5 artists that are just as good as Billie Eilish but without the recognition
Politics interferes with everything we do in life (except for running, which is why I need it in my life).
It disadvantages perfectly capable people who would otherwise amount into rockstars making a real impact on human evolution, and elevates others who have no reason to advance further than a spec of dust. The reasons why some musicians make it into mainstream consciousness and some don’t, is no different to the politics and lack of opportunity that someone can experience in the office, warehouse, or where ever you work.
Billie Eilish is an indie artist who’s blowing up. She has over a million followers on twitter, 10s & 100s of millions of views on each of her recent songs on youtube, and her debut album has reached #1 in a ton of countries.
Personally I’m relieved at her popularity, as I find her music is pretty good, and I much prefer listening to more of a progressive & risk-taking genre that she embraces, rather than the safe area someone like Lady Gaga has become known for.
But it makes me uneasy whenever a large swath of people pile onto just 1 artist, instead of spreading the love. Life is unfair, I get it. But rather than become jaded from watching other talent being ignored when an indie artist is propelled, it’s instead a good opportunity to expose those other talents. So that’s what I’m going to try to do here.
These are all songs from the past 5 years that would’ve 100% made the top charting position in any other era prior to around 2010, but haven’t because of underexposure from our redefined digital landscape. In no particular order:
1. Alex Winston
When people say, “their voice is amazing”, my reply is to the effect of “sure, but does the songwriting match that?”. Usually I find the artists with amazing voices are singing badly composed songs that really aren’t that memorable. This song from Alex Winston is the opposite of that, and a prime example of amazing song writing going with an amazing voice.
It’s not enough to have an amazing voice, when there are so many amazing songs with amazing voices going unrecognized.
2. Ofelia K
I don’t know much about Ofelia K, her social media profiles keep her as a bit of a mystery. But I do know that this song is one of the standouts of the decade.
3. Grace Mitchell
This is the artist who I feel deserves every recognition in this world. She’s the artist that works me up the most on this list.
Grace Mitchell is someone who not only sets, but defines the standard. Similar to how Stevie Nicks, Annie Lennox, and Aimee Mann would do the same in their prime. If somebody introduces me to a new must-hear artist, I’m asking myself “are they better than Grace Mitchell?”. She’s the standard, she’s that good!
4. Boy
Boy is not one but two artists, hailing from Switzerland. They’ve been nicely snowballing in the past few years, so it’s good to see their talent isn’t being completely wasted. But this haunting number on leaving your trace on the world is one of their highlights.
5) Mitski
This quickly became my favorite song from last year. Mitski has plenty of talent, but her work ethic alone is inspiring!
She’s been pushing out content and performing relentlessly for many years now, and it seems like she’s now on the cusp of breaking out just at the time her music composition is right on point.
