Artist to Watch in 2012: Cady Groves

loading...

We just love Cady Groves so much that it's actually kind of embarrassing. Her music combines the raw anger of Adele, the affable country twang of Taylor Swift, and Avril Lavigne's likably bratty radditude: an undeniably winning combination. Sometimes it seems like she must be a robot created in a futuristic laboratory by a genius scientist determined to make the perfect pop star — because there's just no way anyone could be this cool — and then we read her insane, profane Twitter feed and realize that she's way too savagely funny and unapologetically real to be anything but human.

Her first single, 'This Little Girl,' is a crunchy pop nugget with a soaring chorus -- "This little girl is capable of murder, if you hurt her"  must be one of the sharpest lyrics of the year — and the video features 'The Voice' judge Blake Shelton, a fellow Oklahoma native. The other tracks we've been fortunate enough to hear from her as-yet-untitled album, due out in 2012, are equally sophisticated, heartbreaking and dazzling.

Although Groves' album via RCA (initially planned for release in January) has been pushed back, she'll be releasing an EP with a couple of choice tracks from the forthcoming LP. Oh, and did we mention her stunning cover of Adele's 'Someone Like You'? If our instincts are right, that record could be one of the best concept album about a real rough break-up since Alanis Morissette's 'Jagged Little Pill.' Keep an eye on this one — she's headed for the big time. -- Sam Lansky

Watch Cady Groves' video for 'This Little Girl'