British singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding added an interesting event to her resume last year: performing live at the request of the future king and queen of England. So how did she top that in 2012? Her brilliant album, Halcyon, featured a well-received single, “Anything Could Happen,” and a reissue of her earlier overseas hit, “Lights,” reached the upper echelon of the pop charts.

What makes Goulding’s sound different and allows for it to standout are her distinct soprano vocals. Though she’s able to hit the high notes, there’s a rough edge to it, which makes it sound like a rock or folk singer, yet retains a certain uniqueness that helps define her as a singer. Not a lot of musicians are fortunate enough to have a sound that that they can call their own, but she does and makes her tracks distinguishable.

On Halcyon, She retains the electronic sounds from her first album (which can be partially attributed to her boyfriend, though she claims not directly), yet she seems to evolve as a singer/songwriter, which is difficult to do in that particular genre. Dance music is the craze these days and judging by the reaction of many to the singer’s poppy version of it, it’s not surprising that both she and the genre aren’t going away anytime soon.

Deservingly, Goulding has been named our Best New Female Artist for 2012 and we expect to hear big things from her in the not-so-far-away future.