Welcome to the OnesToWatch newsletter, the best way to discover your new obsession and keep up with the best releases of the week.
On stage and online, Young Miko is electric, powerful, and commands a room. Behind the scenes, and in a small trailer at Hinterland Music Festival in St. Charles, Iowa Young Miko is gentle, articulate, and refined. The difference in her personas is comforting and alludes to the idea that musicians are truly just like us - even if they received a “kajillion” views from a single clothing ad. Young Miko is more than just a character in the current rise of popularity in Spanish-speaking music. She is a dominant force in queer spaces, a powerhouse female rapper, and an artist who continues to push boundaries. Beyond the music, Miko has built a reputation for being effortlessly cool, refreshingly authentic, and deeply committed to creating a space where fans feel seen. She has a sincerity that makes her impossible not to root for. And if her career so far is any indication, she's only getting started.
For the latest installment of our Q&A series, we handed the mic to UMI and asked her to sit down with her personal OneToWatch, PLACEHOLDER: the colorful, soaringly passionate duo of Iris and Benj, who aren’t afraid to come into contact with a few scrapes along the way as they embrace imperfection in their music making journey. Their natural restlessness and refusal to conform to a specific genre in their songwriting feels like a natural extension to the same restlessness UMI channels in her own work. The pair met at a writers camp, and although they originally didn’t think the other knew very much about music, they later figured out they have more in common than they thought and became better for it. “Earthquake” and “Heart in My Hands” arrive ahead of a forthcoming EP that finds the duo fully embracing the beautiful mess of doing things their way.
Audrey Nuna is back with a bang! Following the extreme success of KPop Demon Hunters, in which she provides the singing voice of Mira, Nuna returns to her solo project with her new single “superHuman,” and it does not disappoint. The combination of hard-hitting beats, infectious melodies, and unique lyrical flows are some of the strongest they’ve ever been throughout Nuna’s career.
Ashe has returned with the triumphant “Stop The Wedding!” after a meteoric past year. Having joined forces with her close friend and collaborator FINNEAS as The Favors, the superduo released The Dream, a love letter to 70s pop that honed on the poignant storytelling and luxurious melodies that falls perfectly in line with the raw, emotional structure that is found thematically in her songwriting.
With a special guest host of our very own Nikkigirl, we chat with Love Spells on his latest album, LOVE IS THE LAW. Diving in, we cover everything from riding horses on Texas elementary school field trips to owing your personhood to the traits that marked you “weird” in high school.
August Artist Of The Month Love Spells has captured our hearts and his debut album LOVE IS THE LAW has only given us more to admire.
Press play on our #NowWatching playlist - with new releases from Alemeda, Florence Road, WHATMORE, and more.
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