Colbie Caillat

Ahh, MySpace: Arbiter of viral videos, purveyor of procrastinating memes and, of course, launch-pad for up-and-coming young artists. Perhaps the latter's greatest success story of late is Colbie Caillat. The 22-year-old blues-folk singer earned a small shout-out in Rolling Stone, quickly generated over 15 million song plays (which made her the site's number one unsigned artist for a solid four months) and then secured a record deal with Universal Republic. Though Caillat isn't exactly a rags-to-riches tale (father Ken was an audio engineer for Fleetwood Mac, among others), her online pull is still impressive. With a fuzzy alto warble reminiscent of Joss Stone and plucky acoustic guitar styling à la Jack Johnson, her gentle, beachy style isn't the typical stuff of which Internet sensations are made. Could Caillat's success signal the end of emo? Only MySpace will tell.