A new season of Saturday Night Live is nearly upon us, and that means a slew of musical guest announcements. For big music fans, an irresistible pick can make the difference between staying in Saturday nights or making plans and firing up the DVR. So who are Lorne Michaels and NBC parading out for season number 40? The first three selections — April 2013 SNL performance, and with a new album rumored to be in the works, we’d love to see him go at it again.
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16. Lady Antebellum – It takes an awful lot for SNL to go country, but they’ve already had Lady A on (back in season 37), so we’re calling a return performance when the trio is out promoting new album 747, out Sept. 30.
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17. 5 Seconds of Summer – Gotta have something for the tweens, right? All kidding aside, lots of grown-ups dig 5SOS as well, and since SNL has gone for the likes of One Direction and Justin Bieber in recent years, we’re willing to bank on these kids’ continued breakout.
18. You + Me – Here’s another dark horse pick. Not She & Him, but You + Me, is the brand new folksy collaboration of P!nk and City & Colour’s Dallas Green, and we certainly don’t need to remind you how popular Billboard’s 2013 Woman of the Year is. Their album Rose Ave. drops Oct. 14, and once they get a chance to promote it on the talk show circuit, we wouldn’t be surprised if SNL came calling next.
19. Mary J. Blige feat. Disclosure – Remember what we said up top about SNL avoiding EDM? Well, Disclosure have enough tastemaker pull outside the DJ world to get the producers to reconsider. And their collaborations with Mary J. Blige for her new London Sessions album make for a spiffy musical guest package deal. Sam Smith also guests on The London Sessions, so we wouldn’t be surpassed if he stopped by as well.
20. FKA Twigs – Call us wishful thinkers, but we’re going with this tastemaker favorite for our last left field pick — our furthest out yet. Her killer dance moves could give SNL some highly bloggable content and we fully expect the cool kids to be repping her 2014 debut album LP1 in the coming months. Expect it to up on countless “Best of 2014” lists in the coming months.
21. Kanye West – Kanye West closed out season 38 by introducing the world to its first two live performances of Yeezus tracks. Might he do the same for his follow-up? Word on the street is it will be out before 2014 is over, so we expect him to make an SNL appearance, too.
40th Anniversary Special – For the big celebration on Sunday, Feb. 15, SNL has promised a three-hour primetime event featuring famous alumni, musical guests included. The sky’s the limit here, but we’ll say this: if Justin Timberlake isn’t on hand, we give up.
So, what do you think of the predictions? Sound off in the comments below.