME’s Radar list last year and on the cover of Interlope magazine this month. With her long black hair and black eye-lined lids, Pinku will give you your edgy gothic fix. All fans of Grimes will adore her music, especially the light electronic single ‘Fai Fighter’ from 2022. Add her music to your playlist to secure the perfect after-party vibes.
FLO
R&B fans everywhere should be paying attention to the British girl group FLO. The group is making headlines after being the first all-female group to win the Artist to Watch award at the 2022 Guap Gala, which took place at the Natural History Museum in London.
FLO, comprising of Jorja Douglas, Stella Quaresma, and Renée Downer, was formed in 2019. Quaresma and Downer met studying at Sylvia Young Theatre School and discovered Douglas from her singing videos on Instagram. The ladies are already making big waves in the music scene having made their international television debut performing ‘Cardboard Box’ on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and their UK TV debut on Later… With Jools Holland. The song, praised by the likes of Missy Elliott, is the opening track on the London group’s debut EP The Lead, which came out in July. They wrote it with singer, writer, and esteemed producer MNEK. ‘Cardboard Box’ has reached social media success with over 5.5M views on YouTube. It’s an instant modern R&B classic reminiscent of TLC and Destiny’s Child that you and you’ll besties will love singing along to. In the video, the girls rock Y2K-inspired looks complete with the bedazzled flip phones, which you’ll want to steal. Each member brings their own unique flavour and together they sound so in sync. The song ‘Summertime’ off the EP should definitely have a spot on your playlist next summer.
XG
This next group will satisfy your need for K-pop in 2023. XG is a Japanese girl group based in South Korea who are already gaining a huge following in the K-pop community due to its tight, distinct, and chic style. Their name stands for Xtraordinary Girls and accurately describes the group who are pros in singing, dancing, and rapping with all seven members – Cocona, Maya, Harvey, Juria, Hinata, Chisa, and leader Jurin – bringing something special to the table. The group strives to empower young people all over the world with their fresh performances.
Youngest members Cocona and Maya are an inspiration to young people for sure being only 17 and already making their mark on the music scene. Their debut single ‘Tippy Toes’ was released in March 2022 and since then they have released the single ‘MASCARA’ which has over 36M views on YouTube. The single is an infectious pop masterpiece sang and rapped in English that even non-Kpop fans will love. Citing Lauryn Hill as one of their influences, their ability to stretch beyond genres and take inspiration from every corner of music is what makes them so enthralling. Dangerously cool with sleek eye-catching costumes, great flows, and flawless moves these girls are on track to be big stars.
Eyelar
Having worked with the likes of Demi Lovato on ‘Anyone’, Little Mix on ‘Told You So’, Charli XCX on ‘After the After Party’, Camilla Cabello on ‘Scar Tissue’, and with Bastille, Eyelar has already displayed her exceptional craft as a songwriter. Eyelar’s passion for music started at an early age and at only at 18 she made the semi-finals of The Voice of Holland.
Now the Iranian-Dutch singer Eyelar Mirzazadeh is stepping into the limelight and becoming the pop star she was born to be. She has gained support from BBC Radio 1 with Mollie King including her single ‘til you hate me’ in her Future Pop anthems and MTV has named her as one of their Push Artists. She also toured with exciting newcomer UPSAHL (also on our list!) in 2022 as well as previously with the singer-songwriter L Devine. In ‘till you hate me’, which was released in September, she meditates on the anxiety that comes with falling in love displaying soft vulnerability as well as her rage and grungey side in the video. Eyelar creates the perfect angst-filled love songs for belting out into your hairbrush post-breakup. Fans of Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodriguez should absolutely check her out. We can’t wait to see what 2023 holds for her.
French The Kid
French The Kid seized our respect with his viral Daily Duppy video that stands at 20M views. The rising bi-lingual rapper, born in Harold Hill, London, and currently based in Essex, exhibits his extraordinary talent by smoothing transitioning from rapping in English to French in a blasé manner. French moved to both France and Australia as a child and moved back to England in his teens.
Praised by NME and GRM Daily for the openness about his mental health struggles in his lyrics French The Kid’s honesty has captivated rap fans around the globe. He’s worked with big names such as the Bad Boy Chiller Crew and Jaykae already and we’re sure that the new year will promise more sick collabs. His debut album Never Been Ordinary dropped last April to the delight of his already growing fanbase and included such standouts as ‘Can’t Feel My Face’ which has 5.7M views on YouTube and the absolute banger ‘Neverland’. Fans of Central Cee will be crazy for this new star in UK rap. With new music on the way, we are buzzed to hear more from French The Kid in the new year.
UPSAHL
Taylor Cameron Upsahl, better known as UPSAHL, is the quirky red-haired pop star you need in your playlists next year. The electropop artist from Phoenix, Arizona started playing the piano and guitar at just 5 years old and now has accumulated almost 500 million combined streams. She has caught the media’s attention with NME, The Line of Best Fit, Upset, Dork, Billboard, BBC Radio 1’s Jack Saunders, and Clara Amfo all being fans of her work. Over the years, UPSAHL has taken stages all over the world, supporting acts including Yungblud, PVRIS, BROODS, Olivia O’Brien, and Fletcher. She’s an experienced songwriter, as evident from the well-crafted lyrics in her music, and she has worked with pop royalty on such hits as Madison Beer’s ‘BOYSHIT’ , Little Mix’s ‘Kiss Me (Uh Oh)’, and Dua Lipa’s ‘Good in Bed’. Her infectious single from 2019 ‘Drugs’ trended at number 1 and was sampled for Linkin Park’s Mike Shinodah’s single ‘Happy Endings’.
In December she released her much anticipated EP Sagittarius featuring the single ‘Into My Body’. With its driving beat and uplifting lyrics, it’s the ultimate confidence boost to start 2023 the right way. You’ll find yourself playing it over and over before you know it. In her softer intimate ballad ‘Ansty’ UPSAHL opens up about the physical effects of anxiety and wanting to change your life but not knowing how to start. Set to an acoustic accompaniment and featuring a stunning vocal performance it displays a different side to the singer that we love to see.
COBRAH
Dark, edgy, sleek, and PVC-clad– COBRAH is the future-facing electro artist, songwriter, and producer paving a new way in the alt-music scene. The self-made artist from Gothenburg is now based in Stockholm and turning heads everywhere she goes with her outrageously good experimental electronic sound.
The sex-positive queer artist whose real name is Clara Blom Christensen releases music on her own label GAGBALL records. She’s supported Charli XCX several times over the last few years and has a fan in the star Christina Aguilera! Her self-titled EP COBRAH was released in 2021 and featured singles, ‘Good Puss’, ‘Dip n Dip’, and ‘Debut’. Recently she’s collaborated with producer and DJ Chris Lorenzo on the single ‘Mami’. The song is an unstoppable force with its repetitive lyrics, spikey driving beat, warm steel drums, and insane drop. In the video to her single ‘BRAND NEW BITCH’, which came out in September 2022, COBRAH serves us sexy alien looks with her long blonde braids, black contacts, knife-like pointy nails, and a lot of goo! The dominatrix-esque soon-to-be queen of the scene makes trancey tracks for all you club lovers out there. Spice up your new year by adding her irresistible bops to your mix.
Talia Goddess
Meet Talia Goddess the 19-year-old with Guyanese and British roots from Brooklyn, New York who’s bringing a fresh flare to R&B. Merging her many talents as a self-taught singer-songwriter, rapper, producer, multi-instrumentalist, DJ, and model she’s bringing her A game and inspiring other creatives to take a leap forward. Talia has been producing her own music since she was 9 years old and now has her own record label and creative agency TRANCE. She’s also partnered with some of the biggest names such as Vogue, Refinery29, Tommy Hilfiger, Supreme, i-D, and Converse. Fans of Little Simz will enjoy her debut EP Poster Girl released in late 2021. Full of melodic chilled-out R&B and velvety rap verses the EP demonstrates why Talia Goddess is a rising star. The dance single ‘RAGGA’ which came out in August will hype you up for the club during pre-drinks with your friends.
Her latest single ‘Everyone Loves a Winner’ which came out in September is another confidence-boosting banger. The video shows Talia embodying the definition of cool girl style dressed in boxing gear whilst she raps about calling the shots and not caring what others think. She recently gave a stellar performance of the track on the popular Colours YouTube channel, which esteemed artists such as Shygirl and FKA Twigs has performed on before, cementing her as one to watch out for. With her super unique flow and lots of swagger, she’s giving us the hot girl energy we need for 2023.
GloRilla
Tik Tok brought the Memphis-born bad bitch rapper GloRilla to our attention back in April with the song ‘F.N.F. (Let’s Go)’ featuring Hitkidd where it went viral and launched the dance #FNFChallenge. The song got her nominated for Best Rap performance at the Grammys in 2022 and currently has over 52M views on YouTube. With 2.7M followers on Instagram and a BET hip hop award 2022 nomination under her belt it’s fair to say that GloRilla, whose real name is Gloria Hallelujah Woods, is already dominating the rap game.
GloRilla started rapping at 16 years old and has honed the deep-voiced rapping style that makes her instantly recognisable. She dropped her label debut EP Anyways, Life’s Great… inNovember featuring the singles ‘Tomorrow 2’, ‘Blessed’, and ‘Quick Nut’. ‘Tomorrow 2’ gained GloRilla her first Billboard Top 10 record and debuted at No.1 on Apple Music, trended No.1 on YouTube, and landed at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song features an insane verse from pro rapper Cardi B whose carefree style compliments GloRilla’s so well. The video shows Cardi and GloRilla partying and having fun and those good vibes are catching. GloRilla definitely makes tunes you’ll want to add to your mix and show your girlfriends.
Chinese Kitty
Looking for the next banger? Chinese Kitty will deliver. Taylor Hing, who’s better known as Chinese Kitty, is a Chinese-Guyanese rapper, reality TV star, model, socialite, and brand ambassador from Queens, New York currently based in Miami. Reality TV avids may remember her from her role in the supporting cast of the show Love & Hip Hop: Miami in which her mother Chinese Nicky starred. Chinese Kitty has now turned to make East Coast hip hop for the girlies who want to get down. With 3.8M followers on Instagram, Chinese Kitty is no little name and her music has created quite the buzz. She released her first album Kitty Bandz back in 2019 and her second SMD in 2021. SMD included the track ‘LIL BITCH’ featuring Fivio Foreign and French Montana which gained a lot of love from fans of the artists. In her latest single ‘Attitude’, which came out last Summer, Chinese Kitty serves fiery verse after fiery verse showing that she is not one to take lightly. Naughty, confident, fun, and flirty – Chinese Kitty has the it factor that will lead to her success next year and beyond.
Ptazeta
Queer artist Ptazeta is smashing heteronormative ideology and taking steps forwards toward normalising queer relationships in pop and rap music. The 24-year-old artist, born Zuleima del Pino Gonzalez, advocates for self-love and acceptance in her music – it’s easy to see why the charismatic artist was dubbed one of Vemo DSCVR Artists to watch in 2023. Ptazeta hails from Las Palmas Canary Islands and raps and sings in Spanish with a fast-paced intensity.
In 2022 she collaborated with producer and DJ Juacko to release her debut album The Party en la Casa. Her latest single ‘Mala Mala’, produced by Juacko, combines reggaeton beats with Ptazeta’s intoxicating rapping to bring a party song that will make you wish you were somewhere tropical. With a snake tattoo on her face, always sporting dripping streetwear and gold chains, Ptazeta’s look is distinct and gives big attitude. Those who like Bad Bunny should definitely keep sight of Ptazeta next year.
Tokischa
If you haven’t heard of Tokischa you are sure to have heard her vocals before. She has worked with Rosalía on ‘La Combi Versace’ for Rosalía’s 2022 album Motomami, which received universal acclaim and, on the track ‘LINDA’ which went viral on TikTok in 2021 and inspired over 5 different dance trends! Evidentially the pair mesh well together. But Tokischa makes deserves attention in her own right as well. The 26-year-old Dominican songwriter and rapper, whose full name is Tokischa Altagracia Peralta, has built up a fanbase already with 2M followers on Instagram. She’s a former model who was discovered by Paulus Music and was brought to the world’s attention when ‘LINDA’ went viral leading her to work with huge artists such as Madonna on her song ‘Hung Up on Tokischa’, released in September 2022.
As a sexual content creator Tokischa is very open about sex work and promotes sex positivity in the lyrics of her songs. Her latest single ‘Kilo de Amor’ featuring Nathanael Cano combines hip hop, trap, and with dembow, a genre originating from the Dominican Republic, to create a sultry mix of modern and traditional sound. The video for the single depicts Tokischa as a romantic femme fatale shooting her lover, surrounded by religious imagery, and with a heavy shimmery plum blush that gives her an edge. We love her unconventional music and style and are intrigued to see what she has in store for us in 2023!
Words By: Molly Sutherland
