THUMB DRIVE: PANDORA'S ARTISTS TO WATCH

Pandora's Artists to Watch program, which has previously tagged such rising stars as Post Malone, Dua Lipa, H.E.R., Ashley McBryde, Summer Walker, The Kid LAROI and GIVĒON, has unleashed its picks for '22.

You may be interested to know that Pandora derives its list of acts from a sophisticated data analytics process, which is said to include user input and behavior. Once all the relevant information is gathered, the first born in each department of the company must bury a potato under a full moon. One crop cycle later, the list is revealed! Who's on it? Glad you asked.

• Amaarae (Golden Child Entertainment, Ltd.), Afropop
• BIA (Epic), hip-hop
• Bino Rideaux (Do What You Love/Def Jam), hip-hop
• Conner Smith (Valory/BMLG), country
• LISA (Interscope), pop/K-pop
• Mora (Rimas), reggaeton
• Nessa Barrett (Warner), alt-pop
• Otis Kane (Otis Records), R&B
• Pink Pantheress (Parlophone U.K.), alt-pop
• Remi Wolf (Island), alt/indie

Rumors that Pandora is developing a "thumb extender" for super-users could not be confirmed at presstime.