No new artist—and, let’s be honest, few established artists—had as good a year as Sam Smith had in 2014.
The Brit had a No. 1 album with In The Lonely Hour and a chart-topper with his bittersweet single “Stay With Me,” which everyone from Kelly Clarkson to Ed Sheeran to Chris Brown to Vin Diesel attempted to cover.
But the cherry on top of this sundae has to be that Smith ended the year with six GRAMMY nominations—tying him with Beyoncé for the most nominations this year. Clearly, he’s also found some fans in the Recording Academy.
But Smith wasn’t the only new artist who caught our attention this year. Seriously, just peruse our New Music to Know section, which celebrates those break out artists who make us excited about music all over again.
Related: GRAMMY Nominees 2015: Best New Artist Predictions
Echosmith made not being cool, cool. Vance Joy got us reminiscing about Michelle Pfeiffer. Meghan Trainor helped bring booty back. Sam Hunt made us want to turn the night on. Kiesza had us dancing in the streets. Sturgill Simpson made country weird and druggy. Naughty Boy had us la-la-la-ing all over the place. Royal Blood got us believing in rock again. Dej Loaf represented for Detroit. Maddie & Tae were more than just girls in a country song. Vince Staples changed how we think of blue suede shoes. And Tove Lo made Twinkies the ultimate breakup food.
As the year comes to a close we’d like to honor those 14 artists who we think you’ll be hearing from for many, many years to come.
Read more about our picks for the best new artists of 2014.
~
Dej Loaf
(Columbia Records)
Dej Loaf—real name Deja Trimble—grew up in the Detroit projects, but had no interest in becoming another statistic. Her father was killed when she was only four years old, so she was raised by her mom, who has always been supportive of her music. Dej’s mom even joined her onstage at her first show in New York City earlier this month. Dej is also very close to her two brothers, the eldest of which is her personal hairdresser. “He’s the only one who can do it right,” she told Radio.com in October, before noting she’d like to give other members of her family jobs in her camp in the future.
Dej says she was a shy kid who understood the difference between right and wrong. “I was kind of uptight, a loner, music was a tool,” she says. “I was the serious girl and everyone wondered, ‘Why she in the house? Why she never come out? Why she doesn’t come to the parties?’ Now they see me and they see I kind of saved myself from a lot of stuff I could have gotten into.”
The rapper behind “Try Me” just dropped the Sell Soul mixtape and is already getting ready to work on her debut album, set to be released on Columbia Records—home to Beyoncé, John Legend and now, Dej Loaf.
She also has a spot on Eminem‘s new track “Detroit Vs. Everybody,” off his two-disc compilation ShadyXV celebrating 15 years of Shady Records, which features a who’s who of the Detroit rap scene: Royce Da 5’9″, Big Sean, Danny Brown, Trick Trick.
Detroit rap is synonymous with Eminem, but Dej says the greatest part of the Motor City hip-hop scene is “all the flavors.”
“You can’t put a title on it, what we do,” she says. “What we offer in Detroit, musically, it goes beyond labels.”
Her hope is that more people will come to her hometown to see what the rap scene has to offer. “People do get killed everyday here. But, people get killed everyday other places too and we’re rebuilding. We’ll be alright,” she said. “The thing is, don’t be afraid to come here. It’s fine. You’ll live.”
See all the top 14 new artists of 2014 on Radio.com