Charli XCX

If you don’t know Charli XCX yet, give it five minutes. The teenage prodigy’s about to explode into 2011, not so much making an entrance as kicking pop music’s door in and running rampage through its front room. Armed with a rampant imagination and a plethora of emotive pop songs, and backed by a growing army of top producers and worldwide fans, she’s got the current crop of stars in her sights and more than enough ammo to take them down.

Charli is not quite like your run-of-the-mill musician. Inspired by the fanciful exuberance of Patrick Wolf and the confrontational theatricality of Nicki Minaj, she‘s equal parts musician and showman, an attention-loving whirling dervish that’s been known to throw teddy bears into crowds, lick photographers’ lenses, and turn up to record label signings with a glitter ball in hand before writhing across the boardroom table.