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As 2015 comes to a close, we wanted to (as always) look back at the year in music. So with no further ado, here’s The Music Box’s official guide to the best music of 2015.

SONG OF THE YEAR:

Little Mix – Black Magic

Whilst eventually played to death, this song is easily one of the catchiest pop tracks of 2015. A 21st century of ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’, it’s fierce, fun and memorable. The perfect pop hit.

ALBUM OF THE YEAR:

Carly Rae Jepsen – Emotion

One of the most underrated pop albums from 2015. ‘Emotion’ draws upon 80’s synthpop in a similar way to Taylor Swift on ‘1989’ but with superior production. Every beat is meticulously placed and the focus is more on the songs rather than vocal performance. The entire album contains a naivety lacking from most pop albums and it’s a whole lot of fun from start to finish.

RADIO 1 LIVE LOUNGE OF THE YEAR:

Rixton – Where are U Now (Justin Bieber Cover)

Boyband Rixton transform this jittery EDM hit into a gentle 90’s R&B track with gorgeous chords, lush harmonies and an element of Soul lacking in the original.

BAND OF THE YEAR:

Circa Waves

British Indie-rock band Circa Waves launched onto the scene this year with brilliant single ‘Fossils’. Their début album ‘Young Chasers’ was released in March to positive response and the band have subsequently been touring the world.

ARTIST OF THE YEAR:

Carly Rae Jepsen

One of the most underrated female pop stars, Carly Rae Jepsen avoids controversy and instead keeps her track record solely focussed on music. Whilst many may be put off by undeniably catchy but somewhat irritating hits ‘Call Me Maybe’ and ‘I Really Like You’, 2015 album ‘Emotion’ demonstrated a new side to Jepsen which resulted in the album’s critical acclaim.

NEW BAND OF THE YEAR:

Nothing But Thieves

Nothing But Thieves have seemingly sprung from no-where this year with singles ‘Itch’, ‘Trip-Switch’ and ‘Wake Up Call’ all receiving extensive airplay on radio. Their self-titled début album is haunting, eerie and bold, resembling some of Jeff Buckley’s best work.

NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR:

Shura

Shura has risen to prominence in the last year with huge hit, the Janet Jackson circa 1986 influenced ‘2Shy’ in addition to catchy dance hit ‘White Light’ and the gentle analog driven ‘Touch’. With her highly anticipated début album due in 2016, we are expecting big things from Shura.

UP & COMING ARTIST OF THE YEAR:

The Japanese House

Amber Bain, better known as The Japanese House has won the admiration of many this year with her spaced-out and hazy material. Aided by The 1975’s Matt Healy & George Daniel in production, The Japanese House’s two EPs have been cinematic, bold and impressive.

ONE TO WATCH:

Troye Sivan

YouTuber Troye Sivan already had a huge profile before entering the music industry this year. Debut album ‘Blue Neighbourhood’ has been critically acclaimed for its bold and unique sound and sincere lyrical themes.

LIVE ACT OF THE YEAR:

Take That

Take That proved they’ve still got it in a series of triumphant sold-out shoes in various arenas over the UK this year. Featuring a large ensemble of dancers, an abundance of multi-coloured confetti, walls of flame and a flying bike, 2015’s tour proved to be their best yet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jmk1gMfYsEI

TOP 10 SINGLE RELEASES OF 2015

THE LONG LIST: RADIO 1 LIVE LOUNGE COVERS OF THE YEAR

Ella Henderson – Hold Back The River [James Bay Cover]

Frances – What Do You Mean [Justin Bieber Cover]

George Ezra – I Try [Macy Gray Cover]

Imagine Dragons – Blank Space [Taylor Swift Cover]

James Bay – FourFiveSeconds [Rihanna, Kanye West & Paul McCartney Cover]

James Bay – Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher & Higher [Jackie Wilson Cover]

Little Mix – Dance With Somebody [Jason Derulo & Whitney Houston Cover]

Mark Ronson – The Giver [Duke Dumont Cover]

Nothing But Thieves – Wings [Birdy Cover]

Rixton – Where are U Now [Justin Bieber, Skrillex & Diplo Cover]

Sam Smith & Disclosure – Hotline Bling [Drake Cover]

THE LONG LIST: ALBUMS OF THE YEAR:

THE LONG LIST: ALBUM TRACKS OF THE YEAR:

Adele: When We Were Young, Water Under the Bridge, Love in the Dark, Million Years Ago
Ben Haenow: Testify
Carly Rae Jepsen: All That, Emotion, Let’s Get Lost, Boy Problems
Circa Waves: Deserve This, Good For Me, Stuck in My Teeth,
Coldplay: Up & Up, Kaleidoscope
Ellie Goulding: Codes, Something in the Way You Move.
James Bay: If You Ever Want to be in Love, Scars, Need The Sun To Break
James Morrison: Stay Like This
Janet Jackson: Broken Hearts Heal, Great Forever, Take Me Away, Shoulda Known Better
Justin Bieber: I’ll Show You, Company, No Pressure
Markus Feehily: Back To Yours, Love Me Or Leave Me, Only You
Matthew Morrison & Laura Michelle Kelly: What You Mean to Me
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds: The Right Stuff
Nothing But Thieves: Graveyard Whistling, Honey Whiskey, If I Get High, Lover Please Stay.
One Direction: Hey Angel, Love You Goodbye, Long Way Down, Olivia, What A Feeling, I Want to Write…
Seal: Love, Padded Cell
Tame Impala: Yes I’m Changing
Take That: Bird in Your Hand, Will You Be There For Me
The 1975: Ugh!, Somebody Else (Live)
The Weeknd: Tell Your Friends, Shameless, As You Are
Troye Sivan: Youth, Heaven, Fools, Ease
Wolf Alice: Your Loves Whore, Swallowtail
Years and Years: Memo, Eyes Shut, Ties

THE LONG LIST: SONGS OF THE YEAR:

Aqualung ft Lianna La Havas: Eggshells
Babyface: We’ve Got Love
Birdy & Rhodes: Let It All Go
Blonde ft Alex Newell: All Cried Out
Carly Rae Jepson: I really like you, Run Away With Me
Circa Waves: Fossils, My Love, T-Shirt Weather
Coldplay: Adventure of a Lifetime
Dimitri Vegas, Like Mike & NeYo: Higher Place
Drake: Hotline Bling
Ellie Goulding: Army, Love Me Like You Do
Fleur East: Sax
Flo Rida & Robin Thicke: I Don’t Like It, I Love it
Frances: Grow, When It Comes to Us (with Ritual)
Galantis: Peanut Butter Jelly
George Ezra: Barcelona
Grimes & Bleaches: Entropy
James Morrison: Demons
Jess Glynne: Hold My Hand
Justin Bieber: What Do You Mean?, Where are U Now? (ft Skrillex & Diplo)
Iggy Azalea & Jennifer Hudson: Trouble
Joe Stone & Montell Jordan: The Party (This is how we do)
Lianne La Havas: Unstoppable
Little Mix: Black Magic
Major Lazer, DJ Snake and MO: Lean on
Markus Feehily: Love is a Drug
Maroon 5: Sugar
Miguel: Coffee
Nathan Sykes: Kiss Me Quick
Nick Jonas: Jealous, Levels.
Nicki Minaj: The Night is Still Young
Nothing But Thieves: Trip Switch, Wake Up Call
Olly Murs: Beautiful to Me, Kiss Me
OMI: Cheerleader
Philip George: Wish You Were Mine
Rita Ora and Chris Brown: Body On Me
Rixton: We All Want The Same Thing
Ryan O’Shaughnessy: Fingertips
Sam Smith: Lay Me Down
Seal: Every Time I’m With You
Selena Gomez & A$AP Rocky: Good For You
Shura: 2Shy, Love for That (with Mura Masa) White Light.
Sigala: Easy Love
Snakehips, Tinashe & Chance The Rapper: All My Friends
Tame Impala: Cause I’m a Man
Take That: Higher than Higher, Let in the Sun
Taylor Swift: Style, Wildest Dreams
The 1975: Love Me
The Japanese House: Cool Blue, Still
The Weeknd: I Can’t Feel My Face
Tinie Tempah & Jess Glynne: No Letting Go
Tori Kelly: Should’ve Been Us
Tove Lo: Moments, Talking Body
Troye Sivan: Wild
Usher: I Don’t Mind
Walk The Moon: Shut up & Dance
Wretch 32 ft Anne Marie and PRGRSHN: Alright With Me
WSTRN: In2
Wolf Alice: Bros, Freazy
Years & Years: King
Zayn Malik/One Direction: I won’t Mind

Hello all!

I set The Music Box up in 2013 after numerous other failed attempts at blogging. This year, we became solely a music blog with all other posts exported to an additional personal blog.

2015 has seen The Music Box go from strength to strength. We have received hundreds of likes and shares and our review of Markus Feehily’s ‘Fire’ album was tweeted by the man himself . We are hoping for this success to continue throughout 2016 and wanted to share some of our new developments with you for the next year.

Music Monday

To date, Music Monday has involved a selection of ten songs, both old and new that we have been enjoying immensely in the past week. They are usually accompanied by a short excerpt on why we love them here at the Music Box.

From 2016 onwards, this will be changed to ten new or current songs which we consider to be the hottest records in the world.

NEW! Feel Good Friday

Every Friday, we will be adding five tracks to our Feel Good Friday Spotify Playlist. There will be opportunities for suggestions too.

NEW! Artist Feature

Artist Features will be pieces dedicated to an artist. Generally to promote little-known or up and coming acts, these are to raise the profile of genuinely talented artists.

Themed Playlists

These will continue as usual.

Album Reviews and Live Gig Reviews

These will continue as usual.

Thank you so much for all of the follows, likes and shares of our posts and for the support this year. Please continue to share our posts and blog to help us out!

We don’t earn any money from this and do it purely for our love of music.

Thanks for every read, like, follow & share.

Love.