Enter Kimbra

This year’s South by Southwest Music Festival featured 2,000 singer-songwriters, bands, rappers, and DJs, among them Kimbra. A 21-year-old from New Zealand (born Kimbra Johnson), she sang on last year’s pop hit “Somebody That I Used to Know.” SXSW was her American debut as a solo artist.

Kimbra’s music straddles pop and rock, recalling Bjork, Florence and the Machine, and Amy Winehouse. But Kimbra says she’s fascinated with intricate music production, admiring the work of Trent Reznor and the Japanese producer Cornelius. And she’s a big Andrew Lloyd Weber fan.

“I loved Broadway when I was a kid,” she says. “I loved the theater, the color, and the musicality of it all. There’s an incredible complexity in the songwriting, that really stuck with me.”

Kimbra’s album Vows comes out in the US in May.

Video: Kimbra performs "Two Way Street" at SXSW