Best New Artists of the Month

Finding new artists is easier than ever, but this creates a problem: it's harder than ever to filter through it all and keep tabs on what's really good.

With so many artists popping up every day, it's impossible not to miss out on some fresh faces and new sounds. With that in mind, we'll be highlighting our favorite new acts each month. Here are the best new artists of September.

Much of the excitement surrounding Toronto in 2016 concerns hip-hop. For good reason, but that's not all that's happening up north. 

Jessie Reyez will break your heart with little more than her voice and a guitar—"Figures" is textbook breakup material, and it's left us waiting anxiously for Reyez's upcoming EP. And while this single is a far cry from rap, Reyez has connections to King Louie and Chance the Rapper that could produce some very interesting material in the coming months. 

If you're looking for a new song to get stuck in your head indefinitely, try Young Gunna's "Colder." Its lighthearted production, sing-song lyrics, and repetitive hook ("colder, colder, colder, colder...") all contribute to the song's replay potential. "I made 'Colder' in anticipation of summer coming to an end," Young Gunna said, "as kind of a celebration to close summer on a certain vibe. Its just something you can turn on and everyone can sing along to."

It's the only track on his SoundCloud at the moment, but the Raleigh-based artist is turning heads with this one.

Kid Cudi comparisons aside, BLESSED is one of the most exciting new voices we heard this month. The Australian artist got our attention with "Sorrows," but dig deeper into his discography, and you'll find a pop-minded creative making bold choices in a number of genres. The jangly dance-rock of "One and Only" provides a lively contrast to the mopey charisma of "Sorrows," and proves BLESSED is more than one of Cudi's soldiers. 

Lulu Be. is currently the studio manager at Chicago's famed Classick Studios, but that doesn't mean she doesn't have bars of her own. The first-generation Ethiopian artist has one hell of a debut in "Rude Tings," an Afrobeat dance party held in check by Lulu's coy, confident voice. 

Ontario's K. Forest has a hit in "Link," but he was well-positioned before the song ever went live. Forest wrote "Guidance," a late-album standout on Travis Scott's Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight, and it has introduced him a much wider audience overnight. 

Forest has a polished sound that comes from working with his longtime producer dF. The brooding, swelling synths on "Link" pair perfectly with Forest's airy, bittersweet vocals. He's got the right mentality, too: "Music takes you all different places, you can’t really gauge it," Forest said. "You just have an idea of where it can take you."

Abi Ocia blew us away with her debut solo release "Running," and we can't wait to discover what's next. The West London singer makes smooth songs influenced by soul and R&B, but with a modern edge that ensures she's never simply copying the past.

Abi started singing in the church as a child, before picking up guitar and piano, and it's her voice that is her biggest asset. Just listen to "Running" and previous collaboration with Draper, "Home," and get swept up in her lush soundscapes.

Goody Grace appeared on our radar courtesy of Jesse Rutherford—Jesse appears on Grace's "Memories," and it sounds like he's helping him out in the studio, too. "Memories" is a song about "how quickly life can change," according to Goody.

He moved from Manitoba, Canada to Los Angeles last year, and he's been making the most of it—since linking up with Jesse, Goody Grace has also enlisted the talents of P&P favorite Dylan Brady for the downtempo "Girls In The Suburbs Singing Smiths Songs." He's a fresh young voice with a guitar, and we can't wait to hear what's next. 

It's always hard to predict an artist's trajectory based solely off one song, but despite only having one single out, Cosmos & Creature aren't new to this. The duo is made up of Brandyn Burnette and Molly Moore—who both have hit-making history in the music industry (read more about that here)—and their debut single "Young" is undeniable. It's dangerously catchy and hits all the right notes, like any great pop song should. The anthemic single already has tens of thousands of plays on SoundCloud, but it's easy to imagine that number growing exponentially in the coming months.

"We wrote Young as a nostalgic tribute to the past that also embraces now," explains Moore. "It's easy to live in a memory, but ultimately to evolve in life is to learn from what you've been through & forge forward."

The two songs SAÍGO has released from his upcoming debut EP have demonstrated impressive variety. "The Other" is a shimmering piece of modern electronic pop music, the kind of thing someone who misses Jai Paul might enjoy, while "So Natural" is much more instrumentally organic and funky. 

On both songs, however, SAÍGO's vocals soar, and if he keeps making the same smart and interesting production choices, his EP should be pretty special.