The remarkable rise and rise of the next generation of pop princesses
It's no secret that the last 12 months have been absolutely remarkable for women in music – after all, a majority of the artists nominated for the 'Big Four' Grammy categories in 2025 were women, with Chappell Roan and Beyoncé notably taking home Best New Artist and Album of the Year respectively.
But it's not just about the critics or the awards – one should not underestimate the strength of a vibe.
Sabrina Carpenter's Espresso was an inescapable earworm for a solid eight months, and if chart data is one thing to go by, that's only the beginning.
Read on to see who the rising pop princesses are that you need to be paying attention to, and learn more about their path to the top.
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Inside the remarkable rise and rise of Midwest Princess and emerging pop queen Chappell Roan
When American singer-songwriter Chappell Roan stepped out of a smoking apple onto the stage at New York City's annual Gov Ball Music Festival in June, fans were mesmerised by her Lady Liberty costume.
The 26-year-old artist, meanwhile, was mesmerised in kind by the sight that greeted her as she launched into the set's I Am The Midwest Princess introduction.
A crowd so sprawling that some were forced to watch her performance from beneath the trees lining the edges of the park in Queens was a dream, after all, she had spent 10 years painstakingly working towards – and had almost given up on.
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How Sabrina Carpenter powered through a very public scandal to be the artist who singers she idolised growing up are now in love with
They say it takes 10 years to become an overnight success – and the remarkable rise of Sabrina Carpenter proves whoever 'they' are knew what they were talking about.
The 25-year-old Espresso singer – who was the sole opening act when Taylor Swift brought The Eras Tour to Australia – started out posting videos of herself singing Christina Aguilera and Adele songs to YouTube when she was nine years old.
What followed was a stint on Disney Channel's Girl Meets World, appearances in various films including Netflix's Tall Girl series, and now, 15 years after starting out in showbusiness, she's the first artist to spend five weeks with three hits in the top 10 of Billboard's Hot 100 chart.
Olivia Rodrigo's remarkable rise – in the face of two mysterious controversies – is a testament to her talent
In late 2020, if you asked someone on the street who she was, they'd likely have no clue who you're referring to.
Now, you can hardly leave the house – or put down your mobile phone – without hearing her dulcet tones.
Olivia Rodrigo is only 21 years old, but the last three years has seen her secure success many spend decades only dreaming about. And it all started with the clever leveraging of a real-life love triangle.
Billie Eilish is one of the most successful singers of all time at only 22 – but that's come at a personal cost
She's only 22 years old, but Billie Eilish has achieved more in her short music career than many aspiring artists do in their entire lives – and we're not just talking about her nine Grammy Awards.
She was among the slew of American stars who made cameo appearances at the Paris 2024 closing ceremony, kicking off the new Olympic era for Los Angeles 2028.
It's the result of almost 10 years of hard work, with a single recording made when she was 13 seeing her secure a net worth of $80 million. Her success, however, has come at a personal cost.
A 'humiliating and hurtful' meme made Dua Lipa a laughing stock but she finally proved everyone wrong
Dua Lipa's lengthy list of accolades includes multiple Grammy Awards, Guinness World Records, BRIT Awards and being named one of Time's 100 most influential people in the world in 2024.
So it wasn't a surprise that when her hit Houdini won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Choreography on September 11, she didn't take a break from her Radical Optimism Tour in Rio de Janeiro and fly to New York City to accept her Moon Man.
What would have been a surprise to her fans six years ago, however, was that the New Rules singer had won best choreography at any awards show altogether.
Charli XCX spent 10 years fighting her way back up from an untimely demise. She's finally having her renaissance
For two years in the early 2010s, it seemed you couldn't enter a shopping centre without hearing Charli XCX's alto tones.
I Love It went septuple-platinum in Australia in 2012, and in 2014, Charli XCX also featured on the smash hit Fancy, which skyrocketed Australian rapper Iggy Azalea to household name status and was nominated for two Grammy Awards.
On the back of singing the hook and bridge of one of the best-selling singles in the world, Charli XCX released three more successful solo singles – Boom Clap, Break the Rules and Doing It. Then, to those who weren't die-hard fans, it felt like the British-Indian singer-songwriter disappeared overnight.
Maisie Peters was on top of the world when an ugly truth forced everything to come crashing down
"It's been the most mental year of my life."
It was in October 2023 when a then-23-year-old Maisie Peters sat down with Rolling Stone UK, and, through disbelieving laughter, candidly spoke about her somewhat surprising skyrocket to stardom.
Peters – who wrote her first song at the age of nine and released Place We Were Made, her first single, in 2017 – had been working for more than a decade when opening for Ed Sheeran on his world tour finally brought her breakthrough.
It also, as she would grow to discover, came at a price.
Rosé is more vulnerable than ever but that doesn't mean she'll talk about the 'curse' that clouds her relationships with other stars
Rosé is on top of the world right now.
Her hit with Bruno Mars, APT., is the earworm millions are bopping along to all day every day, with the "electric" soprano also recently posing for Kim Kardashian's Skims – the notorious It Girl tastemaker – and inking a global ambassadorship for Yves Saint Laurent Beauté.
Behind closed doors, however, it's not as glamorous for the Blackpink rose known by many other names.
Victoria Monét is behind some of the most famous hits in the world, but it took years of snubs for her to finally get her flowers
Fighting back tears, Victoria Monét took to one of the biggest stages in the world for a moment that, at 34, she thought was never going to actually arrive.
"My roots have been growing underneath the ground, unseen, for so long," the emotional R&B and pop singer-songwriter – who had walked the Grammys red carpet in a $250,000 Bulgari necklace, another sign she'd finally made it – said after being named as Best New Artist by Samara Joy.
"I feel like today I'm finally sprouting above ground."
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