Where Are They Now?
April was a huge transitional month, not only in the world of general news, politics and hot topics but also in regards to music and even my own personal life. I've been away from the blog for a while and it's had me thinking of all of the artists who have been away from the scene for a while. The ones who seem to have vanished into the abyss when I believe that they could easily fit into the current mainstream musical climate if they were around today.
When Katy B first debuted on the mainstream music scene with the absolute banger, "Katy On A Mission", in 2011 she was the everything girl in the UK. She was on all the stations, on all the line ups and at all of the functions. Her most recent project in 2016 Honey didn't do as well as I would've hoped and despite this being fairly recent, I haven't heard her mentioned in the mainstream in quite the same way as 2011 since. A crying shame.
Another singer who made a huge splash in the mainstream and then sort of evaporated a year on. In 2009 La Roux came into my eye-line with "In For The Kill" straight up pop banger with the swagger that Christine (and the Queens) has to boot. I even had the pleasure of seeing her live after her 2014 Trouble in Paradise and almost believed that'd be the start of the comeback. However, here we are 5 years later; no music and no more hope.
Since their 2010 hit "Perfect Stranger" with previously mentioned Katy B, I've heard hide nor hair of Magnetic Man as a collective. Artwork and Skream have gone on to do more than their counterpart Benga, however I'm sad that they haven't all come back together to collaborate since. Judging by their debut self-titled album, and given the way that production technology has developed since, had they kept at it I could easily hear them being mentioned in tandem with the Biceps and Bonobos of the electronic world. I feel like we lost something here.
This is one of the biggest losses on this list for me. In a time when the mainstream is inundated with songstresses that not only look alike but also sound alike, the search for a unique female voice at the moment is a strong. Delilah's debut album From The Roots Up played on my iPod Touch for the majority of 2012-13, it's reappeared almost every year since then but alas, mew music hasn't reappeared with it.
This story's a little bit trickier than the rest. Esmée's had quite the tumultuous career since bursting on the scene with "Outta Here". Her debut album, Outta Here, produced by Justin Timberlake was one of my favourite projects to drop that year. Aside from its singles "Outta Here" and "Admit It", there wasn't much of a hullaballoo surrounding Esmée or her album. Since then she's popped up here and there on The Voice and has even recently released a single. However, I unfortunately still feel like there was wasted potential here.
The golden boy and the king of the charts throughout 2010. Where is he now? Similarly to Esmée he's actually been releasing consistently since his arrival on the scene. However, his star seems to have burnt too fast and too bright initially and he's still left chasing its tail. Aside from his 2011 mixtape No Genre I've not had interest in B.o.B or his projects since, and the buzz surrounding his name has died down shockingly and considerably.
I never I thought I'd be writing about the demise of a career that was kicked off by the likes of Jay-Z and Simon Cowell but here we are. "Happiness" was the anthem of the Spring/Summer in 2011, and definitely fits in well with the sounds of people like Little Mix, Anne Marie and Jess Glynne today. However, since the equally catchy follow up singles, "Hush Hush" and "Good Girl", and the self-titled debut album, Alexis Jordan got snapped into dust.
