Official winners to watch 2025: Lola Young, Addison Rae, Myles Smith

But what does 2025 have in store for us?

Here, Official Charts is pleased to announce our trio of Ones To Watch for 2025; three groups that we believe will continue to define and evolve pop music over the next 12 months.

They are Lola Young, Addison Rae and Myles Smith.

Let’s find out a little more about them.

Lola Young

The last few weeks have been very exciting for Lola Young. Another artist who has been evolving on the fringes of pop for several years, the fiery singer-songwriter from London Finally experienced a real breakthrough moment with his new single, Messy.

That rare non-Christmas-related song to become a quantifiable hit during the holiday season, Messy reached number 7 the same week WHAM! made history with their second official Christmas number 1 single – giving Lola their first ever UK Top 10 single.

It’s the reward for an intense period of realignment for the London-born star, who first came to prominence in the waning days of the last decade producing soaring champer pop inspired by Adele and Amy Winehouse.

But over the past year, Lola has leaned into much… messier instincts. Today, his music sparkles with genre experimentation, just look at the tender soul influences of Messy, or the dramatic flair of the guitar-influenced ballad Flicker Of Light.

In 2024, Lola released her second studio album This Was’t Meant For You Anywhere, and Messy’s long-awaited official chart success (it was originally released in May) heralds a bold new chapter for Lola in 2025.

What will she do next? We don’t know, but we can’t wait to find out.

Addison Rae

The clues that Addison Rae was a pop superstar in the making were always there, people just chose to ignore them.

Having become a TikTok star during the pandemic (and Addison still has a stranglehold on the video-sharing platform, she is still the fifth most followed user), she could very easily have rested on her laurels as an influencer, but she wanted something. more.

Although his early music was widely ridiculed, there were intense flashes of brilliance; lead single Obsessed sounds like something Britney would release today, while 2023 track I Got It Bad sounds like the perfect fusion point between Charli XCX and Rihanna.

But last year, Addison Really showed us what she could do. Signing with Columbia, his first album under that label, Diet Pepsi, became a quiet critical sensation and became his first ever UK Top 10 single.

Light and seductive, its influences (Lana Del Rey’s Ultraviolence, Selena Gomez’s 2017 single Bad Liar) were clear, but striking. This girl has taste. The second album, Aquamarine, was arguably even better, a melismatic electronic anthem that honestly gave Rae Of Light.

The stage is now set for Addison’s debut studio album in 2025. Charli xcx once said that she was one of the best pop writers she had ever worked with, and her material is currently being produced by an entirely cohort female geniuses of Swedish pop. under the tutelage of Max Martin.

Are the other girls still afraid? They should be!

Myles Smith

Luton’s Myles Smith was one of last year’s great British success stories.

Signing with Sony label RCA, Myles’ emotional material helped release the single, Stargazing, becoming his first UK Top 10 hit – and one of the biggest tracks of the year to boot.

But this success was not just a flash in the pan; The follow-up track Nice To Meet Ya (think The Lumineers and Ed Sheeran) earned Myles the highest debut of his career thus far (number 12), but bigger things were still on the horizon…

Yes, in December came the news that Myles had been named BRITS Rising Star of 2025, one of the most prestigious honors an emerging band can receive in the UK; previous winners include Sam Fender, FLO and… uh… the real Adele.

Obviously we should not exaggerate; to wait for big things from Myles in 2025.

Photo: Press/JMEntertainment