GRAM MY AWARDS
BEST NEW ARTIST
DUA LIPA BEBE REXHA British pop singer Dua Lipa scored a series of hit singles in the United Kingdom, Bebe Rexha has worn several different hats during the course of her career including “Be the One,” “Hotter Than Hell” and “Blow Your Mind (Mwah),” dating — she has been the vocalist on EDM group Cash Cash’s breakthrough back to 2015. American stardom took a bit longer to secure, but with the 2017 single, “Take Me Home”; co-written songs for Eminem and Selena Gomez; release of the single “New Rules” and its accompanying choreography-heavy delivered a sterling hook alongside rapper G-Eazy on the top 10 Hot 100 hit music video, Lipa arrived stateside as a compelling pop heroine. With a list “Me Myself & I”; and navigated a solo pop career with songs like “I Can’t Stop of steps to follow to avoid further involvement with an ex-boyfriend, the song Drinking About You” and “I Got You.” Yet donning a cowboy hat for the first caught fire on U.S. radio and peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in March. time gave the Brooklyn native the biggest hit of her career as her collaboration Lipa followed up the hit with a string of savvy collaborations, including the Calvin with Florida Georgia Line, “Meant to Be,” spent a record-setting 50 weeks atop Harris team-up “One Kiss” that became an international smash, as well as “Kiss the Hot Country Songs chart and reached No. 2 on the Hot 100. While Rexha and Make Up” with the K-pop girl group Blackpink. After opening for Coldplay has remained a go-to collaborator, recently working with artists like Rita Ora and Bruno Mars on legs of their respective tours in 2017, Lipa spent much of and David Guetta, “Meant to Be” was also followed by “I’m a Mess,” one of 2018 on the road, playing festivals and headlining theaters around the world. Rexha’s biggest solo hits to date.
From left: Lipa, Price, Rexha and Smith. . E G A M I E R I W / G N A T
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MARGO PRICE JORJA SMITH T T E G / R E
Like Jack White, the head of her label Third Man Records, Margo Price grew “Jorja is a constant reminder that true artistry, writing and creativity will D L E F N E
up in the Midwest before relocating to Nashville; unlike White, the Illinois forever be alive and well,” Kendrick Lamar told Billboard last spring of British S O M
M I
native has favored traditional country over garage rock, and has recently newcomer Jorja Smith. Along with Lamar including the singer-songwriter’s T
: E C I R become one of the genre’s most critically acclaimed new voices. Price arrived song “I Am” on the Black Panther soundtrack, Drake featured Smith on P
. S E G to a successful solo career relatively late, waiting tables and performing in two tracks of his More Life project in 2017. Yet Smith’s jazz- and hip-hop- A M I
Y T T various bands with her husband, Jeremy Ivey, before self-financing an album influenced R&B has stood on its own: Her debut album, Lost & Found, bowed in E G / S E G
under her own name upon entering her 30s. Her 2016 debut, Midwest Farmer’s the top 10 of the U.K. albums chart upon its June release and was nominated A M I
C G Daughter, earned her a Saturday Night Live performance slot in 2016; its 2017 for Britain’s Mercury Prize. After joining Drake onstage as a surprise guest at / M A H T follow-up, All American Made, delved more deeply into roots music, featured a a handful of shows in 2017, Smith spent the year developing her performance O G
: A P I duet with Willie Nelson and was dedicated to Tom Petty. chops as a headliner. L
66 BILLBOARD | DECEMBER 22, 2018