It’s safe to say that Billie Eilish has had a pretty insane year. At only 15 years old she’s become the youngest ever person to be nominated for the Sound Poll, released her fantastic debut EP “don’t smile at me” and sold out shows across the world. Almost makes us look back on how we were spending our time at 15 and wish we hadn’t spent so long creating the perfect Neopet. Sigh. Topping the year off with the release of “&burn” (a new version of the track “Watch”), the song features an ice cold verse from the incredible Vince Staples, and is the perfect way to finish the year, establishing Billie, even more, as a frontrunner for 2018.

Getting us even more excited for their forthcoming record Little Dark Age – expected to come out next year and subsequently be played on repeat for the rest of eternity – MGMT have dropped their second song from the album, “When You Die”. A delightful psych-pop number, the accompanying vid is extra psychedelic as Alex Karpovsky (aka Ray from Girls) goes through a mystical imagining of life after death.

Alan Thomas and Steven Rutherford are yet again proving themselves as our new fave alt-pop hons. Dropping their latest track “tokyo” under their dual-alias joan, this is the third track from the pair and sees their signature 80s pop and 90s R&B leanings manifest into an absolute bop. An exciting look at what the pair can do, we can’t wait to see what they’ve got in store for the next year.

Get your black eyeliner and creeper shoes out because Pale Waves are set to become your number ones. With their debut album set for release next year, the Manchester quartet have already been making waves with previous tracks “Television Romance”, “There’s A Honey” and “New Year’s Eve”, and are rounding off the year with their latest indie-pop masterpiece “My Obsession”. Set to embody the title of their latest track, expect to fall even more in love with them in 2018.

Known for his expert songwriting skills, J Appiah yet again shows why he is one of the best in the game on his latest track, “Come Around”. Featuring rising star Kojey Radical, the track explores the pair’s problems of selfhood in the adversity of urban life and is an absolutely gorgeous song. Speaking on it, J Appiah says “What I had in mind when creating this was on the subject of people feeling they can’t be their true selves for better or worse. Politically at the moment people are revealing some of their uglier parts.”

JGrrey is something special. If you haven’t already watched her COLORS session you are missing out. Performing the gorgeous “Don’t Fade”, it’s a stunning song combining elements of jazz and R&B and as soon as you hear it you’ll be vibing for days. Speaking on the official release of the track, the rising talent says: “I wrote it at home when I found out I was doing Colors and last minute laid down the vocal parts for the harmony – I had no real intentions of releasing it as a single but the feedback has been amazing so I felt it was only right to follow up with the track.” Keep your eyes peeled for this hon to wow even more next year.

Probs with the best band name we’ve ever seen Have You Seen the Jane Fonda Aerobic VHS? are an exciting trio coming out of Finland. With their delightful take on garage-rock, latest track “Bambi Act” is a fun-filled joyful number which it’s physically impossible not to bop along to. The newest taste of their forthcoming sophomore album Jazzbelle 1984/1988, if this song is anything to go by, we’ll probs be playing the record on repeat until 2019.

21-year-old Olivia Nelson is about to become one of your new faves. Dropping her latest beauty “Hideaway”, the song sees her taking centre-stage alongside her frequent collaborator Jarreau Vandal. A neo-soul masterpiece, it shows off Olivia’s second-to-none vocals and is the latest proof that she’s a songwriter you should be watching out for.