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...

Girlbands - The boyfriend-stealer principle

If there's one act in this year's X Factor that seems to have bucked all the usual trends, it's Little Mix. Normally, girlbands are the first to be booted out of the show as lacklustre support from the public sees them dropping like flies compared to the big personalities and individualism of the solo contestants.

Why have Little Mix managed to do so well in the live shows where so many of their predecessors have faltered? You could argue its down to styling, good song choices, a lack of strong competitors, but both the girls themselves and their mentor Tulisa have raised another interesting factor that bears considering.

Speaking to The Sun about Little Mix, Tulisa explains: 'They are endearing. They don’t seem like the kind of girls who are going to nick your boyfriend. They’re the kind of girls whose shoulder you want to cry on.'

On the level, the idea that a member of a girlfriend might actually steal a potential female fan's boyfriend is pretty far-fetched. What Tulisa is referring to is a far more sub-conscious level of the psyche. When we decide if we like a band or not a whole load of algorithms go through our head at lightning speed, many of them based on simple questions like do we actually like their music or not - but equally, many tap into deep-rooted fears and desires. One of these is - in the case of girls - is the boyfriend-stealer principle.

Here, the girlband prompts the paranoia part of our brain, stirring suspicions: 'These girls are really hot. I see them as competition. If my boyfriend sees them, he's going to fancy them. He's going to fancy me less compared to them'. Irrational fears, yes, but sub-conscious, automatic reactions - and all this plays into that on/off decision of whether the girl picks up the phone and votes for the girls or goes out and buys their single in the shop.

Speaking to Heat magazine, Little Mix revealed how their fanbase was primarily female:

'We don’t really get very much attention from boys, I think people think we’d get loads of guys asking us out, but we don’t. We get loads of messages from girls, but hardly any from boys.'

As Tulisa mentioned, these fans are seeing the girls more as pals than as potential competition. Why is this? Arguably, it is because Little Mix play to a more plain street-smart vibe than uber-glossy, super-sexy groups like The Saturdays. When The Saturdays are charting at a dangerously low No. 23 in the official album charts, it has to be asked why the connection with a young, female fanbase isn't there to the degree it should be. The boyfriend-stealer principle probably comes into it.

When it comes to purchasing music, the sub-conscious is often a powerful vibe. Continuing with the example of the Saturdays, go to one of their gigs or a club playing one of their singles and you'll undoubtedly see just as many guys as girls enjoying the music. But when it comes to buying the music, parting with their money to become the owner of a 'Saturdays CD' - far less likely. These guys might fancy the hell out of these girls and casually enjoy their music while in the company of friends, but their deep-rooted masculinity cannot extend to allow them to purchase the music.

These principles are only a small part of that innate music-buying, but sometimes, it's that small part that tips the balance, that makes the difference between a yes and a no.

The Collective - Teardrop

It was always going to be a tough one. With a track as monumentally iconic as Massive Attack's Teardrop, there's a sense that any new cover version of it would never hope to live up to the towering landmark of a track the original is.

As much as you might seek to take it in its own context - even more so because this version, by Gary Barlow's 'The Collective', is for charity - you can't separate it away. And listening to the rapped verses, you can't help but feel this is another case of when Dizzee Rascal inserted his own raps into Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas?

All things considered - and raps aside - musically, The Collective's version remains pretty faithful to the original; full of hiss and crackle and that wonderful harp-like melody. Bringing the song up to date is a sharp, dubsteppy beat (surely unavoidable these days, right?)

This version stars an immense array of urban stars, including Chipmunk, Dot Rotten, Ed Sheeran, Ms Dynamite,
 Mz Bratt, Rizzle Kicks, Tinchy Stryder and Wretch 32. The real star is undoubtedly Tulisa though, who gets the lion's share of the vocals and video time. A more cynical mind would suggest this is a blatant attempt to cash in on dear Tulisa's newfound X Factor stardom and begin to position her as a massive solo artist in her own right.

With a rather jarring shift from the rapped verses to the sung chorus, Teardrop feels even more like a vehicle for 'solo Tulisa'. One thing's for sure though, she brings a hell of a lot to the song. She makes this cover, and it's a refreshing reminder that she has a brilliant voice on her. If anything, it's here, more than ever that it becomes clear what a massive star she is set to very shortly become.

For more information about this year's Children in Need appeal, visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/pudsey

Teardrop is released on November 13th.

Children In Need 2011 cover Massive Attack's 'Teardrop'

Teardrops seem to be something of a flavour of the moment right now. First Coldplay enthuse about how each one is actually an immense waterfall in one of their typically mystifying pop metaphors, and now a whole host of artists are teaming up in the name of Children In Need to cover that 90s classic Teardrop, by Massive Attack.

So, who's on this year's CIN track? Ok, deep breath... Chipmunk, Dot Rotten, Ed Sheeran, Ms Dynamite,
 Mz Bratt, Rizzle Kicks, Tinchy Stryder,
Tulisa and Wretch 32

And breath! There's an X Factor judge in there, the current UK Number One holder - basically a real who's who of happening stars. And they've all been put together by that unparalleled saint of British music, Gary Barlow. Surely it's only a matter of time before this guy gets knighted, right?

I love the above shot of some of the artists together too - it's like Gary is their cool uncle or something.

Considering some of the previous CIN tracks, Teardrop is a relatively 'arty' choice and I reckon this new cover could potentially by very, very good indeed. It's one of those truly euphoric tracks that speaks out to everyone, a fitting selection for a cause such as this.

Teardrop is released on the 13th November.