The Sound of 2011: Then and Now

Ahead of the announcement of The Sound of 2012 longlist, coming soon, BBC Album Reviews Editor Mike Diver takes a look at the fortunes of the acts that made up The Sound of 2011...

Want proof that us music critics aren't always in the right with our opinions on who's hot and who's not? Look no further than the yearly Sound of..., the winner of which is announced every January. While many winners - including Ellie Goulding, Little Boots, Adele, Mika and 50 Cent - have enjoyed success, albeit to very different levels, there are a number of names amongst the runners and riders that haven't exactly been bothering the charts on the regular. Anyone remember Air Traffic, tipped for big things in 2007? Their sole studio LP failed to break the top 40, and the Bournemouth band announced a hiatus in 2010. Dan Black and VV Brown were tipped beside Lady Gaga and Florence and the Machine in 2009 - guess which two of the four haven't really been heard from since. And in 2008 Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong made the list, but their debut album was scrapped shortly before its proposed August release and the band split in 2009. After NME had already reviewed it. Whoops.

As the music industry looks forward to the announcement of the longlist for 2012, published on bbc.co.uk/soundof/ this side of Christmas, let's look back at the 15 that made up 2011's list. Which have followed Adele into superstardom, and which have had less-than-brilliant years? You already know, don't you...

Nb. Metacritic is a website which collates scores from a number of album reviews to present an average score. BBC reviews are included in these scores. Find the website here (external link).

1: Jessie J

BBC Profile

Album review - Who You Are

Then: The Sound of 2011 winner, Essex girl Jessie J (real name Jessica Cornish) began the year surrounded by almost impenetrable buzz, generated by her single Do It Like a Dude - after the announcement that she'd won, the track climbed to a peak position of two, kept from the top spot by Bruno Mars' Grenade. By February it'd sold 300,000 copies. Prior to Do It Like a Dude's breakthrough success, Cornish had co-written tracks for the likes of Chris Brown and Miley Cyrus, and had seen an earlier album recorded but scrapped when her then-label, Gut, went bankrupt.

Now: Cornish's debut album, Who You Are, was released on 25 February and peaked at, like its lead single, number two in the UK. Twice-platinum, it's sold in excess of 600,000 copies - a figure higher than the rest of The Sound of 2011 longlisted artists' albums combined. It might not have fared brilliantly with the critics - Metacritic lists its average score as 51/100 - but Who You Are spawned two further top 10 hits, and the track Price Tag went right the way to the top with a little assistance from US rapper B.o.B. In August 2011 it'd sold 900,000 copies - one would guess that, by now, it's broken the million mark.

2: James Blake

BBC Profile

Album review - James Blake

Then: A rising dubstep producer with a handful of highly acclaimed tracks under his belt, not least of all the still-fresh CMYK, James Blake was an unlikely second-place act behind the overtly pop-centric Jessie J. But the combination of critical adoration in niche circles, plus an alluring cover of Feist's Limit to Your Love, which just cracked the UK top 40 in late 2010, ensured his place in The Sound of 2011.

Now: Blake's eponymous debut LP charted at nine domestically, and earned itself a Mercury Prize nomination. But despite a selection of positive appraisals - Metacritic scores it a highly respectable 81/100 - those who yearned for the upbeat side of Blake's catalogue were left cold by a collection that emphasised downbeat cuts over floor-fillers. A collaboration with Bon Iver, Fall Creek Boys Choir, was released in August. Blake stepped further away, still, from the dubstep scene with the Enough Thunder EP, released in October, which was closer to the electro-soul of fellow Sound of 2011 artist Jamie Woon than the fare that'd established his reputation in 2010.

3: The Vaccines

BBC Profile

Album review - What Did You Expect from the Vaccines?

Then: So fresh that they'd only formed in the January of the same year, London indie-rockers The Vaccines released their debut single in November 2010 - Wreckin' Bar (Ra Ra Ra), backed by the track Blow It Up, picked up support from Radio 1's Zane Lowe and Q Magazine and charted at a respectable 157. Their second official single, Post-Break-Up Sex, was released on 24 January, a few weeks after they'd placed third on The Sound of 2011; it broke the top 40, and the band followed this success with a nomination in the Critics' Choice category at the BRIT Awards.

Now: The quartet's debut LP, What Did You Expect from the Vaccines?, debuted at four on the UK albums chart in March. Attracting generally favourable reviews, the record has a Metacritic score of 67/100. Its final single, Wetsuit, is to be released in December. Live, the band supported Arctic Monkeys at their massive Don Valley show in June; were the NME's favourite band of the Reading & Leeds weekend; and are currently on a year-end headline tour taking in two nights at London's Brixton Academy. A second album is expected in 2012.

4: Jamie Woon

BBC Profile

Album review - Mirrorwriting

Then: New to the mainstream perhaps, but at the turn of the year Jamie Woon was already well-known to those with their ears rather closer to the underground. An EP, Wayfaring Stranger, was released in 2007, and Woon's tasteful single Night Air, co-produced by Burial, came out in October 2010, charting within the top 75. Seen as an innovative artist taking soul in new directions, Woon's placement at four in The Sound of 2011 wasn't all that surprising: he was overdue such exposure.

Now: Woon's debut LP, Mirrorwriting, was released in April and peaked inside the UK top 20 - a Metacritic score of 69/100 represents a majority of favourable reviews. Since then, though, new recordings have been rather conspicuous by their absence - his last single, Lady Luck, charted at 76 in February. He earned a MOBO nomination in the best newcomer category - the award went to Jessie J. After playing the iTunes Festival in the summer, Woon had to cancel a number of live appearances due to a ruptured Achilles tendon. But now he's back on the road, taking in cities including New York, Barcelona and Amsterdam between now and the end of the year.

5: Clare Maguire

BBC Profile

Album review - Light After Dark

Then: Solihull singer/songwriter Clare Maguire signed to Polydor back in 2008, and soon began, alongside Ellie Goulding and Kylie Minogue collaborator Fraser T Smith, writing and recording what would eventually be her debut album, Light After Dark. An EP, Let's Begin, was released in October 2010, and Maguire's first single proper Ain't Nobody - certainly not to be confused with the Rufus classic - charted at 78 ahead of her placing at fifth on The Sound of 2011.

Now: Maguire's second single, The Last Dance, charted at 23 in February - her highest place on the UK singles chart to date. Its parent LP landed on 24 February and broke the UK top 10, but it was met by a largely negative critical response - 2/10 from NME, 3/10 from Drowned in Sound, 2/5 from the Guardian (it has a Metacritic average of 50/100). Her third single, The Shield and the Sword, barely made it into the top 100 in May. In the summer, Maguire road-tested a number of new songs expected to feature on her second album, which she claims will have a blues and soul sound, influenced by the likes of Johnny Cash.

And the rest...

Anna Calvi released her debut eponymous album (BBC review) on 24 January - it went on to be nominated for the 2011 Mercury Prize, and reached the UK top 40. A big critical hit, the album has a Metacritic score of 80/100 and is likely to feature in many of the year-end best-of lists soon to spread across the internet. Calvi has been busy on the live front in 2011, appearing at a wealth of festivals home and abroad.

Daley had a very quiet 2011, but has been active lately with his mixtape, Those Who Wait, receiving a PR push ahead of an album proper in 2012. The Manchester soul singer also appeared on Wretch 32's album, Black and White, released in August.

Esben and the Witch released their debut album, Violet Cries (BBC review), a week after Calvi's - a handful of great reviews have given it a Metacritic score of 64/100. The Brighton trio played festivals including Glastonbury, Latitude and South By Southwest in 2011, and released the Hexagons EP, featuring non-album material, in November. A second album is expected in 2012.

Jai Paul, like Daley, was quiet in 2011. Signed to XL, clearly he's not being rushed to deliver the goods. His track BTSTU, made available in April and his only official release of the year, was sampled by both Drake and Beyoncé, so clearly he has fans in high places. Only time will tell with regard to what he can achieve in 2012.

Mona, it's safe to say, bombed in 2011. Despite their Sound of 2011 placing and victory in MTV's Brand New for 2011 award, The Nashville four-piece failed to deliver on the pre-release promise of a band to genuinely rival Kings of Leon's good-time chart-friendly rock'n'roll. Replete with lyrical clichés and packing all the compositional inventiveness of an under-11s battle of the bands competition, Mona (the album) was slaughtered in the press. NME, the Guardian and the Independent called it out for what it was: quite, quite rubbish. Despite this, it charted at a respectable 39 in the UK, and Mona headlined London's Shepherds Bush Empire in October, so perhaps all is not lost. If they crawl back from the brink of irrelevance in 2012, Mona may win themselves several new friends.

Nero, active since 2004, took dubstep and drum and bass right to the top of the UK albums chart with their Welcome Reality debut of August (BBC review). The London duo's run of singles leading up to their LP pointed the way to such success, with the track Promises topping the chart just ahead of the album's release (albeit with the lowest first-week sales of any number one for almost two years). A Metacritic score of 67/100 for Welcome Reality illustrates that critics, as well as the general public, were quite taken with it.

The Naked and Famous' Passive Me, Aggressive You album (BBC review; Metacritic 72/100) was already a hit in their home country of New Zealand ahead of their appearance in The Sound of 2011, having topped their domestic albums chart in September 2010. The indie-rockers couldn't repeat the feat in the UK, but their well-received debut set still made a very respectable 25, and their great live performances have kept them in the thoughts of this country's gig-going public.

Warpaint were another indie outfit on The Sound of 2011 longlist to have a debut album already available, but the Los Angeles quartet had already seen their set, The Fool (BBC review), chart in the UK. Eventually peaking at 41 and with a Metacritic score of 77/100, The Fool propelled its makers through 2011, with them taking in festivals including Glastonbury and Leeds/Reading. A deluxe edition of The Fool was released in September, including the band's pre-album EP Exquisite Corpse (BBC review).

Wretch 32 has had an amazing year, with the Tottenham MC taking his rhymes into the mainstream, entering the UK singles chart top five three times in a row and bagging a number one with Don't Go. Said track's parent LP, Black and White (his second album; BBC review), peaked at four and has a very decent Metacritic score of 72/100.

Yuck had critics of a certain vintage clamouring to stamp their seals of approval all over their fresh faces, as the London-based four-piece evoked strong memories of Dinosaur Jr and Sonic Youth throughout 2011. Their retro-inspired but highly accomplished rock keeps itself on just the right side of pastiche, and a Metacritic score of 81/100 for their eponymous debut LP (BBC review) proves they had enough bite to win over the doubters.

Read more album reviews at BBC Music

The Sound of 2012 longlist will be published on bbc.co.uk/soundof/ soon