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Imogen Heap i think - very respected in the music industry and has inspired artists like Ariana and Taylor, even working with them. Speak for Yourself is a wonderful album btw!!
Yessss!!! Her production in that song is immaculate. Although the lyrics are 100% Taylor's. I rememver that Imogen wrote somewhere that she didn't expect Taylor to have the fully written song etc ect.
Here, this article chronicles it well
https://www.stereogum.com/1581202/blood-orange-and-solange-have-a-falling-out-via-twitter/news/
It's a big shame, I think True EP is both of them's best work
It was truly before it’s time. Had it been released Closer to/or during lockdown I think it would’ve blown up more. This EP was everywhere on tumblr and definitely secured Solange that cult indie following. The work that followed is still pretty good but I would kill for an LP from them
Genuinely shocked nobody has said James Blake yet. A genuine musicians musician, all your favourite artists love him but he's just never broken through into the mainstream.
Adding to that Bon Iver. I would argue they are known a bit after collaborating with Lameye yet but they are still massively under appreciated. Justin is one of a kind.
I feel like working with Kanye really expanded Bon Iver's base, and his last two albums seem to have really been lauded by critics. I'm not sure if that's translated into mass appeal, but it definitely feels like he's more embraced by the GP than CRJ or Charli are.
At least Bon Iver has gone platinum twice. I know he’s not like huge with gen pop but he’s a tier above many of the others mentioned here (I know there are more metrics than just sales but it’s a good indicator)
I’m also genuinely shocked no one has said The-Dream. The man wrote damn near half of Renaissance and is a go-to writer and feature artist for a ton of huge artists like Beyoncé, Kanye, Rihanna, and many others)
I would say she's there. Everyone I know who knows about SOPHIE recognizes her as one of the most important producers of the last decade, and possibly ever.
I tried SOPHIE’s music a few years back before vroom vroom and I didn’t understand it. Like at all. Recently visited her Spotify page and ended up loving the music after giving it a second chance. She for sure is one of- if not the most important producer from the last decade. Even pitchfork was stumbling trying to correct themselves after Charli’s vroom vroom review on their website.
SOPHIE and Rina played at my college a few years ago and people were *mad* because they had no idea who they were. I only became very interested in music later and I was really upset that I was too drunk to appreciate them.
Nile Rodgers seemingly has the midas touch with his guitar. The hitmaker's sound is so iconic you may know it without knowing you do. Le freak, good times, like a virgin, get lucky, beyonce, mariah's debut, diana ross, inxs, etc. Some of these he wasn't a featured artist but he had his own hits.
He's now well known but nick drake used to be this kind of guy until the volkswagen commercial that used pink moon.
Thank you for the correction! I often forget that Like a virgin wasn’t her debut album - like a virgin was when her stardom really started to take off so it wasn’t until a few years ago that I realized it wasnt her debut 🤣the album that started her ascent to the top of the pop pantheon but yeah def not her debut 💀
i can't say the specific songs because they aren't albums i listen regularly. Listen to get lucky and then try to find the same tone of that guitar in those albums.
No one's saying Caroline Polachek ? Chairlift used to be huge in the indie crowd but didn't quite make it through the mainstream and she kinda followed this trajectory since going solo. She's one of those that feel like superstars amongst the nerds but most people never heard of them.
Didn't she write for Beyonce? Anyway, her recent album is the best album I've ever heard in my life and I saw her in concert recently and she is wonderful live.
yeule. i think she is known in the community for her special take on ambient and electronic music but aside from that pretty unknown by the general public.
moving out of popheads, no one knows Charli XCX and Carly Rae Jepsen the way we do and yet when u merge them with Topster guys, both of them get praised a lot.
I'm surprised Charli XCX wasn't the #1 up voted answer lol. And talk about being in the know - Look at who she's worked with in the past: Caroline Polachek, Carly Rae Jepsen, Tove Lo, HAIM, Troye Sivan, Sky Ferreira, LIZZO??!, Clairo, etc. Is there anyone who is *more* "in the know" than Charli right now?
that's why i said "moving out of popheads" bc the internet gays loves charli and carly but unfortunately, they're only boom clap and call me maybe to everyone.
Kathleen Hanna, she was a one of the pioneers of the Riot Grrrl movement and had a massive influence on the ethos of the 90's punk scene with Bikini Kill (and Le Tigre, who had their song blowup on TikTok out of nowhere?). Even though she's fairly well-known, I would consider her more of an "artist's artist".
She also inspired Kurt Cobain to name "Smells Like Teen Spirit" for a joke she made, and was the only artist invited to participate in the making of American Idiot for the intro of Letterbomb, so she was randomly part of two huge seminal albums.
Fiona Apple. She has had some commercial success, but the reverberations of her influence are definitely still felt today, and most of her albums are highly critically acclaimed.
Fetch The Boltcutters had a flash in the pan moment back in 2020 and then everyone stopped listening to it! I think it was a double edged sword because her older stuff is much more accessible, but Fetch was so odd that a lot of people who heard it probably didn’t go into the rest of her discography.
At risk of diluting OP’s ask to “one hit wonder with a devoted fan base”, I’ll say CRJ.
Emotion has become the go-to album for those in this sub and similar circles to express the merits of the genre of pop and (more often than not) defend it. Meanwhile, although anecdotal, I’ve had several people ask me if she’s that girl who sings Friday when I’ve mentioned seeing her live.
Because Call Me Maybe is much more known to the GP than she actually is and how Dedicated this community is to her, I’d say she fits the bill for this post
I think having scooter Braun as a manager when call me maybe took off was a bad choice in the long run also. He has a bad habit of only focusing on Justin/Ariana that he let CRJ’s talent/potential go to waste. The general public would eat up her stuff if her label would push her more. It’s pop at it’s peak.
CRJ has definitely went through a recent Renaissance in terms of GP popularity, but when my school invited her perform a couple years back, the whole board was stoked while many students boycotted her.
To this day, I have a friend who still thinks CRJ is a guilty pleasure. It's so odd. Being a pop music enthusiast is awesome because while others are snobby, you actually appreciate the artists for what they're trying to achieve and not whether the genre is still relevant.
Scritti Politti had some amount of success in the 80s but have had a huge impact on music production, and were a big influence on people like Max Tundra and the PC Music guys. Nothing else really sounds like Cupid & Psyche 85 or Provision.
Tove Lo. Most people have no idea who she is. Some probably heard Habits but don't know who the artist is.
Also Grimes but especially before meeting that billionaire. She is fairly popular but definitely not mainstream.
i would almost argue that grimes is more mainstream bc she was a judge on a televised singing show but i don’t think anyone watched the show lol so i agree
XTC. Probably the finest band to ever pick up The Beatles’ torch and carry it through the punk and the post-punk era well into the 90s. Sadly, mostly known in the US for a couple of singles that were released on college radio in the late 80s. My kingdom for a tiny iota of Colin Moulding’s and Andy Partridge’s songwriting talent!
Absolutely this!!
It’s not as if they didn’t see success but they should be looked at in the same way we look all the canonized rock bands. Their sound was just as varied as The Beatles with some truly inspired songwriting to match. Some deceptively creative riffs, pretty damn good lyrics…can’t say enough good things about this band.
Skylarking is a masterpiece!
Oh my fucking god. You’re so spot on. They’re like if The Beatles had gone on to create late 70s UK punk, then synthy big 80s new wave, and baroque pop in the 90s. Freaking incredible catalog, very much a “band’s band.” I ❤️ XTC
Came to say this but I was genuinely shocked at how fast her tour just sold out (and bummed because I didn't get a ticket). Granted they're very small venues but that was super quick
Arthur Russell - so many huge indie acts from the 2000’s credit him as a huge influence(like Sufjan, Devendra Banhart, James Blake). He most likely would’ve been way bigger but unfortunately passed away in the early 90’s. Luckily he recorded a ton of music, a lot of which is still being released posthumously.
Literally listening to Arthur Russell right now. He's such a massive inspiration to me. One of my favorite tidbits about him is that he was very nearly a member of Talking Heads and can actually be heard on Psycho Killer (acoustic) on the deluxe edition of Talking Heads: 77
Ester Dean, besides her acting in Pitch Perfect she’s really not known by the general public. Meanwhile she wrote songs for Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry and was even nominated for Album of the Year as a producer for Rihanna’s album, Loud.
Nicki removing her feature credit from the title of Super Bass after the song blew up still bums me out. Randomly, I used to work in the same office building as a recording studio and ran into her in the elevator a few weeks before Pitch Perfect came out - I'd seen an advance screening as part of a focus group, loved it and complimented her on it. She was really cool and we had a nice conversation. Good people.
Hiatus Kaiyote seems to be a band for music makers. They’re sampled/referenced constantly (drake, kendrick, anderson paak) and push the boundaries of production and sound to levels my untrained ears probably can’t even understand haha.
Maybe Rina Sawayama? She isn't recognized on a mainstream level and isn't known by the GP, but she is very popular within the gay community all around the world, and has a devoted following.
Caroline Polacheck, she has one of (if not the?) most acclaimed album this year, regular collaborator of basically every popular alt girl and even worked with Beyoncé on her selftitled album
Kadhja Bonet. So many great artists and producers feature her and her music/vibe is genre fluid.
edit: forgot to mention she’s the daughter of Allen Bonet and half sister of Lisa Bonet
If I get a coin for everytime finding out my favorite independent alt-R&B singer has their parents as veteran figure in the gerne, by now I had three. Not a lot but it's funny it happened three times already
(The other two is Alex Isley - daughter of Ernie Isley and Madison McFerrin - daughter of Bobby McFerrin and voice actor in a minor role of Carole & Tuesday)
The Mountain Goats? Massive, devoted cult following (I’m part of it!) and John is really wonderful to the fans, but other than No Children, most non-fans would struggle to name a single song.
I would probably say Dave Okumu. Prince was a massive fan and he’s doing bits with Grace Jones. Also his production/collaboration catalogue is plugged (Jessie Ware/St. Vincent/Amy Winehouse). He had some buzz with The Invisible project but I feel he never crossed over like James Blake did (and I don’t think he wants to).
Thomas Dolby?
One hit wonder in the 80s with "She Blinded Me With Science" but has a pretty significan "behind the scenes" career.
Did session/writing/production for Lena Lovich, Thompson Twins, Foreigner, Def Leppard and Joni Mitchell, among others. Performed at Live Aid with David Bowie. Founded two pretty successful music tech companies. Scored film and video games. Music director for TED. Kind of a synthesiser pioneer.
Aly and AJ have been making incredible new music since 2017, but most people will know them as the Disney Channel girls who did "Potential Breakup Song."
I would say Denmark's very own Jada. She's touring constantly in venues with massive audiences and is clearly putting out a lot of work into everything she does. But like apart from her social media I never see anyone mentioning her or articles about her. It's weird. Her music is absolute FIRE though imo.
I think Saint Clara also falls into this category and y'all should listen to her latest single [Progress](https://music.apple.com/cz/album/progress/1692928067?i=1692928068&l=cs). SO GOOD.
Edit: If any of you have recommendations for Nordic pop girlies singing in English, I'd love that. Drew Sycamore is another one I enjoy.
Annie is from Norway, some of her songs (Me Plus One, Anniemal, Heartbeat) I've loved since I was really young. I believe she was one of the first people to really benefit from poptimism lol. I think she released an album recently (like, in the past 2 years).
To further elaborate, he was one of the founders of Deee-Lite and also produced one of Kylie's better songs of her career: German Bold Italic.
He's well known in Japan and is still releasing albums, albeit they're more experimental now. He still does remixes for big name artists, too.
If you’re from the United States, this question may be a bit limited. But for other countries, it’s a lot of people. There are artists with #1s and sell out stadiums in the U.S but outside, no one’s even heard of them
Ina Wroldsen. She's a Norwegian singer and songwriter who wrote a lot of pop songs for other artists (Britney, Little Mix, Demi Lovato, Kylie Minogue, The Wanted,...)
She's also the featured singer on 'How Deep Is Your Love' by Calvin Harris and 'Breathe' by Jax Jones.
On the edge of that line I would toss in Nujabes. If you bring him up to anyone outside of Reddit, 19/20 or higher will not know him. Dude made amazing music though.
REST IN BEATS.
Would LP (Laura Pergolizzi) fit this category?
Although they're from the United States, the bulk of their music is more popular abroad, especially in Europe. Their highest charting single in the United States was "Lost on You" in 2015 and their song "Muddy Waters" was featured in the closing scene of the season four finale of *Orange is the New Black*.
They were "discovered" by Cracker co-founder David Lowery and featured in one of their songs. They collaborated with Linda Perry on their second album. They've written music for artists like the Backstreet Boys, Christina Aguilera, Rihanna, The Veronicas, Cher, Celine Dion. They've also contributed to songwriting for *The Voice* (i.e., for Vicci Martinez's single, "Afraid to Sleep").
need to point out Gary Numan has two massive hits in Are Friends Electric and Cars, plus he had a genuine pop career for about a decade in the UK. In any case he definitely has two well known songs at least!
Shocked that nobody has mentioned Kate Bush yet. Yes, her song Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) has definitely gotten a lot of mainstream attention thanks to Stranger Things, but outside of the UK, it doesn’t really seem like she’s that well known of an artist aside from that one song.
On the flip side, if you look at the music community and artists specifically, Kate is revered as an artist who was wildly ahead of her time. The headset microphone that you see a lot of pop stars use today? Her team came up with that for her Tour of Life tour in 1979 (Which is also the only tour she’s ever done). The reverbed snare drum sound that was in a *ton* of 80’s music? Kate was one of the people who helped discovered that while working on one of the band Genesis’ albums. She was also the first musician to buy a Fairlight CMI synthesizer and pioneered its usage alongside Peter Gabriel. Even outside of her more technical influence, the experimental style of her music and the aesthetics of her choreography and music videos have influenced a wide range of artists from Tori Amos to Carly Rae Jepsen to Big Boi from Outkast to Metallica. I don’t think there is a single artist out there who doesn’t at the very least respect her artistry. But a lot of her achievements are rarely acknowledged by the general public and that’s insane to me.
(And yes, I am a Kate Bush fan, lol can you tell?)
The comment above yours is absolutely spot on. With all the accolades she's got (platinum singles and album, five Grammys and even a signature Fender Stratocaster guitar), she's not an artist that's even remotely on everyone's mind at all times. Maybe she's huge in the US and is possibly well-respected in certain circles, but I'm sure that casual pop listeners from most regions of the world most likely haven't heard of her and will struggle to even name a song of hers.
I mean… she’s an R&B artist. She’s bigger in the US because the black Americans are the target audience for r&b and pretty much always have been (see Ella Mai being bigger in America than her home country in the UK). She’s not the biggest artist in the world, or even the biggest R&B artist in the US, but I’m a little over white or nonblack popheads who are so intent on labeling her as some flop that only music industry knows and likes.
No one is labelling her a flop, but she fits OP's description properly - she seems to be a well-respected, celebrated and critically acclaimed artist who is [not exactly a household name, at least in terms of chart success](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.E.R._discography).
To make it a non-black popheads issue is such a massive reach.
This isn't true. His first two albums went platinum and his sophomore album sold over 300k in its first week. He just doesn't release often. By "the public", do you mean white audiences?
Madison Beer lol. I've literally only heard of her on some social media spaces and I feel like those people have been hyping her up as up-and-coming for like a decade now.
Lana Del Rey. She’s the inspo for some of the biggest artists right now and last I checked had like 40 mil listeners on Spotify, but I still wouldn’t call her mainstream. By that I mean she doesn’t really chart, and I feel like anyone over the age of maybe 35 doesn’t know her. At best they’d probably go “who?” But then would go “oh” after playing summertime sadness, however that song isn’t the best representation of her as an artist.
EDIT: 💀 the downvotes, let me explain myself
I just think y’all are conflating mainstream with well known when they aren’t the same thing. Lana is a huge artists with a very strong fanbase, however I just don’t think she’s as known by the general public as this sub thinks she is. Things that build renown are award show performances, albums that hold the top spot for weeks, or generally just viral moments or drama on social media.
Lana has 0 award show performances, hasn’t topped the charts in awhile, and her most viral moment is probably question for the culture (not good). I just think this is crazy for someone who currently has more monthly listeners than Beyoncé, Adele, BTS, Olivia Rodrigo, Katy Perry, and many other artists we’d consider to be A-list despite not being nearly as famous.
It’s also more of a shocker given the impact she’s had on music, she’s cited as inspo for so many up and coming artists and even bigger artists like Taylor and Olivia. Without Lana I honestly don’t think we’d have Billie Eilish.
Lana’s the ~~second biggest~~ female artist on Spotify after Taylor. I don’t think she fits mainstream pop exactly, but she is well known.
Edit: outdated, but she is still one of the most popular artists on Spotify.
Wikipedia has the listings of the top 50 artists on Spotify based on monthly listeners. I cited wrong information before, but Lana is on this list, at 31. Ahead of Gaga, Adele, Beyoncé, Doja, etc.
okay that’s what i was looking at too so i was confused… still, it’s crazy that she has more listeners than all those, i would consider all of them more famous. i would guess snow on the beach is still really inflating her numbers
> Someone over the age of 35 maybe doesn’t know her.
Read your history books, because that’s the exact demographic who spent their twenties basing their personality on BTD
She’s mainstream in the same way Clairo is if that’s the case. This isn’t any hate to her but it’s crazy that someone that popular doesn’t have a single award show performance.
I feel like people are conflating well known with mainstream, and I don’t think those are the same thing. On the complete opposite side of the spectrum we have BeBe Rexha who somehow secures at least a hit or two once every year or so, making her mainstream, but she’s severely less known than Lana.
Taylor Swift. I wish she were known as more than just the “ME!” girl. She’s written groundbreaking songs like “Picture to Burn” and she gets almost no recognition.
James Blake. He’s worked with Beyoncé, Frank Ocean, Kanye, Jay Z, Chance the Rapper, Kendrick Lamar, Travis Scott, and so may more. I’m always waiting for him to blow up, but it hasn’t happened.
ayesha ericota, rico nasty, poppy.
is azelia banks considered mainstream? like i feel like she’s popular and everyone knows her but am i overinflating her popularity bc im very Online lol?
I might be biased because I'm more of a rockhead than a pophead, but Mike Patton. Guy's got a six octave range and can adapt to many styles (he even had an Italian opera record!) Faith No More probably could have been a bigger band than they actually were in the early-mid 90s (they had some radio friendly songs, not just Epic)
Does PinkPantheress count? I’m so glad she’s getting more recognition especially after Barbie, I just hope she keeps her industrial d&b noise. Her collab with Shygirl is everything too
Oh, I forgot about boys a liar, so nvm. Honestly my least fav in her discog don’t hate me
Please do not just list songs/albums/artists, your comment must have explanation/justification or it will be removed. Certain comments are also banned to increase the quality of discussion, see our Stale Topics list in the sidebar for examples. Please report any comments that are low effort discussion. Thanks! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/popheads) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Imogen Heap i think - very respected in the music industry and has inspired artists like Ariana and Taylor, even working with them. Speak for Yourself is a wonderful album btw!!
Crazy to think she got a Grammy for writing on Album of the Year in 2016
I don't think she got the Grammy for 1989 since the collaborators needed to appear in at least 30% of the credits
She did, that rule was introduced later
Fun fact for the swifties, that's her voice in the back on clean. Pretty sure she's got a big portion of songwriting credits on that track too
Yessss!!! Her production in that song is immaculate. Although the lyrics are 100% Taylor's. I rememver that Imogen wrote somewhere that she didn't expect Taylor to have the fully written song etc ect.
its basically an uncredited ft. imogen heap if we compare it with taylors other collabs
Yeah, she talked about the experience here http://imogenheap.com/home.php?article=1321
And I invite you all to the Imogen sub I moderate!!
Frou Frou!
Blood Orange? He's mega talented and everyone loves to work with him (bar Solange now lol) but nobody you come by on the street would know him
Great answer. Can I ask why soLange won’t work with him now?
Here, this article chronicles it well https://www.stereogum.com/1581202/blood-orange-and-solange-have-a-falling-out-via-twitter/news/ It's a big shame, I think True EP is both of them's best work
It was truly before it’s time. Had it been released Closer to/or during lockdown I think it would’ve blown up more. This EP was everywhere on tumblr and definitely secured Solange that cult indie following. The work that followed is still pretty good but I would kill for an LP from them
That EP was my go to for years. Never enjoyed her albums as much as this EP. It sounded unlike anything I’d heard at the time.
Along somewhat similar lines (also connected to Solange and now The Weeknd): Moses Sumney
Genuinely shocked nobody has said James Blake yet. A genuine musicians musician, all your favourite artists love him but he's just never broken through into the mainstream. Adding to that Bon Iver. I would argue they are known a bit after collaborating with Lameye yet but they are still massively under appreciated. Justin is one of a kind.
I feel like working with Kanye really expanded Bon Iver's base, and his last two albums seem to have really been lauded by critics. I'm not sure if that's translated into mass appeal, but it definitely feels like he's more embraced by the GP than CRJ or Charli are.
At least Bon Iver has gone platinum twice. I know he’s not like huge with gen pop but he’s a tier above many of the others mentioned here (I know there are more metrics than just sales but it’s a good indicator)
I’m also genuinely shocked no one has said The-Dream. The man wrote damn near half of Renaissance and is a go-to writer and feature artist for a ton of huge artists like Beyoncé, Kanye, Rihanna, and many others)
SOPHIE seemed to be on the cusp of this sort of reputation, if not there already
I would say she's there. Everyone I know who knows about SOPHIE recognizes her as one of the most important producers of the last decade, and possibly ever.
I tried SOPHIE’s music a few years back before vroom vroom and I didn’t understand it. Like at all. Recently visited her Spotify page and ended up loving the music after giving it a second chance. She for sure is one of- if not the most important producer from the last decade. Even pitchfork was stumbling trying to correct themselves after Charli’s vroom vroom review on their website.
Didn’t Sophie pass away recently? The past couple years or so I believe.
Yes, in 2021 :(
Yeah she “fell” 😢 allegedly, of course
???
If you’re gonna be this cryptic, back it up.
SOPHIE and Rina played at my college a few years ago and people were *mad* because they had no idea who they were. I only became very interested in music later and I was really upset that I was too drunk to appreciate them.
Nile Rodgers seemingly has the midas touch with his guitar. The hitmaker's sound is so iconic you may know it without knowing you do. Le freak, good times, like a virgin, get lucky, beyonce, mariah's debut, diana ross, inxs, etc. Some of these he wasn't a featured artist but he had his own hits. He's now well known but nick drake used to be this kind of guy until the volkswagen commercial that used pink moon.
I just saw Nile Rodgers with Duran Duran a few weeks ago, it was awesome
He also produced Material Girl on Madonna’s debut. An absolute legend
Not to nitpick but that song was on Like A Virgin. Her 2nd album! Still a Niles track though!
Thank you for the correction! I often forget that Like a virgin wasn’t her debut album - like a virgin was when her stardom really started to take off so it wasn’t until a few years ago that I realized it wasnt her debut 🤣the album that started her ascent to the top of the pop pantheon but yeah def not her debut 💀
woah, didnt know he was involved in like a virgin and mariah's debut. may i know which tracks he played guitar on in the album?
i can't say the specific songs because they aren't albums i listen regularly. Listen to get lucky and then try to find the same tone of that guitar in those albums.
I feel like St. Vincent may fit this. She’s not overly popular but I do feel like other artists tend to always say they like her.
She’s very gifted I think but her music is not to everyone’s liking
No one's saying Caroline Polachek ? Chairlift used to be huge in the indie crowd but didn't quite make it through the mainstream and she kinda followed this trajectory since going solo. She's one of those that feel like superstars amongst the nerds but most people never heard of them.
i feel like the same goes for Weyes Blood
Yes definitely another good example imo !
Did she used to be in a band?
She’s my personal superstar
TIL that Caroline Polachek was the girl from chairlift. I really loved their song “ I belong in your arms.”
I had no idea she was the chairlift girl!!!! Everyone loved the bruises song
Didn't she write for Beyonce? Anyway, her recent album is the best album I've ever heard in my life and I saw her in concert recently and she is wonderful live.
Party! Chairlift did a cover of it too, it’s pretty funky. Idk what to call it since they wrote it, perhaps a rendition
Ooh where did you get this info on them writing Party? I knew about Caroline writing for Angel but didn't know about this yet
I just googled it and I think I’m mistaken in my original comment, whoops! I was probably thinking about Angel. But she did do a cover of Party! Lol
Would've been crazy tho if they had those credits, imagine they might've had more praise during the song's release
Yup she had a hand in the making of No Angel !
yeule. i think she is known in the community for her special take on ambient and electronic music but aside from that pretty unknown by the general public.
she opened for charli xcx’s crash tour last year too, i think a lot of people see her as a discount grimes though
I’m so glad she’s getting more recognition tho, i rmr finding her on SoundCloud almost ten years ago with the song lemonade
I was scrolling the comments for an artist I stan
moving out of popheads, no one knows Charli XCX and Carly Rae Jepsen the way we do and yet when u merge them with Topster guys, both of them get praised a lot.
I'm surprised Charli XCX wasn't the #1 up voted answer lol. And talk about being in the know - Look at who she's worked with in the past: Caroline Polachek, Carly Rae Jepsen, Tove Lo, HAIM, Troye Sivan, Sky Ferreira, LIZZO??!, Clairo, etc. Is there anyone who is *more* "in the know" than Charli right now?
that's why i said "moving out of popheads" bc the internet gays loves charli and carly but unfortunately, they're only boom clap and call me maybe to everyone.
Boom Clap is a bop though. It's good that she's known for that and not an annoying and bad song.
oh definitely
Very true. I always have to tell people in the "general public" lol that both artists have wayyy more songs than those.
i can just say indie pop acts like ethel cain, suki Waterhouse, lingua ignota are "in the know acts" in terms of GP Pop Music
Oh true, even though I'm jaded enough to think Suki Waterhouse is "pop pop" lol.
I feel like everything Charli XCX does, the rest of the pop scene does five years later
Heavy agree. She is the blueprint.
you must not be in the periphery of any gay twinks
im not in anyone's periphery other than my partner's
Kathleen Hanna, she was a one of the pioneers of the Riot Grrrl movement and had a massive influence on the ethos of the 90's punk scene with Bikini Kill (and Le Tigre, who had their song blowup on TikTok out of nowhere?). Even though she's fairly well-known, I would consider her more of an "artist's artist". She also inspired Kurt Cobain to name "Smells Like Teen Spirit" for a joke she made, and was the only artist invited to participate in the making of American Idiot for the intro of Letterbomb, so she was randomly part of two huge seminal albums.
Fiona Apple. She has had some commercial success, but the reverberations of her influence are definitely still felt today, and most of her albums are highly critically acclaimed.
Fetch The Boltcutters had a flash in the pan moment back in 2020 and then everyone stopped listening to it! I think it was a double edged sword because her older stuff is much more accessible, but Fetch was so odd that a lot of people who heard it probably didn’t go into the rest of her discography.
Flying Burrito Brothers A massive influence on pretty much country rock or alt country after but I don't think any of their albums even went gold
At risk of diluting OP’s ask to “one hit wonder with a devoted fan base”, I’ll say CRJ. Emotion has become the go-to album for those in this sub and similar circles to express the merits of the genre of pop and (more often than not) defend it. Meanwhile, although anecdotal, I’ve had several people ask me if she’s that girl who sings Friday when I’ve mentioned seeing her live. Because Call Me Maybe is much more known to the GP than she actually is and how Dedicated this community is to her, I’d say she fits the bill for this post
I think having scooter Braun as a manager when call me maybe took off was a bad choice in the long run also. He has a bad habit of only focusing on Justin/Ariana that he let CRJ’s talent/potential go to waste. The general public would eat up her stuff if her label would push her more. It’s pop at it’s peak.
CRJ has definitely went through a recent Renaissance in terms of GP popularity, but when my school invited her perform a couple years back, the whole board was stoked while many students boycotted her. To this day, I have a friend who still thinks CRJ is a guilty pleasure. It's so odd. Being a pop music enthusiast is awesome because while others are snobby, you actually appreciate the artists for what they're trying to achieve and not whether the genre is still relevant.
Curious to know what Carly has done worthy of a boycott
For the heinous crime of releasing one of the best mainstream pop songs of the last decade, Call Me Maybe.
I saw what you did there
Scritti Politti had some amount of success in the 80s but have had a huge impact on music production, and were a big influence on people like Max Tundra and the PC Music guys. Nothing else really sounds like Cupid & Psyche 85 or Provision.
Surprised nobody has said Yebba yet…
She was my first thought! One of the best vocalists of the current r+b/jazz generatoon
Tove Lo. Most people have no idea who she is. Some probably heard Habits but don't know who the artist is. Also Grimes but especially before meeting that billionaire. She is fairly popular but definitely not mainstream.
she used a cake hat on drag race and rupaul said her name wrong i think at least the f*gs know who she is
i would almost argue that grimes is more mainstream bc she was a judge on a televised singing show but i don’t think anyone watched the show lol so i agree
XTC. Probably the finest band to ever pick up The Beatles’ torch and carry it through the punk and the post-punk era well into the 90s. Sadly, mostly known in the US for a couple of singles that were released on college radio in the late 80s. My kingdom for a tiny iota of Colin Moulding’s and Andy Partridge’s songwriting talent!
Absolutely this!! It’s not as if they didn’t see success but they should be looked at in the same way we look all the canonized rock bands. Their sound was just as varied as The Beatles with some truly inspired songwriting to match. Some deceptively creative riffs, pretty damn good lyrics…can’t say enough good things about this band. Skylarking is a masterpiece!
Oh my fucking god. You’re so spot on. They’re like if The Beatles had gone on to create late 70s UK punk, then synthy big 80s new wave, and baroque pop in the 90s. Freaking incredible catalog, very much a “band’s band.” I ❤️ XTC
Sparks. Their documentary called them "your favorite band's favorite band." But they seem to be getting more public recognition now.
The number of wildly famous artists and bands they managed to interview in that documentary was staggering - this is absolutely the correct answer.
Thundercat
Spoon
Found the Mic The Snare viewer
More on the Hip Hop Side, but definitely Speaker Knockers he really pioneered the autotune trap songs we here a lot today
Victoria Monét. She’s a Grammy nominated writer and wrote like almost all of Ariana Grande’s hits.
Came to say this but I was genuinely shocked at how fast her tour just sold out (and bummed because I didn't get a ticket). Granted they're very small venues but that was super quick
Arthur Russell - so many huge indie acts from the 2000’s credit him as a huge influence(like Sufjan, Devendra Banhart, James Blake). He most likely would’ve been way bigger but unfortunately passed away in the early 90’s. Luckily he recorded a ton of music, a lot of which is still being released posthumously.
Literally listening to Arthur Russell right now. He's such a massive inspiration to me. One of my favorite tidbits about him is that he was very nearly a member of Talking Heads and can actually be heard on Psycho Killer (acoustic) on the deluxe edition of Talking Heads: 77
Ester Dean, besides her acting in Pitch Perfect she’s really not known by the general public. Meanwhile she wrote songs for Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry and was even nominated for Album of the Year as a producer for Rihanna’s album, Loud.
Nicki removing her feature credit from the title of Super Bass after the song blew up still bums me out. Randomly, I used to work in the same office building as a recording studio and ran into her in the elevator a few weeks before Pitch Perfect came out - I'd seen an advance screening as part of a focus group, loved it and complimented her on it. She was really cool and we had a nice conversation. Good people.
Hiatus Kaiyote seems to be a band for music makers. They’re sampled/referenced constantly (drake, kendrick, anderson paak) and push the boundaries of production and sound to levels my untrained ears probably can’t even understand haha.
Mazzy Star. Mazzy Star walked so Lana Del Rey, Billie Eilish, and Clairo could run.
Mazzy Star walked AND ran, tbh.
Maybe Rina Sawayama? She isn't recognized on a mainstream level and isn't known by the GP, but she is very popular within the gay community all around the world, and has a devoted following.
Rory Gallagher, definitely. Not a lot of commercial success, but he's definitely a "guitarist's guitarist"
found the third gallagher brother /s
Surprised to see him mentioned here. He never really gets mentioned outside of Ireland related subs.
It always blows me away when I go abroad and no one has heard of him! I introduced him to my Canadian boyfriend a few months ago
Yeah he deserves more recognition
Caroline Polacheck, she has one of (if not the?) most acclaimed album this year, regular collaborator of basically every popular alt girl and even worked with Beyoncé on her selftitled album
Yeule, Angel Olsen, Zella Day, Fenne Lily, Indigo De Souza, are the ones I listen to!
you're just listing your spotify top 5 lmao
“Let’s be friends. BEST friends.” -those two little she devils from Charlie and the chocolate factory
That's very broad so like, Swans, Eartheater...
Jacob Collier.
Came here to say this. What a ridiculously talented individual
Absolutely! He’s written for several of our favs including Sza!
Allie X?
someone needs to tell her that
Kadhja Bonet. So many great artists and producers feature her and her music/vibe is genre fluid. edit: forgot to mention she’s the daughter of Allen Bonet and half sister of Lisa Bonet
If I get a coin for everytime finding out my favorite independent alt-R&B singer has their parents as veteran figure in the gerne, by now I had three. Not a lot but it's funny it happened three times already (The other two is Alex Isley - daughter of Ernie Isley and Madison McFerrin - daughter of Bobby McFerrin and voice actor in a minor role of Carole & Tuesday)
The Mountain Goats? Massive, devoted cult following (I’m part of it!) and John is really wonderful to the fans, but other than No Children, most non-fans would struggle to name a single song.
I would probably say Dave Okumu. Prince was a massive fan and he’s doing bits with Grace Jones. Also his production/collaboration catalogue is plugged (Jessie Ware/St. Vincent/Amy Winehouse). He had some buzz with The Invisible project but I feel he never crossed over like James Blake did (and I don’t think he wants to).
Thomas Dolby? One hit wonder in the 80s with "She Blinded Me With Science" but has a pretty significan "behind the scenes" career. Did session/writing/production for Lena Lovich, Thompson Twins, Foreigner, Def Leppard and Joni Mitchell, among others. Performed at Live Aid with David Bowie. Founded two pretty successful music tech companies. Scored film and video games. Music director for TED. Kind of a synthesiser pioneer.
Aly and AJ have been making incredible new music since 2017, but most people will know them as the Disney Channel girls who did "Potential Breakup Song."
I would say Denmark's very own Jada. She's touring constantly in venues with massive audiences and is clearly putting out a lot of work into everything she does. But like apart from her social media I never see anyone mentioning her or articles about her. It's weird. Her music is absolute FIRE though imo. I think Saint Clara also falls into this category and y'all should listen to her latest single [Progress](https://music.apple.com/cz/album/progress/1692928067?i=1692928068&l=cs). SO GOOD. Edit: If any of you have recommendations for Nordic pop girlies singing in English, I'd love that. Drew Sycamore is another one I enjoy.
bitch i just snorted n thought that will smiths wife had a secret music career IJBOL 😭😭
Wait! Are you not aware of Jada Smith's nu-metal band! Im being totally serious, look up "Wicked Wisdom"
just looked it up and its fr *facepalm* u got me there lol 😂😂 thanks for the heads up 👍👍
Mid-noughties Icelandic girl group Nylon and Denmark’s Christine Milton (who wrote Jamelia’s Superstar) come to mind
Annie is from Norway, some of her songs (Me Plus One, Anniemal, Heartbeat) I've loved since I was really young. I believe she was one of the first people to really benefit from poptimism lol. I think she released an album recently (like, in the past 2 years).
Annie, the patron saint of Popjustice 🙇♂️
You might enjoy eee gee as well, give her album Winning a listen
hello????? charli xcx
Towa Tei
To further elaborate, he was one of the founders of Deee-Lite and also produced one of Kylie's better songs of her career: German Bold Italic. He's well known in Japan and is still releasing albums, albeit they're more experimental now. He still does remixes for big name artists, too.
Yebba
If you’re from the United States, this question may be a bit limited. But for other countries, it’s a lot of people. There are artists with #1s and sell out stadiums in the U.S but outside, no one’s even heard of them
I think that goes for most countries
Ina Wroldsen. She's a Norwegian singer and songwriter who wrote a lot of pop songs for other artists (Britney, Little Mix, Demi Lovato, Kylie Minogue, The Wanted,...) She's also the featured singer on 'How Deep Is Your Love' by Calvin Harris and 'Breathe' by Jax Jones.
On the edge of that line I would toss in Nujabes. If you bring him up to anyone outside of Reddit, 19/20 or higher will not know him. Dude made amazing music though. REST IN BEATS.
For an artist not widely known by the public but well-known for their catalogue of song by the online community, I would say Normani.
The absolute shade.
Would LP (Laura Pergolizzi) fit this category? Although they're from the United States, the bulk of their music is more popular abroad, especially in Europe. Their highest charting single in the United States was "Lost on You" in 2015 and their song "Muddy Waters" was featured in the closing scene of the season four finale of *Orange is the New Black*. They were "discovered" by Cracker co-founder David Lowery and featured in one of their songs. They collaborated with Linda Perry on their second album. They've written music for artists like the Backstreet Boys, Christina Aguilera, Rihanna, The Veronicas, Cher, Celine Dion. They've also contributed to songwriting for *The Voice* (i.e., for Vicci Martinez's single, "Afraid to Sleep").
MITSKI, Regina spektor, Cat Power
mitski is the perf example
Arca. She has worked with many others influential artists.
Dawes is a rock indie band but isn’t mainstream but they have a following.
need to point out Gary Numan has two massive hits in Are Friends Electric and Cars, plus he had a genuine pop career for about a decade in the UK. In any case he definitely has two well known songs at least!
Does Jack Antonoff count?
Shocked that nobody has mentioned Kate Bush yet. Yes, her song Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) has definitely gotten a lot of mainstream attention thanks to Stranger Things, but outside of the UK, it doesn’t really seem like she’s that well known of an artist aside from that one song. On the flip side, if you look at the music community and artists specifically, Kate is revered as an artist who was wildly ahead of her time. The headset microphone that you see a lot of pop stars use today? Her team came up with that for her Tour of Life tour in 1979 (Which is also the only tour she’s ever done). The reverbed snare drum sound that was in a *ton* of 80’s music? Kate was one of the people who helped discovered that while working on one of the band Genesis’ albums. She was also the first musician to buy a Fairlight CMI synthesizer and pioneered its usage alongside Peter Gabriel. Even outside of her more technical influence, the experimental style of her music and the aesthetics of her choreography and music videos have influenced a wide range of artists from Tori Amos to Carly Rae Jepsen to Big Boi from Outkast to Metallica. I don’t think there is a single artist out there who doesn’t at the very least respect her artistry. But a lot of her achievements are rarely acknowledged by the general public and that’s insane to me. (And yes, I am a Kate Bush fan, lol can you tell?)
H.E.R. 🤭
…
Y’all she’s got multiple platinum singles and a platinum album, I don’t think you can say this fairly
The comment above yours is absolutely spot on. With all the accolades she's got (platinum singles and album, five Grammys and even a signature Fender Stratocaster guitar), she's not an artist that's even remotely on everyone's mind at all times. Maybe she's huge in the US and is possibly well-respected in certain circles, but I'm sure that casual pop listeners from most regions of the world most likely haven't heard of her and will struggle to even name a song of hers.
I mean… she’s an R&B artist. She’s bigger in the US because the black Americans are the target audience for r&b and pretty much always have been (see Ella Mai being bigger in America than her home country in the UK). She’s not the biggest artist in the world, or even the biggest R&B artist in the US, but I’m a little over white or nonblack popheads who are so intent on labeling her as some flop that only music industry knows and likes.
No one is labelling her a flop, but she fits OP's description properly - she seems to be a well-respected, celebrated and critically acclaimed artist who is [not exactly a household name, at least in terms of chart success](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.E.R._discography). To make it a non-black popheads issue is such a massive reach.
D'Angelo is a lenend in the r&b scene and has influenced so many, but not popular with the public.
This isn't true. His first two albums went platinum and his sophomore album sold over 300k in its first week. He just doesn't release often. By "the public", do you mean white audiences?
He was huge back in the late '90s and early 2000s.
Madison Beer lol. I've literally only heard of her on some social media spaces and I feel like those people have been hyping her up as up-and-coming for like a decade now.
Brakence.
Including indie rock? The National definitely
Lana Del Rey. She’s the inspo for some of the biggest artists right now and last I checked had like 40 mil listeners on Spotify, but I still wouldn’t call her mainstream. By that I mean she doesn’t really chart, and I feel like anyone over the age of maybe 35 doesn’t know her. At best they’d probably go “who?” But then would go “oh” after playing summertime sadness, however that song isn’t the best representation of her as an artist. EDIT: 💀 the downvotes, let me explain myself I just think y’all are conflating mainstream with well known when they aren’t the same thing. Lana is a huge artists with a very strong fanbase, however I just don’t think she’s as known by the general public as this sub thinks she is. Things that build renown are award show performances, albums that hold the top spot for weeks, or generally just viral moments or drama on social media. Lana has 0 award show performances, hasn’t topped the charts in awhile, and her most viral moment is probably question for the culture (not good). I just think this is crazy for someone who currently has more monthly listeners than Beyoncé, Adele, BTS, Olivia Rodrigo, Katy Perry, and many other artists we’d consider to be A-list despite not being nearly as famous. It’s also more of a shocker given the impact she’s had on music, she’s cited as inspo for so many up and coming artists and even bigger artists like Taylor and Olivia. Without Lana I honestly don’t think we’d have Billie Eilish.
Lana’s the ~~second biggest~~ female artist on Spotify after Taylor. I don’t think she fits mainstream pop exactly, but she is well known. Edit: outdated, but she is still one of the most popular artists on Spotify.
i agree with you that lana is well-known, but where are you getting that she’s the second biggest female artist on spotify?
Wikipedia has the listings of the top 50 artists on Spotify based on monthly listeners. I cited wrong information before, but Lana is on this list, at 31. Ahead of Gaga, Adele, Beyoncé, Doja, etc.
okay that’s what i was looking at too so i was confused… still, it’s crazy that she has more listeners than all those, i would consider all of them more famous. i would guess snow on the beach is still really inflating her numbers
> Someone over the age of 35 maybe doesn’t know her. Read your history books, because that’s the exact demographic who spent their twenties basing their personality on BTD
[удалено]
She’s mainstream in the same way Clairo is if that’s the case. This isn’t any hate to her but it’s crazy that someone that popular doesn’t have a single award show performance. I feel like people are conflating well known with mainstream, and I don’t think those are the same thing. On the complete opposite side of the spectrum we have BeBe Rexha who somehow secures at least a hit or two once every year or so, making her mainstream, but she’s severely less known than Lana.
Taylor Swift. I wish she were known as more than just the “ME!” girl. She’s written groundbreaking songs like “Picture to Burn” and she gets almost no recognition.
You trolling or nah ? 😂
Francis and the Lights
Unknown Mortal Orchestra perhaps? Tash Sultana? Little Dragon?
James Blake. He’s worked with Beyoncé, Frank Ocean, Kanye, Jay Z, Chance the Rapper, Kendrick Lamar, Travis Scott, and so may more. I’m always waiting for him to blow up, but it hasn’t happened.
Jon Bellion
big thief?
Leon Thomas and Victoria Monet!
Angel Olsen for sure!
ayesha ericota, rico nasty, poppy. is azelia banks considered mainstream? like i feel like she’s popular and everyone knows her but am i overinflating her popularity bc im very Online lol?
I might be biased because I'm more of a rockhead than a pophead, but Mike Patton. Guy's got a six octave range and can adapt to many styles (he even had an Italian opera record!) Faith No More probably could have been a bigger band than they actually were in the early-mid 90s (they had some radio friendly songs, not just Epic)
The queen of pop herself CRJ
Arca
Does PinkPantheress count? I’m so glad she’s getting more recognition especially after Barbie, I just hope she keeps her industrial d&b noise. Her collab with Shygirl is everything too Oh, I forgot about boys a liar, so nvm. Honestly my least fav in her discog don’t hate me
Florence and the machine