The Recommender

Over the last couple of years The Recommender blog has voted for the BBC Sound Of poll, as one of the 160 appointed ‘tastemaker’ pundits, so it makes sense that we compile this roundup of the eventual winners, following this week’s revelation of the final top 5. We’ve also managed to grab a few quotes from those that have been involved over the years.

We should begin by saying that we are honestly rather pleased with the results, so it’s a list that we happily stamp with a Recommender approval and we sincerely hope that the artists gain a deserved boost from the inevitable publicity. All of them will appear on our iPods throughout 2011, so if the poll is to see which artists will dominate your listening tastes in the coming year, or which are most likely to commercially do well, then it’s served up it’s purpose with precision.

However, today’s post wants to look at why the artists were perhaps selected and what factors influence the voters. As Kitty Empire (from The Guardian) said way back in 2003, the pundits “tend to tip acts with records coming out rather than some lad with a tin whistle they found on MySpace“. This issue seems to have raised it’s head once again this time around, as nearly all of the artists are signed to major labels, which suggests that the voters didn’t purely select who they want to succeed in 2011, more who they think will succeed (two quite different things).

There’s also a suggestion that people select artists that they know make them look like they are correct, or that place their fingers on the pulse of the nation. In defense of the pundits we deny that they would be concerned about how their votes make them look, as the ballot is kept entirely anonymous – you don’t know who we voted for, so why would we care how our votes made us look?

So what are the BBC actually asking us to vote for? It’s not necessarily obvious, but the BBC clearly state for us to base our “choices on quality, not on hype, or size of record deal“, asking us to pick “the best, most exciting acts, in your opinion“, so you would expect the poll to generate a rather varied list, with pundits voting from their hearts. Former organiser of the poll, Ian Youngs, has stated that 2010′s nominations generated a line of 218 different artists, which suggests that it wouldn’t take many votes to make the final top five.

We consider this year’s finalists to have been slightly easier to predict than in previous polls. That could simply mean we are getting better at predicting with an ever-expanding knowledge of the pop scene, but alas, it could also suggest other things.

Consider all of the artists that are serious contenders for having a successful 2011. How many possible candidates can there be if you think about it? As Kitty implied, is it possible that the nominees were waving big, shiny, major-label flags in our faces as we scanned the music scenes, or perhaps the artists could have ticked so many of the ‘right kind’ of pop boxes that compiling a list was a rather straightforward choice.

If you look at the eventual top five winners are there many that actually shocked you? The top fifteen ‘long list‘ was bound to have a few left-field selections, (did you predict Anna Calvi or Wretch 32 and WTF were Warpaint doing on a 2011 list?), but are there any real surprises in the top five? This is similar to the final winners from 2010, where the left-field choices were removed, leaving a clear selection of chart-ready choices. If you consider this year’s final few individually then we think that there’s a clarity worth discussing…

5 – CLARE MAGUIRE: Signed to Polydor, she was a nailed on cert to get onto the top fifteen and just as predictable for a top five entry too. If you look at her pop boxes, she ticks all the ones that scream ‘a safe bet’ at the pundits, generating as many sales from the teenage market, particularly those that we associate with Florence & The Machine, as she will the older, middle-of-the-road fans that used to buy Texas records.

AIN’T NOBODY

4 – JAMIE WOON: Less is known about Jamie by the masses and the backing isn’t as grand as with other top five candidates, however he’s also on the major Polydor label. If darkness and doom were associated with one of last year’s successes, The XX, particularly as the recession crept into our lives, then 2011 suits a minimal, shadowy artist like Jamie just as well, especially as the economic pinch is fully applied. Alongside James Blake he’s an artist that would never make the pundits look out of touch.

NIGHT AIR

3 – THE VACCINES: The only proper band to emerge in the top five. As we evolve away from the previous decade’s indie band dominance this is perhaps unsurprising. Again, they’ve been signed to Columbia-owned label, Marshall Teller, and had appearances on the likes of Later with Jools Holland, before even releasing a single, so the pundits were hardly stretching out here. Again they seem something of an assured punt.

BLOW IT UP

2 – JAMES BLAKE: You would never look wrong to say you like James Blake. It doesn’t make you seem hipster, or trying too hard, as he is that perfect mix of understated cool. Again, the minimal darkness on show here, feels like it may be the sound of the year, so it also ties in well with what the pundits may have thought a suitable vote. Whether he will be commercially viable is another issue, as we can’t imagine him tapping into the tween market quite like Ellie Goulding.

LIMIT TO YOUR LOVE

1 – JESSIE J: Watch Miss Cornish in action for the first time and you immediately think of Rhianna, or Lady Gaga, or both. Edgy, sexy, deadly, street, focussed and armed with many well-produced pop tunes that aim straight for the top of the charts. Hipsters and NME readers will probably hate her, but there’s no denying she’ll be all over Radio One, T4, the summer festivals and such like this year, so in terms of impact, dominance and market reach, she’ll be the sound of 2011, poll or no poll. Arriving out of the same star school that brought us Katy B and Kate Nash, as well as being signed to sub-label for Universal for the last four (!) years, it again seems like she’s been readied in the wings for the right moment. That moment is 2011. Again though, like her or not, any pundits that voted for her were surely bound to know what a safe vote she was.

Above we see that Robin Seamer makes a welcome point amongst all the obvious pundit bashing and poll negativity. After all, it’s just a fun prediction, which hopefully highlights some amazing talent which the UK can be proud of. We consider 2011′s list to be more packed with genuine ability than ever before, so that bodes well for the next decade. In light of our thoughts above we think the poll, and the pundits, can claim credibility with a selection of artists this awesome, but we also hope that everyone involved did indeed vote with their hearts and not their heads, as only then will it’s integrity be maintained.
(MB)