Glass Animals formed in Oxford in 2010 and released their first EP in 2012 and full length debut in 2014. The band performed their first single “Gooey” on David Letterman and Seth Meyers and toured extensively, playing over 130 shows in 2015 alone. In 2018, drummer Joe Seaward was hit by a cargo truck while cycling in Dublin and suffered a broken leg and fractured skull. While in recovery with tours canceled, frontman Dave Bayley wrote and produced for other artists in LA and made the band’s third album Dreamland. The album was like a memoir to Bayley’s childhood and the sound was a blend of R&B, pop, hip-hop, and 1960s rock. Bayley purchased and used 1960s instruments, sampled them on early 2000s samplers, and the=n re-recorded them through 1960s tape machines and amplifiers.

Milky Chance was formed by two college classmates in Kassel, Germany in 2012. The duo recorded their debut album in a simple homemade studio but beforehand released the single “Stolen Dance”. The song went viral and reached #1 on the Billboard Alternative chart. The band began a 100+ European show tour with only a guitar, a set of decks, and a MPC sampler. They did not hit big again until their fourth album, Trip Tape, with the infectious single “Colorado”. (Except for mention of the 2021 album, Milky Chance’s Wikipedia page has not been updated since 2019.)
Remi Wolf (her real name) was born in Palo Alto in 1996 to a Sicilian mother and a Russian-Persian father. Around age eight she became interested in competitive skiing and represented the US in alpine skiing at the Youth Olympic Games for two years. At age 18, she auditioned for the 2014 season of American Idol but was not selected. Her debut studio album Juno, according to the New York Times, turns bedroom pop into “hypercolored explosions”.

Iain Cook and Martin Doherty were university students in Glasgow in 2003, kicked around a few different bands, until Cook bought a Minimoog Voyager and began experimenting with 1980s soundscapes inspired by the band Emeralds. They approached Lauren Mayberry to sing backing vocals for the project. Gradually, Lauren’s voice propelled her into lead singer and frontwoman. They chose the name Chvrches with a Roman “v” instead of a “u” to differentiate themselves from actual churches in online search results.

Diamonte Harper was born in Santa Clara to an African-American father and a Filipina-Chinese mother. In college at USC, she began posting short raps to her Instagram account under the handle Saweetie. One of them became “Icy Girl” which eventually got 100 million views on YouTube and was certified RIAA multi-platinum. Saweetie was listed in Forbes 30 Under 30 Music list and not just for her music - she las launched a capsule clothing line, a jewelry line, a co-branded makeup collection, and has her own Saweetie Meal at McDonald’s. She also released a comedy special on Netflix called Sex: Unzipped. I knew nothing about her until she performed “Icy Chain” on Saturday Night Live in November 2021.

I’ll hold off on Encanto for now.