The world learned to Shazam many, many years ago. It’s the best way to know what’s playing around you. The application, with its hundreds of millions of global monthly users and millions of daily song recognitions from around the world, can accurately predict the next breaking artiste.
Shazam, which is owned by Apple, has unveiled its annual Predictions 2024 playlist, a 50-track selection of artistes who may have a breakthrough year. Further, Shazam has spotlighted five artistes from the list who have the potential to break out globally in 2024 and five artists who are gaining popularity regionally.
Bloody Civilian
Before the release of her debut single, Bloody Civilian found out she would soundtrack for the Marvel blockbuster Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Emoseh Khamofu, who goes by the stage name Bloody Civilian, was born in Abuja, Nigeria, and is signed to Def Jam.
“People are most likely Shazamming my music in Ubers,” the Nigerian singer-songwriter has told Apple Music. Bloody Civilian’s streams and Shazams have been on the rise since November 2022. She made her Shazam chart debut in April 2023 with I Don’t Like You, which also became her second Daily Top 100 hit. But it’s in the latter half of 2023 that things really started to pick up, with her debut EP Anger Management reaching the top 10 of the Afrobeats albums chart in 69 countries worldwide.
Flyana Boss
The American hip-hop duo, composed of Bobbi LaNea Tyler and Folayan Omi Kunerede, already have a collaboration with Missy Elliot with You Wish, which helped them reach a new peak in Shazams worldwide and introduced them to new listeners on Apple Music. “It makes us really excited to think that people could be casually living, hear our song, and feel inclined to take out their phone to find out who we are,” Bobbi Lanea Tyler has said. Their streams on Apple Music soared over 3,000 per cent in 2023 as their music was featured on Viral Hits, High Maintenance and Rap Life.
Kenya Grace
Born in South Africa but raised in Southampton, Kenya Grace started releasing music independently in 2019. She got the world hooked last year with her dance-pop hit Strangers, a song that went from her bedroom to the top 40 of Apple Music’s Global Daily Top 100 in a matter of months.
“I hope people are hearing (and ID-ing) my music in clubs. Going out when I was a teenager really shaped my artistry. It was so inspiring to hear dance music at clubs and parties for the first time,” she has told Apple Music.
From June to December her streams grew over 12,000 per cent on Apple Music worldwide as Strangers was featured on editorial playlists like Today’s Hits, A-List Pop, and danceXL.
The Last Dinner Party
If you visit the indiest corners of social media, you must have heard of The Last Dinner Party. The band from London is set for a big debut when Prelude to Ecstasy arrives next month. The band’s debut single, Nothing Matters, is the band’s most Shazamed track to date, charting in Australia, Austria and Belgium and also became their first song to reach Apple Music’s Daily Top 100.
“One of the first moments that made us feel like real musicians—and no longer just pretending to be—was when a friend heard ‘Nothing Matters’ in a nightclub in Australia and saw a few hands shoot up to Shazam it,” said band member Abigail Morris.
RIIZE
K-pop fans, this could be the next big boy band. Listen to their feel-good hit Get a Guitar. The song surfaced on Shazam’s Japan Discovery chart for the first time in September, and by October, it had soared to #1 on South Korea’s Daily Top 100 — their first song to achieve this feat.
“As important as it is to go global and meet more BRIIZE (their fandom), we want to be a band that can give (people) precious memories with good music for a long time,” says band member SHOTARO. “Dreaming big and growing as a band is our goal.”
