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2010 New Music Guide: Ones to Watch
Ke$ha
Like an anti-Gaga, Kesha is a rising femme electro-popster proudly lowbrow and unabashedly populist. The 22-year-old Southern California native comes with a torrid backstory, which may or may not be true, that includes sneaking into Prince's mansion and puking in Paris Hilton's closet. "Animal," her debut on RCA, broke out in January at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 on the strength of "Tik Tok," a boozy, boy-crazy crass-rap single reminiscent of '80s rap duo Salt-n-Pepa. Credit/blame songwriter-producer Dr. Luke, who also penned "I Kissed a Girl" and "Since U Been Gone."


Broken Bells: Danger Mouse and James Mercer
Gnarls Barkley, Beck, the Black Keys, Gorillaz: Danger Mouse has one of the most impressive resumes of any producer in pop music. His latest exercise, Broken Bells, features singer James Mercer of indie rock darlings the Shins. The duo is hard to pin down, veering from dusty, soulful pop to distorted electronic blip-hop, all with Mercer's malleable vocals filling the melodic cracks behind Danger Mouse's beats. Their music leaked onto the Web if you're the unscrupulous type, otherwise Broken Bells' eponymous album officially drops March 9.


A kid can stay protégé to rap's greatest for only so long before blowing up. Twenty-three-year-old multitalent Aubrey Graham (call him Drake) came up under the tutelage of Lil Wayne and has worked with Jay-Z and Kanye West, all before releasing his first album. Drake flaunts a peculiar vocal style, half-singing, half-rapping, a melody-rich flow that's both snarky and soulful. After a couple of majorly successful mixtapes and a hit single, "Best I Ever Had," Drake's official debut on Cash Money/Universal Republic, "Thank Me Later," drops March 30.


Fleet Foxes
Writer's block is a nightmare. Reserved, unassuming Robin Pecknold, Fleet Foxes' lead vocalist and primary songwriter, struggled with his muse after the band's breakout success in 2008. That year the Seattle quintet cornerstoned a weird, woolly subset of folk-rock, their ethereal, harmony-drenched songs and pastoral imagery appealing across generations and genres. Since then Fleet Foxes has toured the world and sold a fair amount of records for a Sub Pop band, but their follow-up has not been easy. Which only makes expectations that much higher for Pecknold, et al. Look for it toward the middle of 2010.


Whitney Duncan
We're gonna call no fair on Whitney Duncan. The 25-year-old Tennessee-born singer happens to be a blue-eyed, blond-haired beauty, and she's recorded a single called "Skinny Dippin'." (There's a video. It's PG.) This is not the road Reba would've taken. Still, Duncan has the voice to match the looks, a laid-back, coy delivery that's instantly enchanting. After a delayed release last year, fans can expect her Warner Brothers Nashville debut, "Right Road Now," sometime in 2010.


Jessica Harp
As Michelle Branch's cohort in the Wreckers, Jessica Harp earned a Grammy nom and made a reputation as a confident, straight-talking singer-songwriter. That's exactly the persona she puts out on "A Woman Needs," lead single from her upcoming debut album of the same name. Backed by banjo, fiddle and steel guitar, the song's got true country roots, but Harp's country-girl-power is as modern as GPS on a pickup.


Jay Sean
It was only a matter of time before the Western world got its first Desi sex symbol. At least that's what Jay Sean's publicist is thinking. The 26-year-old Kamaljeet Singh Jhooti was born in England to Indian parents, but Jay Sean has gained a rep as a one-man R&B boy band, singing, rapping, beat boxing, and producing. His third album, 2009's "All or Nothing" was released late last year on Lil Wayne's Cash Money Records; lead single "Down" featured Weezy himself on an Auto-Tuned verse. It's already an international hit, which you've probably heard, depending on where you hang out.


Surfer Blood
Hailing from the musical backwater/South Florida suburb of West Palm Beach and sounding like Phil Spector meeting Boston at a raging beach party, Surfer Blood come correct with outsider cred and an ambitious aesthetic. There's an unlikely indie-surf revival going on right now (on a very small scale) and these guys are the best of the lot, though they're far more '70s radio rock than Beach Boys or Dick Dale. They've been on tour pretty much constantly since the latter half of 2009, and their debut, "Astro Coast," rode in Jan. 19.


Sarah Buxton
Kansas-born songbird Sarah Buxton digs into the folkier side of country music, playing pretty, plaintive tunes from a keenly observant first-person perspective. She's dueted with Dierks Bentley and Cowboy Troy and written for Keith Urban (a song called "Stupid Boy," which she later sang herself on her "Almost My Record" EP), proving a versatile talent in line with Nashville's A-list. Her eponymous debut full-length comes out Feb. 23 on Disney-owned Lyric Sheet Music.


Nneka
From Nigeria to Berlin, hip-hop to reggae, social awareness to personal politics, Nneka Egbuna is the kind of real-deal artist who bridges gaps. Nneka grew up in the coastal metropolis of Warri, Nigeria, and moved to Germany at 18 years old, where she quickly gained a reputation for her hard-hitting, free-flowing blend of musical styles and poignant lyrics. Already a star in Europe, she played her first shows in the United States in November of '09. "Concrete Jungle," her U.S. debut, comes out Feb. 2, featuring globally aware soul music tailored for fans of K'Naan and Erykah Badu.


Born Ruffians
It takes an unpretentious but totally crush-worthy Canadian trio to remind jaded music fans how powerful a power-pop trio can be. Born Ruffians' 2008 debut, "Red, Yellow & Blue," was wide-eyed and romantic, savvy and subtle, one of the best, most underrated albums of the year. Then their drummer quit before going on tour opening for Franz Ferdinand and the cute Canucks' future was unclear. Fortunately, everyone made up and returned to the studio in 2009 to finish "Say It," their follow-up for Warp Records. There's so much to love about these guys that it's hard to sit still to type.