* En anglais uniquement
Mapei is a Swedish-American left-field pop artist -- born in Providence, Rhode Island -- whose hybrid style and blogosphere fan following drew comparisons to
M.I.A. and
Amanda Blank. Born Jaqueline Cummings, she scored her first underground hit with "Video Vixens," whose wild video became a minor YouTube sensation in 2008. She signed with Downtown in 2009 with the label issuing her EP,
The Cocoa Butter Diaries, that same year. She began work with the French house group
Justice but the sessions were scrapped, and
Mapei spent the next few years traveling the world. Returning home freshly inspired, in 2013 she released the single "Don't Wait," a hit that was remixed by
Frankie Knuckles, while 2014 saw a new remix with
Chance the Rapper added to the track. The album
Hey Hey -- the majority of which was produced by
Sky Ferreira and
Katy Perry collaborator
Magnus Lidehäll -- was issued later in the year. ~ Jason Birchmeier