10 Predictions About Music in 2015

We look into the crystal ball and make some bold new claims for the future.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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It's 2015: time to take out the crystal ball, the magic eight ball, or some other spherical predictive device. What will happen in the world of hip-hop this year? Will Beyoncé and Jay Z have another child? "Signs point to yes"!

But surely more is on the way. 2014 was full of surprises, with talented new artists popping up from across the map, and a lanky Australian unexpectedly becoming hip-hop's most successful rookie. In our brave new future, who will sink and who will swim? What will hip-hop sound like? Who will run the summer? And how will we discover new artists?

Never fear: our predictive powers are an exact science.* Allow Complex to prepare you for the days to come with 10 predictions for the year 2015.

*Note: not an exact science.

Ty Dolla $ign will have a big year.

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Mustard-wave will continue to dominate for the foreseeable future, and imitators will play with interesting variations on the Mustard sound.

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Chicago's Bop sound will follow Mustard—although, like Mustard's sound, it will infiltrate slowly at first.

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2015 will continue the trend of one-hit viral stars from unexpected places—even though the old generation will release some albums.

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2014's one(or two)-hit wonders will sink and swim.

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More acts follow Taylor Swift's lead and quit Pandora and Spotify.

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Chance the Rapper returns to….

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Major labels will not die in 2015.

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Female artists will continue to make up a larger proportion of the rookie artists than they have in years past.

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You will not be able to escape the visage of Mac Miller.

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