An artist’s career isn’t created by one tweet, nor can it be created in one night. It is important to know that to be truly successful in an industry like music, you need to be able to gather support, gather listeners and keep networking until you’ve gotten to the point where you’ve found true success. Though 2016 can simply be classified as a difficult year, it was the year where those who plan to “breakout” in 2017 built their foundations.

Being a woman is enough to make the music industry difficult for those who are trying to succeed in it; you are stereotyped, you are expected to do this and that, expected to hit the low expectations and only stay there – once you’ve proved them wrong is when you truly get the respect you deserve. Without the right support for anyone’s art, it is hard for it to become successful. Therefore, here’s a list of eight female artists you need to support in the new year.

Ray BLK

“There’s no place like home…” sings Ray BLK in her track My Hood featuring grime’s current king, Stormzy. Ray BLK is a rising RnB star raised in the streets of South London. Writing from personal experiences, her music is bound to be relatable. With a unique voice, amazing production and 90s influences, her mini-album Durt was one of the best in 2016. There are no doubts to Ray BLK’s bigger success in the new year.

Ray BLK’s music can be found on Soundcloud, Spotify, YouTube and other streaming services.

Yuna

The momentum that Yuna built in 2016 is admirable. With soothing RnB tunes in addition to the silky voice that she has, her future releases are bound to be amazing. Not only does she have an amazing voice on top of her music, she also sports a Law Degree – she used music as a creative outlet while in school!

2016 was a successful year for Yuna, with the release of Crush (featuring Usher), there is no doubt that 2017 will be even better for her.

Find her music on Spotify, Apple Music and other streaming services.

Ruby Francis

Ruby describes her music as “futuristic R&B, a little bit 80s, a little jazzy but still catchy“. Her debut single, On My Knees, currently holds 90k+ plays on Soundcloud and is regularly compared to The Internet’s vibe of music. Her two other singles, Move and Paranoid, however, are a similar genre, yet are original and unique to their own.

With the current singles that she has out, Ruby has proved that her future releases, including her upcoming EP will definitely be worth the listen and attention that it gets.

Mabel

Mabel reached #1 on HypeMachine in 2015, and was part of BBC’s Sound of 2016, where she gave her first ever live performance of Know Me Better, her debut single. This year, she gained momentum with the release of Thinking Of You, a song that boasts a 90s vibe along with a jumpy hook that is bound to stay stuck in your head for a good week.

Mabel’s anticipated album is bound to be released in 2017, where we have no doubts that it will succeed.

 Noname

A household name to Chance The Rapper stans, Noname is truly the next best thing in the music industry. Her first mixtape, Telefone, consists of 10 wonderful tracks that are enough to make anyone listening to her for the first time know that one day, she will truly blow up everywhere.

“Her voice is in a playful and confident middle range between forestalling, singing, and slam poetry, and her lyrics carve out enough details to fill the song with an entire imagined cast of characters,” state Pitchfork, and we couldn’t have described it a better way.

Maggie Rogers

When the video of Pharell reacting to Maggie’s song first became viral, everyone who liked the song she presented immediately took the track from the video and tried to make it sound good enough to be properly listened to. And thus, Alaska was viral and the only thing that Maggie needed to do was release the song.

Upon being signed by Pharell himself, Maggie has released two singles, Alaska and Dog Years. The last few months of 2016 were her recognition era, 2017 will be her breakout year.

Jorja Smith

Since Blue Lights was released on SoundCloud, Jorja Smith hasn’t stopped. Follow-up singles Where Did I Go? and A Prince gave her more momentum as an artist. Performing in festivals around the UK, she was slowly making her mark as an artist, having recently supported NAO in her headlining UK Tour in the winter of 2016. Towards the end of November, Jorja released her debut EP Project 11. With 5 new songs that clearly show the uniqueness of her voice, it was enough to have me wanting her debut album sooner.

Starting 2016 with her debut single and ending 2016 with a few headline shows and an EP released, Jorja Smith is bound to become a household name with 2017 ahead of us.

Stefflon Don

Everyone move out of the way, the real Grime queen is here. The singer/rapper is frequently compared to Nicki Minaj, some even say she’s the updated version of Nicki Minaj… so is she? The similarities are there, but no.

Stefflon Don is one of the most promising MCs in the UK right now. She started off dropping hard-hitting remixes to further her well thought-out music career, to finally releasing her first mixtape in 2016 titled the Real Ting Mixtape. 

2017 looks great for Stefflon Don. With the drop of her first ever mixtape, we expect headlining shows or festival slots in the summer.