by Kemet High, Leah Mandel, Brandon Ousley, Michelle Hyun Kim, and Vrinda Jagota of Third Bridge Creative

This edition of our column spotlighting five artists that you’ll be hearing from in the future features a rising rapper with a poetic flair, an up-and-coming electronic producer, an L.A. rap-rock duo, a teen R&B phenom, and a punk band with a twist.

Foggieraw

Chartmetric Artist Rank: 17,552
Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap
Country: U.S.

Foggieraw’s sample-laden tracks and prismatic short-form visuals have contributed to his reputation as rap’s new poet laureate. They also double as social media campaigns to get classic samples cleared. In September, the rapper released a visual on TikTok for “Psalm 62,” a recreation of Alicia Keys’ 2003 hit “You Don’t Know My Name.” Fans flocked to his slick delivery and the nostalgia of the video, which has 9 million views. Still, Foggie struggled to get the sample cleared. The footage eventually got on Keys’ radar, and the R&B singer even played the piano as he rapped the song in the background—a clear indication of her co-sign. A day later on June 16, he released the track on The Foggie Pound 3 after nine months of anticipation. Since its release he’s seen success on Spotify: he’s gained over 10k new Spotify followers, over 200k new monthly listeners, and the track, currently at 1.2 million streams garnering editorial playlist placements on hubs like State of Mind. Foggie’s internet advertisements are working in his favor.

Doss

Chartmetric Artist Rank: 3,781
Genre: Electronic
Country: U.S.

Doss, the Texas-born, New York-based producer/vocalist/DJ, became a cult figure with the 2021 release of her EP, 4 New Hit Songs. The EP defines how Doss creates moods with her specific blend of house, trance, and drum’n’bass. On July 14, Caroline Polachek tapped the elusive electronic artist to remix “Bunny Is A Rider,” alongside Sega Bodega and Nikki Nair mixes (Of the three, Doss' version has the most views with 8.2k views on YouTube). The same day, the track was added to Spotify’s flagship playlist POLLEN and Doss’ monthly listeners skyrocketed, nearly doubling over the course of a single week. A week later, she released a steamy new track “Drugs,” perhaps hinting at a new project, the first since October 2022.

Paris Texas

Chartmetric Artist Rank: 14,090
Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap
Country: U.S.

Los Angeles-based duo Paris Texas brings their own renegade take on rock-inspired rap by merging broodingly introspective verses, audacious humor, and punk guitar riffs. After gaining buzz with their 2021 projects Boy Anonymous and Red Hand Akimbo, their act found their breakthrough with May’s “BULLET MAN.” The single’s subversive music video started gaining attention on YouTube, now clocking in 264k views. The newfound attention has steadily translated to Spotify with the release of their July 21 debut album MID AIR; in the past six months, their monthly listener count has doubled from 325k to 649k.

Breez Kennedy

Chartmetric Artist Rank: 21,061
Genre: R&B/Soul
Country: U.S.

Seventeen-year-old Breez Kennedy may have only released his debut single, “Love Crazy (Blowing Your Phone Up)” in June, but the Florida crooner is planting the seeds of a promising career. Using TikTok to generate buzz for the lovelorn track—singing a snippet in public for random onlookers and even for legends like LL Cool J and Tank—pushed the song to 652k Spotify streams and earned it a placement on Spotify’s Vanguard playlist. “At Your Worst” (released July 25), a smooth R&B mid-tempo second single, extends his appeal to puppy love. The song and accompanying music video have racked up 17k Spotify streams and 260k YouTube views. With 174.4K TikTok followers, 116.3k on Instagram, and 101.6k monthly Spotify listeners, Breez Kennedy proves that emotionally rife R&B heartthrobs are alive and well.

illuminati hotties

Chartmetric Artist Rank: 8,476
Genre: Indie Rock
Country: U.S.

Experimental punk band illuminati hotties are no strangers to stoking intrigue and establishing lore. In 2020, they anonymously released a self-released mixtape on SoundCloud as part of a buyout from their label, Tiny Engines, which had been accused of mismanagement by multiple bands. The next year, they released the critically acclaimed Let Me Do One More, followed by the single “sandwich sharer” in 2022. Now, they’re back with a breezy, twangy new song, “Truck,” boosting their profile further via placement on major playlists like Spotify’s All New Indie and Today’s Indie Rock. Since the single was released on July 19, their Chartmetric rank has gone from 80,018 to 8,476. Live shows are illuminati hotties’ bread and butter: Appearances with boygenius and Carly Rae Jepsen, as well as a set at Pitchfork Music Festival, are coinciding with their July boost in recognition.

The Method: Using Audience to Your Advantage

As a recording artist, it might be more than a little discouraging to see you have hundreds of thousands more followers on short-form video apps like TikTok than on a DSP like Spotify, as it seems to signify that your social presence is way more engaging than the music you put out. Or, as seen in the case of Foggieraw’s TikTok popularity, it could be a sign to switch your release strategy entirely. As mentioned earlier, Foggieraw’s “Psalm 62” is incredibly popular on the platform, thanks in part to an Alicia Keys sample and co-sign (the importance of which has been covered in a previous edition of Tomorrow’s Five). But his TikTok page shows plenty of other kinds of significant engagement—poetry recited to classic ‘90s and ‘00s R&B songs, suave-looking visuals, and short verses off of unreleased tracks. Going to Chartmetric’s Audience section of Foggieraw’s profile, the impact of his marketing pivot is evident. With a high social engagement rate of over 20% on both TikTok and Instagram, it’s clear that his fans are right where he wants them to be.

Graphics by Nicki Camberg and cover image by Crasianne Tirado; data as of Aug. 9, 2023.

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