JASMINE VAN DEN BOGAERDE

That's Birdy, fifteen-year-old English schoolgirl with a talent I didn't know could exist in such a teenager. But then, it's not the age that's so remarkable, her musical gift is genuinely beyond beautiful. She's a singer/songwriter (studying for GCSEs next year) who has a voice so real, so powerful, so filled with emotion. She sings to the piano, which was taught to her as a child by her concert pianist mother. The combination of the two is just stunning. I heard her for the first time on the radio this morning as she performed live in the BBC Live Lounge with Fearne Cotton, and honestly I trembled to her utterly gorgeous sound. She's so good it's unfair.

Birdy signed with 14th Floor Records in 2008 and just this year released her first single, a cover of "Skinny Love" by Bon Iver and I'm not sure how it totally surpassed me but it actually entered the Top 20 in the UK charts. Just this week, she released the official video for her second cover single "Shelter" originally by The XX which you can watch below. Her debut album, which is in production as we speak, is set to be a cover album, followed by another with original tracks - both of which I cannot wait to be mesmerised by. I can't praise her enough, I feel like I'm caught in her spell.