Tulisa - The solo star to watch in 2012

With the impetus and hype generated by the BBC Sound of 2012 and various other 'Ones to Watch' list, it's sometimes easy to forget that some of the easiest successes to predict in the coming year are the ones that have already been graced with success.

When it comes to pop music, it's these stars that you can make a fair wager and be certain of return investment - we're talking about the safe runners here, the ones you can count on to carry the cash home.

And for me, one of the undoubted FutureStars of 2012 has got to be Tulisa. The girl from N-Dubz, the one off of X Factor, Miss Contostavlos... call her what you want, but her appeal on the ITV super smash this year speaks for itself. With the allure of the contestants themselves at a debatable low this year, the focus has again returned to the judges and the nation has taken both Kelly and Tulisa to their hearts.

The thing about Tulisa is that like her predecessor - Cheryl Cole - she is resolutely a woman of the people. She's relateable, tough talking, feisty - everything we love to see in a popstar. Even thinking back to her early days in N-Dubz, she stood out - the girl amidst the two guys. It was clear she could hold her own.

With her solo interviews mounting up and her personality and presence pre-established on the X Factor, the attention has been turning to her solo plans. N-Dubz on hiatus leaves a Tulisa free to pursue her solo ambitions, and like Cheryl building on the foundations of her Girls Aloud career, it's easy to imagine a slick UrbanPop album in the making.

Picture it now: Songwriters and producers - the best of the best. Photogenic Tulisa styled up to the nines for a glossy album cover (I absolutely adore the cream-dress shot above, if anything, this girl could launch a career on her looks alone). Urban pop is the sound of now - not just in the UK but in the US too, the charts are awash with dance-orientated pop hits rammed to bursting point with catchy choruses and slick beats. The market is primed for Tulisa to make her debut.

It all comes down to material - if Tulisa picks the right debut single to lead with, I see no reason why she can't replicate Cheryl's success and sell 292,000 copies of her lead single. Already she's allowed us some tantalising glimpses at the sound of the solo star she could become - while it had its many detractors and certainly wasn't without fault, The Collective's cover of Teadrop felt like a real vehicle for solo Tulisa and her bits of the track were without a doubt the best - The Wideboys mix in particular offers a look at the sleek dance-pop star Tulisa could style herself as. There's also the N-Dubz version of Tinchy Stryder hit Number 1 (this version featured an extra version sung by Tulisa).

HMV are already offering Tulisa's debut solo album for pre-order, with a release date pencilled in as the 1st of March - will this hold true? I certainly hope so...

(Cover Art & Tracklisting) Nicola Roberts - Cinderella's Eyes

Ok, how gorgeous is this cover shot?

Us pop fans have always known how completely and utterly captivating Nicola Roberts is, but this new photoshoot for the cover of her debut solo album just takes things to a new level of gorgeous.

You can read all sorts into the 'kitchen sink' metaphor here too, Nicola herself precariously perched atop one in the shot.

Eclectic, with definitive hints of retro, but above all effortlessly cool - that's Nicola all over.

We've just got hold of the album's tracklisting too - take a peek!

1. Beat Of My Drum
2. Lucky Day
3. Yo-Yo
4. Cinderella's Eyes
5. Porcelain Heart
6. i
7. Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime
8. Say It Out Loud
9. Gladiator
10. Fish Out Of Water
11. Take A Bite
12. sticks + stones

Track 7, in case you're not up to date on your hits of the early 80s, is a cover of The Korgis track. We really like what Nicola's done with some of the track titles too, playing around with grammar and de-capitalising some of the songs.

While this might play havok with those of us who have consistent ways of tagging our songs on iTunes, it certainly looks cool. You need only look at songs like Yo-Yo and Take A Bite too to see there's going to be some pretty close to the bone emotional outpouring on the album.

In the latter, Nicola sings 'you push me to fight, everybody’s got a limit, so put ’em up', a sentiment everyone can empaphise with - that moment when someone just goes too far, makes that one comment that unleashes the torrent that's been building up for years.

Nicola's co-writing credits extend to every track on the album, except that Korgis cover, and she speaks a little about how she turned to her own life experience as subject matter for the record: “I had to feel like I would say and mean every single one of these lyrics. I would say, ‘I’d never say that in a million years, why would I put it down just because it rhymes?’ It’s as simple as this: I’ve been given an opportunity to make the album I want to make, so I’ve absolutely put every last bit of heart and soul into it.”

Cinderella's Eyes is released on the 24th September and can be pre-ordered here.

Charlie Simpson - Young Pilgrim / Parachutes

Two studio albums with Busted, three with Fightstar - it's been a productive decade for Charlie Simpson. And now, 2011 sees him releasing his debut solo album Young Pilgrim, a record that undeniably feels like his most assured release to date.

Lead single Down Down Down has already received plentiful airplay on Radio 1 and showcased how Simpson's new material was all about a new, more mature, more stripped-back vibe. Gone was the grandeur and complexities of Fightstar, replaced by the intensity and openness only a single man and his guitar can conjure up.

It is on new track Parachutes that Simpson really hits his stride though - a real anthemic Coldplay-esque rock ballad that puts Simpson's rich, sonorous voice to best use. It's the sound of someone far older, far wiser - a voice befitting his years in the industry, now finally given the freedom to sing true and strike straight through to the hearts of the listeners.

All things considered then, Young Pilgrim seems a particularly fitting title for his first solo foray into the world. He is the man that wears his travels and experiences for all to see, his music giving him the means to share those stories with anyone willing to hear it.

There's something so utterly British about Simpson's music - a tranquil, almost stately feel to it. Working with acclaimed Doves and Coldplay producer Danton Supple on this album, the sound of those bands is everywhere, particularly on the sublime Thorns. It's perhaps here that we best see how confident Simpson feels in these songs - everything is natural, unstressed; operating at what seems like a slower, more peaceful pace than the hectic world all around us.

It's like that feeling when you step into a shop and try on a whole heap of clothes that don't suit you, only to finally find that one item that does at the end. It's that subtle sense of satisfaction, of humble accomplishment - and it's here in Young Pilgrim - this is the sound that fits Simpson, that really suits him; and you can tell he knows it. More confident, more assured - that satisfaction shines through in the music.

It's there in Thorns, the guitar positively twinkling - conjuring up images of birdsong at morning, stars at night. And it's there in Farmer & His Gun - channeling a more traditional singer-songwriter vibe, even working in country elements with lush swathes of harmonic.

Like so many band members 'gone solo' before him, Young Pilgrim is the sound of a man set free from restriction, resulting in a record that feels more organic, more caught up in the personality and feelings of the individual. In other words, that distinct 'personal' touch.

Young Pilgrim is released on the 15th August and can be pre-ordered here. Parachutes is released on the 8th August.