Five Female Artists to Follow in 2018

Scott Wallace
7th Mar 2018

Tomorrow, March 8th, is International Women's Day - a day to celebrate all the amazing things that women and female-identifying people contribute, innovate, and create. 2018 is also shaping up to be a brilliant year for music, so we're shining on spotlight on some female artists who are going to rule 2018. And when you're loading up your playlist with awesome ladies and bad bitches, don't forget our favourites like Courtney Barnett, Natalie Prass, Janelle Monáe and Beach House who are also set to blow your mind. 

Camp Cope

Having just released their sophomore album How to Socialise and Make Friends, Camp Cope are riding high on the inspiring vitriol of their songs. Frontwoman Georgia Maq howls and yowls with both joy and rage, pissed off at the misogynistic music industry at the same time as she's in awe of her bandmates and fellow artists. What makes Camp Cope's ragged rock songs so inviting though is their homespun, lived-in feeling, where every note seems to come directly from the heart. Simple, unadorned, but beautiful.

Junglepussy

Junglepussy's criminally underrated 2015 album Pregnant with Success announced the arrival of a major rap talent. A native of New York, she spits fire with almost damning sensuality. On her latest single "State of the Union," she pulls no punches in demeaning weak ass men and simpering culture thieves. Junglepussy is one of a vanguard of killer female rappers determined to redefine black womanhood into something real and of their own making. She's more than succeeding. 

Sevdaliza

Last year, Iranian-Dutch singer Sevdaliza quietly released ISON. One of the year's best albums, its subdued, trip-hop influenced beats nevertheless flew under the radar. Ever-prolific, though, Sevdaliza has steadily released a stream of singles (and performed at Sydney's own Oxford Art Factory in January). Her latest, the mesmerising "Human Nature" transforms her voice into an otherworldly instrument, using autotune to tap into an almost spiritual space over the song's minimal backdrop. If this is what Sevdaliza has in store, then the thought of more is very exciting. 

Rebecca Hatch

Winner of Triple J's Unearthed High Indigenous Initiative at the (National Indigenous Music Awards) in 2017, few artists have as bright a future as Rebecca Hatch. Pop her name into your favourite streaming service and only two tracks come back, but they're both incredible. Her deep and powerful voice is as smooth as silk, whether trading bars with Chinese-language diva Cat Strat on "Down for Me," or on the soulful chant of "Leeway." She may be young, but it already feels like Rebecca Hatch's musical identity is fully formed. 

SOPHIE

After a period of silence, the elusive producer SOPHIE seems to be planning something huge. On top of jawdropping productions for the likes of Let's Eat Grandma and rapper Quay Dash, a flurry of singles beginning with the unusually tender "It's Okay to Cry" where SOPHIE put her face and body on display for the first time hints that a long-awaited SOPHIE album could be coming. Emboldened and taking her bizarre sound in new directions, SOPHIE's music heralds a new, queer direction for dance and pop music.