NY Times Article: "Why You Should Get to Know Jay Sean, Tinchy Stryder and Taio Cruz"

We hold these truths to be self-evident: America leads the world in technology, commercial cinema and, most certainly, R&B.

Lately, though, that final truism has gotten a violent shake. Over the last half year, young British (!!!!) singers, like Jay Sean and Taio Cruz, have been getting just as much play on American R&B/pop radio as homegrown genre stars like Ne-Yo and Jason Derulo.

Last fall, Jay Sean's debut U.S. single, "Down," shot to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, making him the first urban U.K. act ever to achieve that feat. The song went on to become the seventh-best-selling single of 2009, moving more than 3 million digital copies stateside.

Now that achievement has been matched by another Brit: Taio Cruz (who pronounces his first name "Tie-oh"). In the last month, Cruz's debut single, "Break Your Heart," not only got to No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100, it did so in an especially splashy way. "Heart" made the largest one-week jump to the top position by any new artist in history — vaulting 52 places at once.

Cruz managed his bolt by selling more than 300,000 downloads of the song in a seven-day burst.
Next week, the 27-year-old's U.S. debut CD, the cockily titled "Rokstarr," arrives here. The week after, it should become the nation's top seller.

The fact that both these Brit singers sound entirely American couldn't have hurt their cause. If you just heard them sing — and never heard them speak — you'd never guess their country of origin. "The majority of our audience had no idea either artist was from the U.K. until they were told," says Sharon Dastur, program director for Z-100, which heavily features both artists.

Still, there are other factors behind the ability of U.K. R&B artists to crack the hard nut of U.S. radio. Over the last year, R&B/pop stations have changed their format, downplaying conventional, midtempo, hip-hop-inflected R&B in favor of faster, dance-oriented pop. "R&B and hip hop have been usurped by rhythmic pop," explains Sean Ross, author of the industry newsletter Ross on Radio.
That shift has resulted in the rapid rise of dance stars like Lady Gaga and Ke. It has also benefited hip-hoppers who've switched to a more club-oriented sound, like Pitbull.

Craig McLean, who writes for Billboard from the U.K., traces the trend back to the Black Eyed Peas and producer/artist David Guetta. "Their success opened up radio, and the American consumer, to dance music," he says.

That, in turn, greased the way for U.K. stars, who've always embraced dance records, even when they went out of fashion in the U.S. after the '90s.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/2010/05/23/2010-05-23_uk_stars_seize_american_rb_why_you_should_get_to_know_jay_sean_tinchy_stryder_an.html#ixzz0om4CdiAF