One-name stage names were once reserved for pop deities like Prince, Madonna and Cher. Then came Britney, Kylie and Mariah, who were several rungs down the celebrity ladder but whose first names were still distinctive enough to ensure there was no confusing them with anyone else. So there was something ballsy about the Essex gal who launched herself simply into the pop world as Anne-Marie. No airs, no graces, no notions. Just Anne-Marie.
With a name often reserved for girls you went to primary school with who just loved pony club (you know the kind), Anne-Marie has become a chart staple by featuring on songs like Rockabye, with the British group Clean Bandit, by working with the American producer Marshmello (he's a big deal) on the brilliant Friends, and by writing her latest single, 2002, with Ed Sheeran and Julia Michaels. As we're in the middle of Sheeran's Irish takeover, and because Anne-Marie is supporting him on his European tour, there's no better time to nominate her as our new VBF.
The 27-year-old has been in the performing game since she was six, starring in a West End production of Les Misérables and Whistle Down the Wind. Somehow she also found time to become a karate champion. And in the same way she karate chopped her way into the charts, Anne-Marie has found her way into the hearts of Ireland's under-25s, selling out the Olympia Theatre in March, a month before she had even released her debut album.
The R&B-heavy Speak Your Mind, which landed at the end of April, explores sexuality ("And I'll love who I want to love, 'cause this love is gender free" – Perfect), the friend zone ("You're not my lover, more like a brother, I known you since we were like 10, yeah" – Friends) and the important art of moving on from a bad boyfriend (Ciao Adios, which needs no lyrical interpretation). Anne-Marie also has a song called Bad Girlfriend, should you need any pointers in that area.
One problem, though. The chorus of 2002, which entered the charts at number 17, pulls lines from songs that Anne-Marie loved in the summer of 2002, the summer she first fell in love, when she was 11. But none of the songs was actually released in 2002. We have Britney Spears's . . . Baby One More Time (1998) and Oops! . . . I Did It Again (2000), Nelly's Ride Wit Me (2000) and, slightly oddly, Jay-Z's 99 Problems, which wasn't recorded until 2003 and didn't appear as a single until 2004. For a pop pedant it's important that this error be acknowledged.
The year 2002 was also when the first season of Pop Idol came to a close, choosing Will Young as our pop messiah. With her sass pop ways and confidence in her given name, Anne-Marie is the pop idol we need in 2018. Just make sure that the next time you write a song with Sheeran you leave the Wikipedia page open.
