Girls, Make Some Noise: The 13 New Female Musicians You Need to Know Now
These are the artists and groups worth getting to know—because you'll be singing along with them soon.
WireImage1/13Dua Lipa
She’s not your average pop singer—the 20-year-old’s vocals are deeper, her lyrics moodier—but she still gets you dancing. Now out on tour, Lipa, left, drops her debut album this fall. Her own favorite lyric: “ ‘As my kiss goes down you like some sweet alcohol,’ from my single ‘Hotter Than Hell,’ ” she says. “I love singing that particular lyric live. I wrote the song quite a long time ago, so it was exciting to finally put it out there!”
FilmMagic2/13Cailee Rae
Cailee Rae, 16, got her start on Instagram posting 60-second videos of herself singing. Now she's proving to be a memorable breakout, with her beautiful debut indie-pop EP "Overthinking" out now. Her own favorite lyric: "I was moving too slow, watching life just pass me by, now I'm going nowhere, you're the reason why,” she says, from her song “Anchor.” "I love this lyric because it reminds me that I have control over my life and happiness, not anyone else. That strength is a way to be able to see how amazing you are and what YOU are capable of!"
AFP/Getty Images3/13A-Wa
“We would describe our sound as Yemenite chutzpah meets hip-hop and electronic beats. We mix old women folk songs in the Yemeni Arabic dialect with a lively, groovy, and updated production,” the three Yemenite/Israeli sisters of A-Wa tell us (and yes, their last name is also coincidentally Haim). These ladies are making waves around the world, and their gorgeous “Habib Galbi” video (which is also the name of their debut album) sparks the wanderlust in all of us.
WireImage4/13Bibi Bourelly
Five words: Bitch better have my money. Bourelly, 22, wrote that Rihanna megahit; she describes her own music, though, as “raw with a country twang.” Her second EP, Free the Real: Part #2, is out now. Her own favorite lyric: “Take this gun and kill our dreams, the trigger’s softer than it seems” from the song “Guitar.” Explains Bourelly, “Because killing our own dreams is sometimes easier to do than you think it is.”
Redferns5/13Christine and the Queens
Heloise Lettissie, 27, grew up on Daft Punk and French poetry—and now her music is both electrifying and brave. (Lena Dunham hand-picked C&Q for the last season of Girls.) Her own favorite lyric: “Every insult I hear back darkens into a beauty mark,” from “Half-Ladies,” she says. “It’s all about overcoming what weighs you down, owning your flaws, and finding beauty in what society finds dangerous.” Fun fact: She produced her self-titled debut album in French and then again in English.
Redferns6/13Empress Of
Singer, songwriter, and producer Lorely Rodriguez, 26, has one goal: to create “good music to whip your hair to,” she says. We love the synth-pop beat on her debut album, Me. Her own favorite lyric: “ ‘I just need myself to love myself’ from ‘Need Myself,’ ” she says. “At the heart of it, I’m just trying to know myself better.”
Getty Images7/13AJ Haynes of Seratones
The only woman in the Louisiana rock foursome, Haynes, 28, above, is a trained gospel singer who can seriously shred on the guitar. The band’s album Get Gone is out now. Her own favorite lyric: “All of ‘Chandelier’ [not to be confused with the Sia ballad],” she says. “It’s dedicated to femininity and erotic power—the ultimate swag.”
8/13Beau
Best friends and guitarists Heather Golden, 22, and Emma Rose, 21, above, grew up together in New York City; their moms are best friends too. You can feel their love and friendship in every song. Catch them on tour through August. Their own favorite lyric: “ ‘Warm enough to save a country frozen by the sea, your heart is a gold mine larger than me,’ from ‘Lullaby,’ ” says Rose. “It expresses the sweet power of love between two people. We hope people can relate to this in their own personal way.”
Katie Friedman9/13VÉRITÉ
On top of her smoky vocals and onstage allure, Vérité, 26, has the wisdom and business foresight for someone well beyond her years. “I'm horribly logical, so I can't rationalize investing money in something that doesn't have traction," she tells us. With no label, the New York–born singer and songwriter has already given us three incredible EPs, and we have a good feeling a full length album is close behind.
10/13Hinds
If the Spanish foursome rock band Hinds has one message throughout their music, it’s this: We are women, hear us roar. The ladies can rock, can talk, and don’t let anyone tell them how to behave. “People [on airplanes] think we are some hippy kids or that we are just carrying our boyfriend's instruments!” Wrong. Listen to their debut album, Leave Me Alone, and you will certainly understand their staying power.
Katie Friedman11/13Leon
When 22-year-old Swedish-born LÉON posted her single "Tired of Talking" to SoundCloud last July, her hope was that her circle of friends around Stockholm would hear it. The reality? It ricocheted around the world, gaining her celebrity around the music blogosphere and amassing over 19 million listens on Spotify. “I just want to make good music, good music is key,” she told us. And if her debut EP "Treasure" is any measurement, she is succeeding.
Getty Images12/13Meg Mac
She’s got the booming song voice of a stadium selling pop-star, but in person Mac, 25, is incredibly demure and soft-spoken. “Singing feels more normal to me,” she told us last month. And for her next act—a debut album due hopefully by the end of the year—the Australian-born songstress tapped the producers from Leon Bridges’ romantic Coming Home album. We can’t wait to hear the result of that.
Katia Temkin photo / Nick Das edit13/13Maggie Rogers
She had Pharrell at a loss for words (and nearly in tears) after hearing her stunning track “Alaska” at NYU’s Clive Davis Institute, and the Internet’s fascination quickly followed—the single was streamed over one million times in its first week online. With good reason: Maggie Rogers, the folk-dance singer songwriter from rural Maryland, has an uplifting sound like no other. We’re confident that this is just her beginning.
