Photo of James Bay by Alex Shahmiri
—

With the end of 2014 upon us, the BBC has unveiled the nominees for next year's edition of the "Sound of" series.

The Sound of 2015 longlist includes the likes of James Bay, Raury, Years & Years, Kwabs, Rae Morris, Shamir, Lapsley and Wolf Alice. The list will be narrowed down to a top five after the first of the year, with a winner selected on Jan. 9, 2015.

The annual list, which has proven to be an accurate bellwether of quick-rising music acts, featured Sam Smith atop the 2014 list, alongside BANKS, Chance the Rapper, FKA twigs, Jungle, Royal Blood and Sampha.

2013's winner was HAIM, while previous winners include Adele, 50 Cent, Keane and Ellie Goulding.

See the full list of 2015 nominees below.

George The Poet
James Bay
Kwabs
Lapsley
Novelist
Rae Morris
Raury
Shamir
Shura
Slaves
SOAK
Stormzy
Sunset Sons
Wolf Alice
Years & Years