9 Believe artists to bring 2024 to a musical close

So, what do we have in store for you this time? We have pop superstars from Turkey, Thailand and Albania, rappers from Poland, Mexico and Morocco, and if that's not enough, we also added incredibly talented musicians from Venezuela, Brazil and the USA

As usual, it will be virtually impossible not to discover an artist - and even more than one - to your liking! All you have to do is open your ears and your mind and let the music wash over you.

First known to the Thai public thanks to her appearance on “The Star” in 2012, and for her participation in several TV series, Wonderframe launched her musical career at the end of 2017 with the pop single “Line”. Success was immediate for the young singer and songwriter, who was just 23 at the time.

With her next two singles, Wonderframe demonstrates the extent of her vocal talent. While "555 (ToT)" has R&B tones, she raps unabashedly on the hip-hop single "Breath" (กลั้นใจ) with F. HERO. Wonderframe has maintained this approach throughout her career: between her numerous pop tracks such as "Undo" (released in 2020), you'll find rap tracks such as "ขยี้ (Kyee)" (2022), R&B-influenced songs such as "Loverboy" (2022) and even reggae-inspired tunes such as "แล้วหลาว(ไอ้โบ้)", released in 2021.

After devoting more time to her TV and film career in 2023, releasing only 4 singles - including the energetic track “กำมือขึ้นแล้วหมุนๆ (OK)” with Saran and 1Life - Wonderframe is back with a bang in 2024, treating us with 14 singles since the start of the year! Following on from the success of “Once (ครั้งหนึ่ง)”, whose stunning video boasts already 2.8 million views on YouTube, her single Dead Inside (ภาวะสิ้นยินดี) is approaching 6 million views, and her duet cover of the same track with Nack Charlie is following suit!

If you're a regular TikTok user, then you may already have heard of Tangier rapper Liamsi! In 2023, his track “MON LOVE OHO” went viral on the platform - as much for its catchy beat as for its lyrics, which blend Arabic, English and French - and was used in almost 3 million videos, putting an instantaneous spotlight on the young artist.

But Liamsi didn't come from nowhere, as he already had a career spanning several years and a string of singles behind him, and has already carved out a local and international reputation, thanks to his raucous, multilingual flow and his astonishing backing tracks: Liamsi isn't afraid to rap on reggaeton-sounding instrus, like on his track “Voila”, Afro-pop - as confirmed by his appearance on Ivorian singer Kikimoteleba's song “Tigini”, and even electro and trap, as heard on the tracks "Loco" and "Baila" from his first maxi G.O.A.T released in 2022.

After starting 2024 with the laid-back “Madama”, Liamsi seems to now focus on tracks that blend modern sounds with oriental sonorities, as evidenced by “Jelaba”or his latest track “Ah Ah”.  With several millions of YouTube views for these singles, Liamsi is increasingly establishing himself as an emerging key-figure on the Moroccan rap scene.

Hailing from Monterrey, La Potter is an emerging artist who first burst into the Mexican urban music scene in 2022 with the debut track "Rayas Blancas". The way she mixes rap, trap and reggaeton, as she does on the tracks "Ojitos" and "Copas de Vino", as well as her straightforward and smooth rap style, quickly got her noticed.

At the end of 2023, she released her first EP, eslaPbb, featuring the first three tracks from her collaboration with the mysterious beatmaker Dimelo Seven. A collaboration that is not only still going strong, but also working incredibly well: since January La Potter and Dimelo Seven released 21 singles, most of them reprised in the EPs Todo Al Rojo, Nada Fue Suerte and Ruleta Rusa.

Thanks to this frenetic pace of releases and her undeniable talent, La Potter has seen her audience soar, as well as her number of streams and views: the song “Miss Diablo” has passed the million-view mark on Youtube, while “A Tu Salud” is getting close. These singles have also been a hit on Spotify, exceeding one million streams, as have “Venganza” and “Bandidos”. Keep an eye on her, because La Potter has what it takes to become one of the next talents of the Mexican rap scene.

He's not even 30 years old, but Semicenk is already considered one of the main pop stars of Turkey. He came to public attention in 2019, when he took part to the local edition of TV talent show The Voice. His 3rd single “Düşer Aklıma” released in December 2021 was an immediate hit: within a few weeks, the track recorded millions of streams and views on YouTube.

Over the past three years, Semicenk has confirmed its success with 2 EPs - including the outstanding Karışık Kaset - and 18 singles, some of them duets with Turkish music greats such as Funda Arar (“Al Sevgilim”) and Mustafa Cecili (“Dayan”). Audiences are as enthusiastic about his voice as they are about his songs, which often blend modern pop with the popular local arabesque genre, as in “Geri Dönemedim”, “Tek Başıma” or “Biz Babadan Böyle Gördük”, a cover of the arabesque master Müslüm Gürses.

Released in August, his Geçiyor Zaman EP was a phenomenal success, with all five songs topping the Turkish charts for several weeks (some still in the Top 10 at the time of publication) and dominating local playlists on all DSPs. Semicenk was the most streamed Turkish artist on Spotify in 2023, and there's no doubt he'll be in 2024 too!

Liana Malva is a Venezuelan poly-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter and artist that has been active since 2013,  the year she released her first single “La Maquina” Throughout the years, she has proved her versatility, experimenting with many different genres : indie-pop (“Lo Que Me Gusta de Ti”), reggae (“It’s Time”), neo-soul(“Estaba Pensando”, “A Mi Manera”) and hip-hop (“Te Quiero”).

Deeply influenced by her childhood in La Gran Sabana, one of Venezuela's most emblematic natural areas, Liana is also a nature activist, she created GOTAS, an environmental and artistic project that promotes the protection of her country's natural beauty through songs and music videos. “El Pauji” and “Mérida” are the most popular songs to come out of this project.

Liana had a very busy year in 2023: as well as an EP featuring symphonic versions of her classics, she released a number of hit singles, including “Ser Feliz” with renowned Venezuelan rapper Micro TDH and “Vámonos” with Akapellah, a track later included on Tornasol, her debut album released at the end of the year! Though 2024 was a bit more chill, Liana toured and released four singles, including the hit” Paseito Salvaje” with her long-time friend Horus, and “Mundo de Cabeza”, her latest single to date.

Comedy and hip-hop rarely go well together, and when they do, it often tends towards parody. However, the Polish masked rappers of Rów Babicze have succeeded in combining rap and satire in a way that doesn't sound like a (bad) joke. That said, their music isn't for everyone either.

Rów Babicze first appeared around 2020 with tracks posted on YouTube, and started gaining momentum thanks to their raw, vulgar and yet witty lyrics filled with puns and irony. In 2021, “PARYŻ2021” was their first major streaming breakthrough and the start of a notoriety that grew with each successive single. Their strength also lies in their ability to rap over old-school boom-bap beats (“Kluzski Z Serem”), trap (“Achtung”) and even funk.

After the debut album FREE FOR FAFOR in 2022 and the maxi E-Pusia released in 2023 - which includes a trap track about pickles -  Rów Babicze is back with the freshly released Nierówno pod cewecem, which was announced by a string of fun singles such the disco-inspired “LEKKO CHYCONY” (over 900K views on YouTube), the thug rap-sounding “GRABEN” , and “BULGUR” who poke fun at contemporary pop-rap. And Rów Babicze has just embarked on a national tour following the album's release. Who said humor didn’t belong in rap music?

Formerly known as J. Maya, Janani K. Jha is an Indian-American singer-songwriter and – it’s important – the youngest-ever winner of the World Puns Championship. It matters because it shows that creative writing is as important to Janani K. Jha as music, that she practiced since childhood. In 2021, she decided to publish her music online. Smart choice: her Greek mythology-inspired song “Achilles Heels” quickly went viral on TikTok, generating millions of views.

This success was enough to convince Janani to pursue her musical career. In the following months, she published several songs combining pop, mythology, fantasy and literature such as "Ms. Protagonist", "Golden Age", "Library Card" or her viral hit "Sunday Crossword", the latter two included on her debut EP Poetic Licence. Her unique style has earned her increasing recognition from critics and a fan base enthralled by Janani's “nerd'pop”.

Aside from playing the role of Aphrodite in EPIC: The Musical - a viral musical loosely based on Homer's Odyssey, which received over twenty million first-week listens and debuted at #1 on iTunes – this year, Janani K. Jha has released the singles “Gladiators” and “Royal We” to tease her  debut album The Rest Of The Laurels, that will be released in December and accompanied by a fantasy novel developing the record concept.

Born in Germany, but Kosovo-Albanian at heart, Dhurata Dora launched her career in Kosovo in 2011, at age 19. In 2014, her dancehall-inspired song "Abombi" made millions of views on YouTube, then in 2016 her pop singles "Numrin e ri" and "Ayo" reached the 5th and 1st place of the Albanian charts.

In 2019, the singer international career took off thanks to her collaboration with Algerian-French singer Soolking on the track “Zemër”,  went platinum in France. She then brought her Balkan flair on collaborations with French singer Gims (“Te Quiero” in 2019, then “Only You” in 2021), German rapper Azet ("Lass Ios" in 2020) or with Romanian singer Inna and British rapper Stefflon Don on "Yummy" (2023). She naturally kept on releasing solo tracks, imposing her modern pop style infused with Caribbean and Balkan influences that earned her over 200 million streams and 1 billion video views globally.

After she released her first album Dhurata in 2023, Dhurata kept the momentum going, making hits such as "Kallma" with Noizy or "Tortura". This summer, she teamed up with Kosovar singer Yll Limani for the EP Vera Me Ty, a huge success that has generated over 60m video views and over 16m streams on Spotify in only two months.

He's only 23, but Heitor already has a career spanning more than ten years, for the young singer and composer has been immersed in the sertanejo scene since his birth (in São José do Rio Preto), as he is the son of sertanejo singer Paranaense, from the duo Goiano e Paranaense. Although it could be said that the apple didn't fall far from the tree, Heitor has managed to develop his own career quite successfully.

After a long career singing at parties and bars, starting at the age of 12, Heitor went on to become a member of the duo Hugo et Heitor for a few years. Before splitting up in the summer of 2023, the duo had the opportunity to worked with DJ Chris No Beat on “Vê Se Pode” and the very popular singer Ana Castela on the single “Casalzão”.

In addition to composing for other artists such as Ícaro e Gilmar, Fiorella, Guilherme e Benuto and Igor Gonçalves, Heitor launched a solo career in 2024 with the single "Chapar O Globo". With the video for his latest track, “Malvadão”, Heitor is breaking new ground, using AI to create his video from start to finish, fusing music and technology in a highly innovative way.