By Giulia Socolof ’19, Staff Writer

Jingle Ball is just a month away. For those of you that don’t know, Jingle Ball is hosted by the popular New York radio station, Z100, and features some of the most popular pop music artists, new and old. Here’s the scoop on all of the artists playing at Jingle Ball 2014. If you have tickets, rest assured that most teenagers envy you. If you don’t, you have two options: either join the rest of us in watching it on Yahoo Live, or listen to Z100 all day, every day, in hopes of winning yourself some tickets.

Now, here’s the all-star lineup for Jingle Ball 2014:

Ariana Grande: A five-foot tall Mariah Carey loved by teenage girls everywhere, she’s got an incredibly high voice and a lot of spunk, as evidenced by two of her most popular singles: “Problem” ft. Iggy Azalea and “Break Free” ft. Zedd.

Taylor Swift: The country singer has officially embraced her new identity as a pop artist. Keep an eye out for this experienced singer who has reinvented herself as something completely new in her latest album, “1989”.

Maroon 5: I really love this band. Maroon 5 has been great all throughout the 2000’s. Their songs range from familiar hits like “Moves Like Jagger“ to their latest album, “V,” including hits such as “Animals” and “Maps.”

Sam Smith: An up-and-coming British artist who has slowly made his way into America with songs such as “Stay With Me”. His performance should be great, and take a look at his debut album, “In The Lonely Hour”.

Iggy Azalea: The female rapper from Australia has taken the pop world by storm in a Nicki Minaj-esque fashion. From being featured on songs such as “Problem” by Ariana Grande, to her latest hit with Rita Ora, “Black Widow,” she’s not one to miss.

Pharrell: Pharrell Williams and his enormous hat don’t even begin to express his music. From being featured in the movie “Despicable Me 2” for his song “Happy” to “Come Get It Bae” (this using an ever-popular teen vocabulary word), Pharrell’s performance is sure to be good.

5 Seconds of Summer: The popular pop-rock boy band is sure to give an electrifying performance with songs such as “She Looks So Perfect.” They have only recently risen to such a high amount of popularity, and that’s not dropping any time soon.

Calvin Harris: The DJ that you may know for contributing to Ellie Goulding songs has also branched out on his own, singing and DJing his own hits such as “Summer.” Look out for this DJ’s performance.

OneRepublic: I’m kind of biased in my writing here, since OneRepublic is my favorite band. The band has written such hits as “Counting Stars” from their latest album, “Native.” One of their most recent songs, “I Lived,” features a 15-year-old boy from Colorado living with cystic fibrosis. You can visit the website for information about Bryan Warnecke and his disease at http://www.cfcure.org/. Their performance at Jingle Ball is one I will definitely watch.

Jessie J: Jessie J was popular a couple years ago for her hit “Domino.” But somehow, she’s risen back into the limelight with her collaboration on the hit “Bang Bang” with Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj. I’m curious to see how her performance will go.

Meghan Trainor: Well, she’ll obviously be performing the catchy hit song she wrote, “All About That Bass.”  I’m sure her performance will be great, even though she’s a bit of a newcomer compared to a lot of these other artists.

Charli XCX: Right now, her big claim to fame is being featured in the movie, “The Fault In Our Stars” for her hit single, “Boom Clap.” She’ll most likely perform this song at Jingle Ball, so be sure to check it out.

Shawn Mendes: Please hold your screams of joy long enough to read this! (I’m looking at you, eighth grade girls!) So, Shawn Mendes is a new artist this year, known mainly for his debut single, “Life of the Party”. Watch out for one of his first major performances. Hopefully, he’ll be good, because if he’s not, we’ll see a lot of girls crying in the bathrooms.

Rita Ora: She’s known for two big hits, the catchy “I Will Never Let You Down” and the ever-popular “Black Widow” with Iggy Azalea. Watch out for her performance, which she will most likely do with Azalea.

Kiesza: Okay, who the heck is she? I honestly hadn’t heard of her until I started writing this article. However, she has gained a considerable amount of popularity for her song, “Hideaway.” So, Kiesza fans, look for her at Jingle Ball this year.

Rixton: Rixton is a boy band who has written such popular songs as, “Me and my Broken Heart”. Keep an eye out for their performance of this catchy song at Jingle Ball 2014.

Jingle Ball 2014 has collected this amazing group of singers and bands for their show this year at Madison Square Garden on December 12. It should be a great show (especially with special guest star Nick Jonas) and we here at the Minuteman look forward to watching.