Ones to Watch in 2012: Birdy

While I’ve been hearing rumblings about an artist called “Birdy” for a while now, until yesterday I had NO idea who she was or even what sort of music she made.  Perhaps I was subconsciously confusing her with Birdman, the Cash Money rapper? Whatever the reason, I’m highly embarrassed. I’ve seriously been missing out on an extraordinary talent.  Thankfully and fortunately, Ellen DeGeneres featured the talented singer/songwriter on her daytime talk show yesterday, where she performed her debut single, a hauntingly beautiful cover of Bon Iver‘s “Skinny Love” (SEE BELOW).  Since then, I’ve downloaded ALL of her singles and have been playing her non stop.

15 year old Birdy (AKA Jasmine van den Bogaerde) is a mega-talented folk/pop singer from Lympington, Hampshire in the UK who won the top prize at 2008’s Open Mic UK, a live music competition held annually at the IndigO2 in London during Live Fest.  The winner of the competition wins a lucrative recording contract and lots of exposure.  In addition to a lovely voice, Birdy is an accomplished pianist, learning to play the instrument at the age of 7, aided no doubt, by the fact that her mother is a trained concert pianist herself.

“Skinny Love” was released as the first single in Birdy’s native UK back in March of 2011 where it went on to peak at #17 on the UK Singles Chart.  Popular radio DJ Fearne Cotton went on and selected the single as her “Record of the Week” where it subsequently was added to Radio 1‘s B-list.  Here in America the song gained traction after being featured on an episode of the CW’s hit series The Vampire Diaries.  Since then, Birdy has turned out several other stunning cover songs, including “The A Team” by Ed Sheeran, “Shelter” by The XX (which also appeared on an episode of The Vampire Diaries) and most recently, a cover of Phoenix‘s 2009 single “1901,” which Birdy released as her fourth single back in February. Birdy’s debut, self-titled album was released in Europe (and digitally in America) back in November via Warner Music Group, and as of March 20th is available physically in the States.  The album was a #1 hit in the Netherlands and peaked at #13 on the UK Albums Chart.

Check out her stunning live performance of “Skinny Love” below and make sure you download a copy of her new single, “Just A Game,” HERE, which Birdy wrote especially for the Hunger Games Original Motion Picture Soundtrack after falling in love with the book series. Album track “Without A Word” is a Free Single on iTunes U.S. this week so snag that HERE as well.