Glastonbury - Emerging Competition 2020 Shortlist

As always, it's a very proud moment for me to be a judge on the Glastonbury Emerging Talent competition. The shortlist has recently been announced, along with my three selections, which I'm super happy with this year...

1. SHELLS
“A really unique voice and tone. Really love her writing style and the production.”

 
2. Olivia Nelson
“Olivia’s voice popped when I heard it amongst the other entrants.”

 
3. TEE
“Wicked vibe and great rapping voice, his lyrics hit hard and he generally has something special about him.”

See the full shortlist here.

We’re very pleased to announce that our 2020 EMERGING TALENT COMPETITION, which is once again supported by PRS for Music and PRS Foundation, will go ahead, and a winner will be chosen.

The competition gives new UK and Ireland-based acts of any musical genre the chance to compete for a slot on one of the main stages at the Festival – this year’s winners will be given a slot at Glastonbury 2021.

The winners of the free-to-enter competition will also be awarded a £5,000 Talent Development prize from PRS Foundation to help take their songwriting and performing to the next level. Two runners-up will also each be awarded a £2,500 PRS Foundation Talent Development prize.

The 90 acts on the longlist are revealed below. These acts were picked by our judging panel, made up of 30 of the UK’s best online music writers & bloggers, from the thousands of entries we received in January 2020.

Each of the bloggers has chosen their favourite three acts. They’re listed below, and check out the SoundCloud playlist of all the acts above (apart from the acts who chose to enter a “private” track).

These acts will now be whittled down to a shortlist of just 8 acts, by judges including Emily Eavis and Glastonbury’s Head of Music Programming, Nick Dewey. The shortlist will be announced in the week commencing May 18th.

There will be no live finals (for obvious reasons), but the winners will be chosen from the shortlist by the 15 music business professionals who would have judged the live finals. They will use the song and live performance video each act entered with to make their decision.

The 2019 Emerging Talent Competition winner was the soulful singer-songwriter Marie White, who has since signed with Decca Records and Universal Music Publishing Group.

Said Emily Eavis: “At a time when the live music industry is on hold, and upcoming artists are not able to get out there and showcase their talents, I’m so pleased that we’re still able to shine a light on the best new acts in the UK and Ireland through the Emerging Talent Competition. I’m hugely looking forward to hearing the 90 acts on the longlist – and I really hope that lots of others will listen and choose their favourites too.”

Joe Frankland, CEO of PRS Foundation said: “The Emerging Talent Competition is an incredible opportunity and has been a fantastic springboard for so many successful music creators, including Declan McKenna, Marie White, Flohio and Izzy Bizu. This unique combination of the opportunity to perform at the iconic Glastonbury Festival and receive vital career support has had a real and sustainable impact on those artists’ development. I’m very much looking forward to seeing who the winner and runners-up are this year.”

Said Amy Field, Senior Events Manager at PRS for Music: “We are so pleased the Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition is still going ahead. It’s something positive to focus on during this uncertain time and with the unfortunate cancellation of Glastonbury Festival this year. We know that many music creators are currently facing challenges, and so we are proud to be able to continue this project with PRS Foundation and Glastonbury to keep the momentum going and provide some much needed support to artists taking part.”