Best New Artists of the Month

The latest member of our The New Wave series is Jorja Smith, a London-based singer with a fresh voice cutting through the noise. "Blue Lights" exhibits the kind of songwriting chops that come with years of practice, but it's coming easy to 18-year-old Jorja.

"The song is the beginning of my journey," she told us, "and I wanted to start from home.” There are flashes of classical music, R&B, hip-hop, and a nod to Dizzee Rascal's "Sirens" to keep the English roots intact. It's a hell of an introduction to the young songwriter, and we can't wait to hear what's next.

We've been keeping an ear out for Y2K ever since this awesome Waka Flocka Flame remix, but his latest song "DAMN" is a clear step up. “‘DAMN’ is the track that defined our sound,” Y2K says of his collaboration with lil aaron. “We made it the first time we met up. Since then, we’ve worked on a bunch of songs together. You can expect to hear those soon.”

Y2K's production is in the style that many young SoundCloud producers go for, but while there's no lack of ambition among up-and-comers, few can execute. For Y2K, that's not an issue.

Few songs grab you with the same immediacy as Keita Juma's "F R E E L Y." There's a subtle urgency to the song that extends across the rest of Juma's Nights In Space A Short Film EP, most notably on "E V E S." He's not in your face, or prone to searing electronic spasms—every note is in its place, and the music has a picturesque quality as a result.

The precision comes from a variety of places. The artist lives in Canada now, but is from Bristol originally and has a Jamaican father. It's all coming together beautifully in the music.

There are some singers that grab your attention from their opening bars, and Charlotte Day Wilson is well within those ranks. The muffled fragility of her verses can't mask the fact that the Toronto-based singer is a natural, and we're not just talking about the verses—Wilson produced "After All," with its subtle flourishes, too. From the slightly detuned keys to the well-placed saxophones, "After All" is reason to fall in love.

With just two songs on their SoundCloud, Paris-based duo POSTAAL have kept things secretive, but that may prove to be increasingly difficult with songs like these. The two have found a niche in anthemic, melancholy pop, and their highly polished "Burnin''" sounds like the soundtrack to so many soul searchings.

Music was just a hobby until a French radio station ripped their song from SoundCloud and started playing it. “It has a encouraged us to get our shit together with a live show," they told us over email. "We’re getting booked now to play festivals over the summer so thats the big priority at the moment.”

As evidenced by our Daily Discovery, there's not much information out there on T.R.U.C.E. They're a collective with roots in London and Brighton, and "Turn Of Time" is their debut single. But damn, it's a wild one. With elements of throwback R&B and forward-thinking electronic, it's the kind of genre-mashing that we hear so often today, but executed with an all-in confidence that you rarely get from an emerging act. It will be interesting to see where they go from here.

Norway stand up! Niilas may still be a teenager, but he's making internet waves from Scandanavia with adrenal, electronic production that sounds like it's foaming at the mouth.

"‘24Oz’ was the result of my interest with details and percussion," the producer told us via e-mail. "Whenever I make a new song, I want the listener to be able to hear new elements and details for each time they listen to it. Also, I think it captures my style, or rather lack thereof, with its three different parts, each living a vivid life of its own."

Niilas' Memoraids EP is out January 22.

Soul music doesn't have to make you feel like you've time traveled to a previous era. Sure, it doesn't hurt—just ask Leon Bridges—but artists like Jamie xx have proven in recent months that huge gospel choirs and acrobatic vocals can fit in the most unlikely of places.

Seramic has found that sweet spot on "People Say," his debut track. It's a massive, road-weary ballad full of palpable aches and pains. It's heartbreaking, beautiful, and utterly unique. Big things coming for Seramic.

Punishing beats, pristine production, and subtle surprises all contribute to Kareful's fantastic "She Wanna." The main melody is passed between vocal samples and synths, creating a swirling hypnosis that is often imitated, but rarely perfected. Kareful is making waves with this track, and don't be surprised if you see him linking up with some big names now that his Deluge album is available to the public.

Eternal damnation never sounded so good. With "Hell," Manchester's Jordan Max has announced himself as a voice to be reckoned with—and he only has one song to his name. The instrumentation is sparse and foreboding, leaving plenty of room for Max's scratchy, operatic vocals to shine through. The fact that he recorded this in his bedroom only adds to the excitement.

"Hell" is the lead single off his upcoming EP, Only One Is King, due out March 25.