As 2009 winds down, my trusty crystal ball shows the forecast for 2010 to be a pretty big year in music.
Predictions for breakthroughs are always tough to call, but one name that already saw some significant penetration in 2009 was homegrown singing MC Drake. While his So Far Gone mixtape established him as more than just a former Degrassi star, friendships with Jay-Z, Kanye and Lil Wayne and an alleged fling with Rihanna will help his debut album Thank Me Later (due March) become one of 2010’s biggest releases.
Some other safe bets include Ke$ha, whose Tik Tok will ride out 2009 on top of the charts. On Jan. 5, the L.A.-born electro pop singer will release her debut album Animal.
And English pop star Cheryl Cole is looking to conquer North America the way her group Girls Aloud couldn’t. Reports say she’ll tour with the Black Eyed Peas, whose will.i.am co-produced her UK chart-topping album 3 Words.
Debut albums you may not hear on the radio but that will keep the blogosphere vehement are Brooklyn’s beach pop pretty-boys The Drums and hip-pop noise crew Sleigh Bells, Britain’s buoyant songstress Ellie Goulding and grime rapper Chipmunk, and the buzzsaw bubblegum of Los Angeles’ Dum Dum Girls.
Plenty of established acts are also primed for big 2010 releases.
Expect comebacks by famous train-wrecks Amy Winehouse and Courtney Love (as Hole), as well as elaborate albums by alternative giants like Red Hot Chili Peppers, MGMT, Interpol, My Chemical Romance and Smashing Pumpkins, who will give away the 44-track Teargarden By Kaleidoscope for free.
Hipsters can take solace in records by LCD Soundsystem, Liars, Final Fantasy, Hot Chip and Vampire Weekend; teens will get fanatical about the return of Avril Lavigne and the first albums by Nick Jonas & The Administration and Gossip Girl star Leighton Meester; and hip-hop fans will get another Relapse from Eminem, long-awaited efforts from Diddy and Dr. Dre, and of course, yet another posthumous 2Pac album.
If you like your music live, there will be plenty of tours hitting Canadian soil. U2, Bon Jovi, Black Eyed Peas, Mötley Crüe, Taylor Swift, Nickelback, Guns N’ Roses and Megadeth with Slayer will all fill arenas.
On a smaller scale, Alice In Chains, Magnetic Fields, Pavement, Tegan & Sara, Wilco, and Hot Chip with The xx will keep clubs sweaty and beyond capacity. Like I said, a pretty big year alright.
