Clean Bandit (GB)

About

Clean Bandit have made a habit of pulling off something most acts can't: blending classical strings with electronic dance music in a way that actually works on the charts. The Cambridge trio of Grace Chatto and brothers Jack and Luke Patterson build their tracks around guest vocalists, with Jack handling songwriting and video directing while Grace co produces. Their breakthrough came with "Rather Be" featuring Jess Glynne, which hit number one in the UK and six other countries, went top ten in the US, and picked up a Grammy for Best Dance Recording. Then came "Rockabye" with Sean Paul and Anne Marie, which spent nine weeks at the top in the UK and became the 2016 Christmas number one. They followed that run with "Symphony" featuring Zara Larsson and "Solo" with Demi Lovato, both hitting number one in the UK and appearing on their second album What Is Love?, released in 2018. The name Clean Bandit, by the way, is a literal translation of a Russian phrase meaning something close to "utter rascal", which fits a group cheerfully smashing genre boundaries.