Sound Signal is a bi-weekly newsletter produced by Third Bridge Creative for people in the music industry that identifies emerging artists, tracks, as well as new scenes and genres. This week, we’re exploring a Bollywood house fusion, a nu-disco viral dance sensation, and actresses-turned-artists. If you enjoy this newsletter, pass it on to a friend. They can sign up here.

TRENDING ARTISTS

AMAKA

Genre: R&B/Soul

TBC Score: 60

Vocalist AMAKA, formerly of R&B sister duo VanJess, has reinvented herself. In March, the singer (born Jessica Nwokike) announced that her sister, Ivana, departed the group—but the Nigerian-American artist also promised fans a “start of something new.” On August 18, AMAKA delivered her Kaytranada-produced debut solo EP, Oasis, bringing end-of-summer electronic vibes, with motivational third single “Cruisin” currently having the highest spins at 294K Spotify plays. As “Cruisin’” is the opener on Oasis, it’s experimental and nightclub-ready, also having an energetic companion dance. Songs from Oasis have seen editorial placements on Spotify’s R&B Weekly and This Is Frequency. AMAKA also gave the EP’s titular track, “Leave It Behind,” and “Unfamiliar” intergalactic animated visualizers. Breaking out on her own has been an advantage; since the August 18 release of Oasis, AMAKA’s Chartmetric Rank jumped by 19.7K.

Casper Sage

Genre: R&B/Soul

TBC Score: 83

Casper Sage’s laid-back sound, emotive lyricism, and rap-flavored singing are gaining much traction in the indie alt-R&B scene. A Soundcloud favorite with a wide social media following since his teens, the 21-year-old Nashville prodigy released two albums in 2019 and 2022 and several singles to strong fanfare. He’s eyeing to broaden his indie appeal with his new EP, Synthesis+ (released August 25), a six-song set featuring dreamy songs capturing summer's end. Its reflective lead single, "Flow State" currently at 319.9K Spotify plays, becoming his most popular song on the platform since its July 21 release. Other top streamed cuts, like “FML,” “U4EA,” and “is this real life?,” have seen additions on Spotify's R&B Weekly and the platform's indie soul playlist, Lowkey. As a result, Sage’s Chartmetric Rank has climbed 57%, while increasing by 136K Spotify monthly listeners since “Flow State.”

Cash Cobain

Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap

TBC Score: 81

Cash Cobain adds a racy flair to New York City’s barbarous drill scene. He started gaining traction as a musician over the last three years by securing production credits on B-Lovee’s “My Everything” (2021), Central Cee’s “Daily Duppy” (2021), and Lil Yachty’s “Keep Going” (2022). After gaining respect as a beatsmith with a penchant for samples, he emerged as an artist with last year's 2 Slizzy 2 Sexy, led by breakthrough single, “Slizzy Like." This summer has been fruitful: Cobain released “Slizzy Talk” in mid-July and the Chow Lee-assisted “Rump” in August, the latter of which has been a fixture on Spotify playlists like Internet People and State of Mind. Cobain's recipe of pairing provocative lyrics over refreshed samples will be on full display in his upcoming project, Pretty Girls Love Slizzy, set to release on September 13.

Anish Kumar

Genre: Electronic

TBC Score: 65

DJ and Cambridge University student Anish Kumar infuses the UK’s electronic dance music scene with euphoria and intrigue via tracks that blend and playfully distort soul, gospel, Bollywood, house, and disco samples. His 2021 debut single, “Blackpool Boulevard,” was played on one of DJ Annie Mac’s last Radio 1 shows and was named the “Hottest Record in the World” there, a moment that jumpstarted his career. The following year, he released two EPs—Postcards and Bollywood Super Hits!—heralded by South Asian diasporic listeners and earned him cosigns by Four Tet, Daphne, and Bonobo. Kumar’s profile has continued to grow further surrounding the release of his first full-length project, A Mixtape by Anish Kumar. Since its release, tracks from A Mixtape by Anish Kumar have been featured on major Spotify playlists like Altar, New Music Friday, and Serotonin.

TRENDING TRACKS

Hip-hop and soul icon CeeLo Green is the latest beneficiary of TikTok's power. The go-go bounce of his 2004 Timbaland-produced single, “I’ll Be Around,” backdrops a viral dance challenge, where various TikTok creators take on a well-known line dance routine, the Baltimore Strut. Thanks to its use in 84.4K total TikTok posts, which have generated 2.6M views since its July kick-off, the dance trend’s growing popularity has paved the way for the song’s renewed success. To date, “I’ll Be Around” sits among CeeLo Green’s most popular songs on Spotify, with a playlist reach of 4.1M and a surge of 6.5M spins compared to 4.5M spins in August—a far cry from the single’s moderate No. 52 showing on Billboard’s Hot Hip-Hop/R&B charts nearly two decades ago.

British duo Jungle make sleek funk and disco songs featured in everything from HBO’s Looking to Peloton commercials. They’re also known for their one-shot dance videos, which band member Josh Lloyd-Watson often choreographs (Though Shay Latutoklan created this dance). The music video for “Back On 74,” off their upcoming project visual album Volcano, is going viral on TikTok, where users replicate the choreography. The song has been used in 6K videos since it was first posted on August 15th, and the YouTube video has 3M views since its August 10th release. Since the video’s release, Jungle’s Chartmetric rank has increased by 1.3K.

Korean-Canadian singer Jeon Somi is used to doing it big: She got her start by winning a reality show that made her the center of the temporary K-Pop group I.O.I, and her third single as a soloist, “Dumb Dumb,” went viral on TikTok in August of 2021 via a dance challenge that led to the sound being used in 174K posts. After two years away, she’s back with a new song,“Fast Forward.” The accompanying music video garnered 10M views in less than 24 hours, and the song has racked up 17M streams on Spotify. Fans in the comments on YouTube are excited about her new musical direction with this deep house track and the prospect of her introducing more EDM elements to K-Pop. 

Endearing Texan country musician Dylan Gossett isn't just having beginner's luck. With only two songs out, “To Be Free” and “Coal,” both tracks are wistful and reflective, and they have blown up this summer—the former currently has over 2M streams on Spotify. But "Coal" has become a minor sensation, going viral on TikTok in early July after the singer recorded himself singing the song in his backyard. A latecomer to TikTok, Gossett's lyrical candor about heartbreak and sobriety has struck a chord on the app. The song has been viewed 21M times on TikTok. The twangy melancholy tune now has 10.5M Spotify listens, a 3.5M increase in the past week. In addition, it has 1.5M views on YouTube and 8.7K playlist adds on Spotify. 

TREND OF THE WEEK

By Leah Mandel

It Girl season began on August 18th. Social media stars and actresses Reneé Rapp and Addison Rae each released records on that date, marking their official entrance into popdom. Rae, 22, came to fame via TikTok, and starred in the gender-swapped He’s All That (2021); Rapp, 23, started her career as a teenager as Regina George on Broadway’s Mean Girls, and gained a following from her role as Leighton in HBO Max series The Sex Lives of College Girls. Rae and Rapp have had quite different musical career trajectories, but their sustained social media popularity has assured them both success.

Addison Rae was initially panned by, well, pretty much everyone—from critics to zinger-slinging YouTube commenters—for her 2021 single, "Obsessed." As a result, Rae decided, dramatically (announced on Twitter), to not release the rest of her music. But then “Obsessed” started to kinda…slap. People began to ask where Rae’s “long lost” album was. The “lost” tracks were leaked, and the hate gradually turned to ironic and eventually genuine fandom. "this. song. is. ART,” Charli XCX famously tweeted about “2 die 4.” Two years later, Rae has officially released the EP, titled AR, unchanged. “2 die 4” song appears on AR, featuring Charli herself, and has over 5M Spotify streams. Rae is now ranking in the top 200 artists worldwide. 

While Addison Rae’s EP is characterized by ‘90s nostalgia and campy appeal a la Paris Hilton, Reneé Rapp’s Snow Angel is a more considered debut, one that follows a 2022 EP. In interviews, Rapp mentions a drugging experience that led her to write Snow Angel’s titular song, and the whole thing was produced with Grammy-nominated artist Alexander 23. She is even featured on the cover of Spotify’s “sad hour” playlist, with the R&B-tinged “Tummy Hurts” in the top spot. It’s the anthemic slow burn “Snow Angel” that is her most popular, with 8M streams on Spotify—perhaps it will reach the 46M streams her song “Too Well” has.

Rae and Rapp’s transition into the pop sphere is not something casually achieved—to have a career in music one has to actually want it. It helps that they have built-in audiences: Rae has 88.4M followers on TikTok and 37M on Instagram, while Rapp has 849K Instagram followers and 1.4M on TikTok. But the numbers aren’t pure bloat. Both Rae and Rapp are experienced performers, and the music is actually, dare we say… pretty good.