Incredible Women Of 2025: The Musicians
Throughout March, we are honoring our Incredible Women of 2025, to mark Women’s History Month and to begin the 25th anniversary celebrations of NET-A-PORTER. Next, it is the turn of the musicians, a game-changing group of women who are marching to the beat of their own drums – five rising stars whose sound and voices make them the most exciting names to know (and listen to) this year. By OLIVE WAKEFIELD
Chappell Roan
When a recording artist earns six Grammy nominations for their debut album, it is safe to say they are destined for great things. This is the trajectory of alt-pop artist Chappell Roan, whose tracks Pink Pony Club and Hot To Go! will almost certainly have been living in your head rent-free since The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess came out. Written with Dan Nigro (the hot new producer on the block and a collaborator of Olivia Rodrigo), the album is an explosive pop pageant, delivering anthem after anthem and exploring everything from sexuality to psychology.
Signed and subsequently dropped by her label when she started out, Roan called out the industry for not giving upcoming artists more support in her Grammy acceptance speech for Best New Artist. “It was so devastating to feel so committed to my art and feel so betrayed by the system and so dehumanized,” she said, urging labels to treat artists as “valuable employees… We got you, but do you got us?” It was a statement that went viral, garnering widespread support among her pop peers and cementing her status as a true force in the industry.
Lisa
As one quarter of Blackpink, the most successful K-pop crossover group in history, all eyes are on Lisa and her bandmates’ next acts. And 2025 is a monumental year for this superstar rapper-singer. February saw the release of her first solo album, Alter Ego – an ambitious concept album sung in the voices of her five personas: Roxi, Kiki, Vixi, Sunni and Speedi.
The sound spans the worlds of electropop, trap and hip-hop, and boasts some huge guest collaborations from pop’s biggest players: Rosalía, Doja Cat, Tyla, Raye and Megan Thee Stallion. Lisa took to the stage to perform at this year’s Oscars ceremony and announced a handful of sold-out headline tour dates across America and Asia.
And her talent doesn’t stop there. Lisa has also made her acting debut (eschewing her pop-star mononym for her birth name, Lalisa Manoban) in season three of Mike White’s blockbuster franchise The White Lotus – more than proving her multi-hyphenate credentials.
Cleo Sol
The past few years have been busy for Cleo Sol. Having released two acclaimed, chart-topping solo LPs back-to-back, Heaven and Gold, as well as a new album with Sault (the music collective she co-fronts with her husband, Adele producer, Inflo), Sol has established herself as one of the most prolific neo-soul artists of this generation.
Sol’s mellifluous vocals and singular sound – a smooth swell of R&B, dub, reggae and jazz – has earned comparisons with music greats such as Aretha Franklin, Sade and Lauryn Hill, while her confessional lyrics – touching on topics including motherhood, identity and politics – are pure poetry. It’s no surprise that she counts Dua Lipa (who covered her song Sunshine) and Little Simz (on whose track Woman she lends her vocals) as major fans. This spring, Sol heads to the US for a string of sold-out shows at two iconic venues, New York’s Radio City Music Hall and LA’s Hollywood Bowl.
Jyoty
“This might sound super corny but it’s the truth; that I find hope, on a daily basis, through my work.” Indeed, no one can deny that purpose lies at the heart of what DJ and producer Jyoty puts out into the world. In a few short years, she went from managing the door at Boiler Room (the prestigious dance music broadcaster and talent incubator) to being the first woman on the mic there, with a DJ set that has clocked up 4.5 million views and counting on YouTube. It’s no surprise, then, that Glastonbury, Coachella and myriad dance festivals came calling – because if anyone knows how to keep people dancing all night, it’s Jyoty.
“My inspiration always comes from people and environments that exist without the need to ‘please’ anyone,” she says. “The fun, unapologetic, true to themselves – and their subcultures – type of lowkey gigs and parties I love to attend myself.” Her masterful fusion of club classics, synth, funk, techno, ’90s pop, rap and R&B sees her packing out underground raves one week and shutting down fashion parties (see the Jacquemus afterparty at Paris Fashion Week last year) the next.
Rose Gray
“Pop music feels so exciting right now,” says Rose Gray. Exciting is the perfect word to describe Gray’s debut album, Louder, Please, which exploded into the world in January to stellar reviews and even more stellar streaming numbers. The album is pure escapism; an odyssey of jungle, electropop, house and unashamed bubblegum bangers – think Shygirl-meets-Kylie Minogue-meets Burial. There is even a spoken-word moment, reminiscent of early The Streets, on Hackney Wick, Gray’s poetic tribute to the heady nights out she grew up on.
Gray started out singing in her school choir before attending a performing-arts high school (where she met her partner, actor Harris Dickinson) to learn classical vocals. At 17, she briefly signed a record deal that subsequently fell through. But starting from scratch (Gray had to leave over 100 songs behind) turned out to be the making of her. She found her calling in club culture, quietly venturing into DJing and writing tracks for other artists. It was her 2020 single Save Your Tears, sampling the Britpop classic Loaded by Primal Scream, that catapulted Gray onto the scene and became the genesis of Louder, Please. “I put out my debut album right at the top of 2025 and it just started the year so right. I didn’t have time for my usual January blues. I just feel ready to go,” she says. She recently launched a series of club nights called Gray Selects to spotlight up-and-coming musicians and showcase her new work. In spring, Gray will embark on a European tour before heading to the summer festivals, where she will finally get to share her lauded debut to fans IRL.