Third Eye Blind was my first [love], he says.
It was super dark material with an uplifting edge.
A debut LP showcasing his boundary-pushing aesthetic.
Credit: VINE: SUZI PRATT/GETTY IMAGES; HUETT: DALLAS WILSON; DACUS: TAYLOR HILL/GETTY IMAGES; DON: SAMIR HUSSEIN/WIREIMAGE; ALMA: FRANK HOENSCH/GETTY IMAGES; TOWKIO: JAKE OSMUN; DAWSON: JOHN SHEARER/GETTY IMAGES; GRETA VAN FLEET: MICHAEL LAVINE
Lucy Dacus
Musical intimacy has always appealed to 22-year-old singer-songwriter Lucy Dacus.
I dont think its dramatic; its cinematic.
I end up writing about hope in every song, she says.
Stefflon Don
Thanks to the magic of the internet, hip-hop has become an international art form.
And few artists embody the genres cosmopolitan energy like Stefflon Don.
Expect her upcoming mixtape to feature a musical style thats as borderless as her upbringing.
Everyone has something differ- ent to bring to the table, she says.
Its going to have a Caribbean influence and all these sounds but still be Stefflon Don.
I never understood that singing could be a job, she says.
We have no superstars.
Im trying to get some Finnish producers, she says.
We have great talent, but were kind of shy.
Towkio
Chance the Rapper, Vic Mensa, Joey Purp.
In a few short years Chicagos Savemoney crew has turned regional acclaim into music-industry domination.
Towkio, the 24-year-old rapper born Preston Oshita, is poised to break out next.
Nobody was like him before him, and no one was like him after, says Daw- son.
Ive been drawn to that.
Dawsons vision is sure: I want to play stadiums my whole life.
I want to take this to the fing top of the world.
Its not a mantle they take up lightly.
Kiszka says he was overcome with emotion recently while drafting a potential track list.
It was terrify- ing to have the pen in my hand, he says.
My bones were rattling.
[But] this is the most fantastic job in the world; were public servants.
Its about giving this positive energy that fans can interpret in their own way and create their own art.
