The Hunt for New Music: Caro Emerald (real name, Caroline Esmeralda van der Leeuw) is something of a wild card on the international music scene. She’s a Dutch pop and jazz singer whose musical influences range from Sarah Vaughn to Prez Prado. Her music definitely has sonic references to 20/30s American jazz and although not easy to pigeon hole, she’s committed to her art: when Dutch record companies didn’t sign her, she created (along with collaborators Jan van Wieringen and David Schreurs) her own label, Grandmono Records. Emerald’s first album, Deleted Scenes From The Cutting Room Floor was Number 1 in Holland for 27 weeks (a new record–she topped Michael Jackson’s Thriller) and her second album, The Shocking Miss Emerald hit No. 1 in the U.K soon after release. The song featured here, “Back it Up”, was the No. 1 song on Dutch radio station 3FM in 2009, the year it was released and is from her first album. Caro Emerald is innovative and ambitious and she makes catchy, fun, music. You’ll be hearing a lot more from her.