Glastonbury announces Emerging Talent Competition 2023 finalists

Glastonbury organisers have announced the finalists of the festival’s Emerging Talent Competition 2023.

The acts chosen from thousands of entries are: Cordelia Gartside, EVA, FFSYTHO?!, Naomi Kimpenu, N’famady Kouyaté, The Love Buzz, and NME 100 stars for 2022: Prima Queen and VLURE.

Whoever wins the competition will perform on the festival’s main stages at this year’s event, which runs from June 21-June 25. There are also talent development prizes for the winner as well as for two runners-up provided by PRS Foundation.

As announced by organisers previously, Ezra Williams (FKA Smoothboi Ezra) has made it to this year’s last stage after missing last year’s final due to illness. The competition therefore has nine finalists in total.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videoseries

The nine acts were selected by Glastonbury judges from a longlist of 90 artists, which was compiled by 30 of the UK’s leading online music writers.

The winner will receive 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.

This year’s invite-only final takes place on April 29.

Previous winners of the competition include Declan McKenna, Flohio and R.A.E.

Glastonbury Festival co-organiser Eavis spoke to NME last year about the importance of the competition. “It’s about capturing them at the very earliest stage of their careers, right at the start,” she said.

Eavis added that the process can carve a unique bond between the festival and artist, referencing 2015 winner McKenna who will returned last summer for his fourth performance at Worthy Farm.

“That’s a really important part of it, we feel really proud to see Declan’s career rocket like it has because we always have had that kind of special relationship with him, from when he was just a small boy,” Eavis said.

“He was like 15 or something! Often artist’s careers have already changed by the time June rolls around; we always make a point of going down to see the winners and finalists when they come to play the festival as well.”

Other previous winners include Lewis McLaughlin, Izzy Bizu, and She Drew The Gun. Entrants in the past have included Che Lingo, Patawawa and Swimming Girls.

Meanwhile, after announcing earlier in March a line-up for Glastonbury 2023 that will be led by all-male headliners (Elton John, Arctic Monkeys and Guns N’ Roses), Eavis has since revealed that next year’s edition will see two female headliners.

Speaking to The Guardian, Eavis confirmed that of the two female headliners for 2024, one has already been confirmed while the other is “close” to being booked. She also revealed that both headliners will be making their Glastonbury debuts but did not share more information.

The Guardian noted that neither Madonna nor Rihanna have performed at Glastonbury before although that’s no indication that they’ve been booked for the festival.

In other news, Shania Twain spoke to NME about her hopes to play the legends’ slot at Glastonbury, revealing that “it’s on my wish list”.