THE MUSIC NATION
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Each year has a class of New Artists that emerge onto the music scene whether it be a massive breakthrough on the charts, a critically acclaimed album, killer song or sometimes all three if we are lucky. Here is a look back at some of the New Artists of 2014.
The song shot straight to No. 1 on Billboard and The Music Nation's Top 100 Songs as did the video. The song also earned the achievement of being named The Music Nation's Song of the Summer 2014. It also went on to earn Iggy the honor of being named The Music Nation's Best New Artist of 2014.
"Fancy" catapulted Iggy into the mainstream and there she has remained with a follow-up Top 5 hit "Black Widow" which features Rita Ora. She also became the go-to gal for collabs being featured on big singles from Ariana Grande and Jennifer Lopez just to name a couple. She is about to embark on a world tour and her success story is sure to continue well into 2015. Congrats Iggy on an amazing year.
Australia's Iggy Azalea crept onto the music scene last year with her debut single "Work" which became a favorite summer track of The Music Nation. But it was 2014 destined to be Iggy's year with the release of her debut album "The New Classic" and the lead single "Fancy" which featured Charli XCX. The song which was accompanied by a clever video that remade the classic teen film "Clueless."
Iggy is not the only Australian having an awesome year. Newcomers The Griswolds who also hail from down under became one of The Music Nation's featured On The Horizon artists. This category was developed last year to feature up and coming artists who were on the verge of a major breakthrough. The Griswold's "Heart Of A Lion"
fell into heavy rotation at the end of 2013 and debuted on The Music Nation's in January peaking at No. 95. This was followed by the sweet "Red Tuxedo" which also went to heavy rotation and peaked at No. 90 in June. But it was with the release of their debut album "Be Impressive" & the lead single "Beware The Dog" that made them a Music Nation fave. The album debuted at No. 1 on TMN's Top 100 Albums & the single hit No. 1 on the AirPlay 100. It is also climbing the Top 100 Songs currently sitting in the Top 20. The Griswolds were also named The Music Nation's Best On The Horizon Artist for 2014 & "Be Impressive" as named Best On The Horizon Album. They will be hitting the US shores with Walk The Moon in 2015 so make sure to check them out & pick up their album as you will be glad you did.
Mr. Little Jeans took The Music Nation by storm this summer with the release of her debut album "Pocketknife" and lead single "Good Mistake." The collection of electropop gems debuted at No. 1 on The Music Nation's album chart while "Good Mistake" swept all The Music Nation song and video charts including racking up 4 weeks at No. 1 on The Music Nation's Top 100 Songs.
Mr. Little Jeans took The Music Nation by storm this summer with the release of her debut album "Pocketknife" and lead single "Good Mistake." The collection of electropop gems debuted at No. 1 on The Music Nation's album chart while "Good Mistake" swept all The Music Nation song and video charts including racking up 4 weeks at No. 1 on The Music Nation's Top 100 Songs. "Good Mistake" was also named Best On The Horizon Song by The Music Nation for 2014. Also, make sure to check out Mr. Little Jean's brilliant and haunting cover of Arcade Fire's "The Suburbs."
In 2012, Jack Antonoff and the other 2 members of Fun were one of the Top Artists of the year and scored one of the year's biggest hits of the year with "We Are Young." In 2014, Jack put together a side project called Bleachers and with the debut single "I Wanna Get Better" created one of Summer 2014's best anthems. The song went on to top both the AirPlay 100 and
topped The Music Nation's Top 100 Songs for 4 weeks. The video also topped TMN's Top 100 Video chart. Bleachers debut album dropped in July and debuted at No. 1 on TMN's Top 100 Albums on August 2nd. Bleachers were also nominated for 7 Music Nation Awards tying Phantogram for the most nominations. They were honored with Group/Duo Performance. Currently, the second single "Rollercoaster" is climbing the charts & Bleachers are touring the US in 2015.
Hip-Hop & Rap Artists seem to be a dime a dozen lately and what was once an edgy genre that was a true reflection of street life has now become an oversexed and all bling formulated machine. Enter G-Eazy who released his debut album "These Things Happen" this year. G-Eazy is the really the best thing since Eminem to happen to the genre as far as white male rappers are concerned.
The lead single "Far Alone" took a little time to catch on but fell into heavy rotation and became G-Eazy's first of three hits on TMN's Top 100 Songs. His album peaked at No. 3 on TMN's Top 100 Albums and he was nominated for 3 Music Nation Awards.
BANKS was sort of the sleeper hit artist of the year. She crept onto the music scene earlier in the year with a couple of moody slow burners. Both "Brain" and "Drowning' ended up hitting The Music Nation's Top 100 Songs. This combined with the well-received third single "Beggin' For Thread" made her debut album "Goddess" one of the most anticipated albums of 2014. "Beggin'" would go on to reach the Top 5 on TMN's Top 100 Songs and her album debuted at
No. 5 on TMN's Top 100 Albums. BANKS was nominated for 3 Music Nation Awards as well including a nod for Best Female Performance. Not bad for a debut year and this is one artist to look forward to hearing more from in 2015.
Take an unconventional rock song fueled with religious undertones and you will end up with the smash hit by Hozier. "Take Me To Church" slowly crept into our music psyche late this year and aided by a SNL performance, it became a Top 5 hit. Hozier also released his self-titled debut album this year. It is a collection of soulful dark and sometimes intense rock songs and one of the best albums of 2014.
Although he was late to the game, Hozier still managed to rack up 5 Music Nation Award nominates including Song of the Year. He was honored with the Best Breakthrough Song & it is no doubt that he will be one artist to watch in 2015.
Brother/sister duo Broods landed the iTunes free single of the week with their slow burner "Bridges" earlier in the year which garnered them some well-deserved attention & cracked TMN's Top 100 Songs. The follow-up single "Never Gonna Change" went into heavy rotation and became the band's first Top 20 hit on TMN's Top 100 Songs.
They released their debut album "Evergreen" in the fall and t debuted at No. 1 on TMN's Top 100 Albums. The lead single "Mother & Father" is currently in heavy rotation and poised to be another big hit for the duo. They are also embarking on a second US tour in early 2015.
