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The award is presented and supported by BBC Radio 1 and aims to showcase British artists who have not placed an album within the top 20 nor have had more than one single place within the top 20. This year, the winner for the award was presented by Clara Amfo via her show on BBC Radio 1. The BBC spoke with Humberstone concerning her recent win, the singer was interviewed after she first discovered the good news. When asked how it felt to join the ranks of the celebrated artists who have won the award in previous years, the singer replied, “I remember watching the Brits as a child and being in complete awe of all of the artists, so this is kind of mad.”

The singer was also questioned to describe life as an artist during lockdown, “It was really hard for me to grasp just what was going on. [During the pandemic] I felt like I was living two parallel lives. One of them was my career – I seemed to be doing OK on the internet and my statistics looked good or whatever – and the other one was me sitting at home, completely uninspired. So it was really strange coming out of lockdown and going straight into playing festivals, and seeing that there are actual, physical people who have listened to my music. That was something I’d never had before.”

Humberstone has risen as a standout artist from the recent pandemic and has carved out an avid audience since her first release. The singer released her first EP Falling Asleep At The Wheel on 14th August 2020 via the record label Platoon. In 2021 the singer signed with major labels Interscope and Polydor Records, soon after her second EP The Walls Are Way Too Thin was released on 12th November 2021.

Since the formation of her musical career, the singer has released a total of twelve singles, including a cover of the Radiohead track “Fake Plastic Trees”. The acoustic cover was released as a non-album track on 30^th July 2020 and was accompanied by an intimate music video. As well as her recent BRIT win, the singer has also achieved success with other awards. The singer came in second place for BBC’s Sound of 2021 and was included in the running for YouTube artist on the rise.

Previous winners of the Rising Star award have included such artists as Jessie J, Sam Smith, Jorja Smith, James Bay and Adele. The accolade has been a staple of the popular music institution since the 28th Brit Awards held in 2008. The award was previously known as the Critic’s Choice Award, the winner is decided by a panel of professionals from all avenues of the music industry. The first-ever winner of the award was Grammy-Award winning artist Adele, the singer was nominated alongside Duffy and Foals.

Humberstone will be hitting the road in March 2022, the singer will embark on tour in support of Girl In Red. The tour will see Humberstone perform across the United States and Canada in over twenty-five cities. The “Scarlett” singer will then start her solo performances in the United Kingdom, Humberstone will begin her UK dates with a set in Manchester on 5th June 2022.

Holly Humberstone UK tour dates

05/06/2022 – Academy 2 – Manchester
06/06 – O2 Forum Kentish Town – London
17/07 – Finsbury Park – London

Click here to purchase tickets.

the shortlist for the 2022 #BRITs Rising Star as supported by @BBCR1 is…

Bree Runway (@breerunway)
Holly Humberstone (@HolHumberstone)
Lola Young (@lolayounggg) pic.twitter.com/XKXIYe2u11

— BRIT Awards (@BRITs) November 30, 2021

British musician, Holly Humberstone, made waves with her first EP Falling Asleep At The Wheel. The 21-year-old singer released the EP on 14th August 2020 after signing with Interscope and Polydor Records. The singer caught the attention of industry professionals whilst performing at a local BBC Introducing show. The singer recently released her second EP The Walls Are Way Too Thin, the EP was released on on 12th November 2021 and sired five singles including “Scarlett” and “Friendly Fire“.

Speaking on her inclusion, Humberstone has provided the following statement, “Music has always been my entire life, and being nominated for such a prestigious award really means everything to me. Recognition from the BRITs is something I am struggling to comprehend at the moment! it’s truly an honour to be nominated for the BRITs Rising Star Award alongside two other incredibly inspiring female artists.”

Bree Runway is no stranger to accolades, earlier this year the British rapper and singer won a BET Award for Best International Act and was shortlisted for the BBC Sound of 2021 poll. The 29-year-old singer signed with EMI Records in 2018 and has released one mixtape and three Eps. The talented artist has been making music since a child and performed for Michelle Obama at age 14. Runway has gone on to work with many influential artists including Rhianna and Missy Elliott, the singer recently released the single “Space Ghost Coast to Coast” with British rockers Glass Animals.

Runway provides the following statement concerning her nomination, “I feel so honoured to be recognised by the BRITs in this way, it’s all so exciting especially as previous nominees have gone on to do such amazing things, I hope I’m struck by that same luck. Attending the BRITs alone has been something I’ve wanted to do for years, but attending as a Rising Star nominee is a DREAM.”

Lola Young has released a collection of Eps and has garnered critical success for her work. The 21-year-old singer got her start at open mics and won a national competition at the age of 13. Young recently rose to fan for her beautiful rendition of the 1984 Philip Oakley and Giorgio Moroder hit, “Together In Electric Dreams”. The cover was used in this year’s John Lewis Christmas advert and promptly captured the nation’s hearts.

The BRIT School alumni has provided a statement expressing her excitement to be nominated, “I can’t believe I’ve been nominated for this award. It feels surreal and completely unexpected. I actually have to pinch myself looking at the other artists that have been nominated previously. It is such a big step for me and I feel very excited to have been nominated!”.

The Rising Star award was previously known as the Critics’ Choice Award and has been included in the ceremony since 2008, the award’s first winner was Grammy-Award winning artist Adele. The accolade is supported and sponsored by BBC Radio 1 and has previously been awarded to Celeste and Griff. The award aims to celebrate and endorse British artists who have yet to chart within the top 20 with an album or have not achieved more than one top 20 single. The award’s winner will be selected by a panel of industry professionals and experts. The winner for the Brits rising star award will be announced on 10th December, the winner will be handed the award at the ceremony next year.

“XS is a song that mocks capitalism in a sinking world. Given that we all know global climate change is accelerating and human extinction is a very real possibility within our lifetime it seemed hilarious to me that brands were still coming out with new makeup palettes every month and public figures were doing a gigantic house tour of their gated property in Calabasas in the same week as doing a ‘sad about Australian wild fires’ Instagram post.”

Rina continued “I wanted to reflect the chaos of this post-truth climate change denying world in the metal guitar stabs that flare up like an underlying zit between the 2000s R&B beat that reminds you of a time when everything was alright.”

On her nomination Sawayama remarked: “I literally fell to the floor when I found out that I’d been nominated for Rising Star. I really can’t put into words how much this means to me given that I wasn’t eligible for this award a few weeks ago and now that door has been opened for future generations of artists like myself. Thank you so much to everyone who voted for me, it means the world.” Sawayama is nominated alongside Coventry rapper Pa Salieu and singer-songwriter Griff in the category previously awarded to rising stars including Celeste, Sam Fender, and Jorja Smith.

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Sawayama’s BRIT nomination comes after she revealed that she wasn’t able to enter the Mercury Prize last year as she was not eligible to enter as a British artist under its rules. The singer is of Japanese origin, however, holds an indefinite leave to remain visa since moving to London at the age of five. Since Sawayama’s campaign, the British Phonographic Industry has reconsidered their eligibility criteria for the Mercury Prize and BRIT Awards.

The new rules mean that artists without British citizenship are eligible for the awards if they have resided in the country for five years or more. Sawayama responded to the change, speaking to NME she praised the BPI.

“I do applaud BPI for going above and beyond. I didn’t think they’d include the clause of five years [of UK residence], I thought they’d go for 10 years. And they’ve included people who were born here but might have been living somewhere else. It’s really fantastic.”
Tune into the BRIT Awards on Tuesday 11 May on ITV.

Although being a very new artist on the scene, Che has shown great diversity being comfortable to change from hard-hitting grime songs to RnB yet still hold that captivating feeling and passion that have people looking. It was in 2018 that saw Che’s start with the release of his EP ‘Charisma’  that explores “themes of self-doubt and depression, millennial love and the tough choices facing young people on London’s deprived estates”

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FRONT PAGE OF BBC NEWS R.I.P SUGAR RAY who used to run the Youth club I started at. You and the youth workers there, helped me hone this talent you saw in me as a kid. You kept me confident and grounded in the right things and I owe you so much for that. I pray I’m doing you and everyone else proud. Grateful and grinding. Tour tickets go on sale tomorrow 10am. Meet be back here family. #TWGALBUM #BBCNEWS #7WALLACE #CHELINGO #IDRISELBA #UKRAP

A post shared by CHE LINGO (@che_lingo) on Oct 29, 2020 at 8:46am PDT

It was after Netflix used one of Che’s song Same Energy that the streaming site used for their drama Top Boy that gained the attention from Idris Elba, taking Che “from playing youth clubs, not knowing what I’m doing, to having a conversation with Idris Elba about an album“. Earlier this year (Febuary 2020) Che signed to Elba’s record label Parlophone and released his first single My Block under the new deal.

Furthering Che’s fame, this new single was used as an anthem earlier this year in the Black Lives Matter protests (These protests took the world by storm after the murder of George Floyd by the police in America). Some of the protesters also printed the lyrics on T-shirts. This took Che by surprise “I’m still kind of trying to catch up to that feeling,”  he told the BBC.  

This isn’t Che’s first run-in with police brutality. My Block was originally written for one of Che’s who was left permanently paralyzed and brain-damaged after being arrested outside a night club. “Rather than being taken to hospital, Cole was driven to a police station. Only after police officers noticed he was unresponsive in the van was an ambulance called.“. After the tragic death of his friend, three police officers were later sacked.

Front page of BBC NEWS for the album. No compromises, all grind. #TWGALBUM — #TWGAlbum (@Che_Lingo) October 29, 2020

It is clear to see how much attention Che has garnered over this year (from both before and after the BLM movement) with papers and news outlets writing about him. “One to watch: Che Lingo” From the Guardian, and “‘People are dying who shouldn’t be dying’: Meet Che Lingo, the London rapper confronting the UK’s police brutality” From the Independent.

Che Lingo released his Debut album earlier this month (23/10/2020) under Idris Elba’s label. The Worst Generation has already amassed a large number of streams on Spotify, with My Block nearing one million streams. Che Lingo is certainly a rapper and artist to keep a very close eye on.

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Very proud to announce “THE WORST GENERATION” My debut album drops OCTOBER 23RD 2020 PRE-SAVE LINK IN MY BIO – #TWG This has genuinely been the hardest time of my entire life creating this work, from my injury to family/friends passing away, the #BLM protests and COVID-19 lockdowns, to illnesses and mental struggles with myself and the world as it stands (no excuses just reflections). I cannot put it to anything other than God and the strength/passion I was granted that’s allowed me to persevere through these very trying times but thankfully we did and THE ALBUM IS DONE! inspired by my relationship with my childhood growing up in the ends (south london) my experiences as a ‘black male’ in London (considered the “worst” of this/any generation) and how that’s imprinted on not just me but a lot of us who grew up in estates and saw our friends and family affected by poverty and lack of support…in our heads, lives and hearts. I hope it resonates with everyone. I want to use this opportunity to thank everyone involved in creating this piece of art in all capacities. Honour, love and respect to my @7.wallace family for believing in my path and trusting me with the message. EXEC PROD / MASTERED: @manondave Massive Thanks to GHETTS, KOJEY RADICAL, RACHEL CHINOURIRI & SAMM HENSHAW and their teams for trusting me with their art and featuring on these very important songs. SPECIAL THANKS: To all the producers and The Sunshine Orchestra for their beautiful musical contributions. Even more so to Luke Rapata, Jack Lewn & Miguel Lagos for their invaluable time and effort spent crafting this project with me and Manon Dave as well as The Qube for accommodating us. Finally @idriselba and @iambabyblue for their continued support and love in seeing a trill, black british artist with a passion and message announce himself to the world and to you all for being so patient. I can’t wait to share it with the rest of the family and the world #TheWorstGeneration – Out OCTOBER 23RD 2020 PRE-ORDER LINK IN MY BIO! Artwork by @overdaux OG photo by @luke.c.harper #TheRiskIsProof #UKRAP #HipHop #London #CheLingo #7Wallace #TheWorstGeneration #TWGAlbum

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In a year where everyone’s live shows have gone down the drain. I’m so exited to be putting on a show in my dream venue. I will be live streaming a live performance for you guys in the mf Tate Morden!!!!! Save the date. The rona won’t stop us

A post shared by Griff (@wiffygriffy) on Oct 15, 2020 at 9:05am PDT

Griff’s first EP ‘The Mirror Talk EP‘ was released with Warner Records back in November 2019. Since then she has taken the UK music scene by storm, having been described as the UK’s ‘Brightest New Pop Star‘. Griff is only 19 years old, but her song writing skills have matured a lot over her short time in the industry. Her debut EP was certainly impressive, but her 2020 creations such as singles ‘Good Stuff‘ and ‘Forgive Myself‘ feel more emotionally mature and also more distinctively her own style.

In the last few months, Griff has branched out into collaborations with exciting names such as HONNE and TSHA, lending her smooth vocals to their complex beat arrangements. 1,000,000 X Better, collab with HONNE, saw Griff singing about the support a loving relationship can give: ‘…I know sometimes I’m heard to love… When I got clouds hanging over my head// Yeah I get irrational, crazy, upset// But you// Pick me back up and// You tell me it’s okay’. 

The beat and electronic arrangements gave the track a dreaminess reminiscent of Owl City’s music. Her collaboration with TSHA, released in August this year, was a more upbeat affair. However the lyrics of that song, too, explored serious themes. Griff stated that Say It Again was written when ‘a lot of her friends were going through mental health issues, and [she] felt so helpless. This song is basically [her] helpless self trying to reassure a friend whose going through a really difficult time’. 

Griff’s ability to make serious and vulnerable music that can also get you dancing is quite unique. Perhaps this is one reason why she is a nominee for the first ever Ivor Novello Rising Star Award. This year must have been difficult for her as an artist, as she has been unable to perform live shows due to the Covid-19 pandemic; It is good news that she can at least fulfil her dream of performing at the Tate!