The artists to watch in 2025

From dark alternative-pop to mind-melting techno-rock,have you covered

-  Roisin O'Connor and Annabel Nugent

The concept of the "breakout artist" was close to being written off until 2024, when both Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan exploded into the public consciousness as two very different, but equally huge new pop queens. Yet they were far from "overnight sensations" - former Disney star Carpenter was on her sixth album by then, while Roan first began releasing songs in 2014. A decade later, both are nominated in most if not all of the Big Four categories at the Grammys - including "Best New Artist"- and still firmly in the ascendant.

When it comes to choosing our own best new artists, there's no talk of genre or streaming numbers, and it doesn't matter if they don't all scoop Brit Awards or Grammy nods in the next 12 months. On this year's list, we've fallen for everything from Scottish folk-punk to dark alt-pop, soul to mind-melting technorock. Many have yet to release their debut albums, but they've done enough to convince us they're worth paying attention to.

Here are the 10 artists to watch in 2025.

Jacob Alon

In November, lit by a simple spotlight, Jacob Alon performed on Later... With Jools Holland wearing a skirt of golden feathers. Paired with their gold eyeshadow, cherubic curls and glitterdusted skin, they resembled some fantastic, mythical creature. The Fife-born artist's voice, too, is otherworldly - as spectral and strong as a spider's web.

On early single "Fairy in a Bottle", they sing over tenderly picked acoustic guitar in an Adrianne Lenker croon. In their lyrics, childish denial tussles with adult acceptance: "Let me hold these words until my heart retires/ I wanna worship you before the hope expires..." then, later: "But I lead my heart to become so cruel/As to imprison an idea of you/ It's not your fault, it's my disease/And I must learn to set you free." It's poetry, beautiful and devastating. Consider us enchanted. Roisin O'Connor