Wet Leg, PinkPantheress, Yard Act nominated for BBC Sound Of 2022
Other nominees include ENNY, Tems, Priya Ragu, Lola Young, Mimi Webb and Central Cee
By Jen Thomas
The nominees for BBC Sound Of 2022 have been announced, featuring artists like Wet Leg, PinkPantheress, Yard Act, Baby Queen and more.
Also on the longlist are the likes of ENNY, Tems, Priya Ragu, Lola Young, Mimi Webb and Central Cee.
Last year’s winner of the award was Pa Salieu, and the 2022 recipient will be revealed in January.
The BBC said: “The Sound Of list started in 2003 with the aim to showcase the most exciting rising stars in music, 19 years later, and the aim is the same – to continue predicting some of the biggest and most exciting global superstars.
“The acts that appear on Sound Of are all hand-picked by a panel of impartial music industry experts from around the world and we can now reveal the long-list for 2022.”
The Sound Of… winner will join an eclectic list of previous victors including Adele, Michael Kiwanuka and Haim. Now in its 20th year, the awards are renowned for launching the careers of many musicians to the next level.
Celeste won BBC’s Sound of 2020 and went on to win numerous Brit Awards.
Sound Of 2022 long-list nominee Lola Young has also been tipped for the 2022 BRITs Rising Star award. Also nominated are Sound of 2021 alumnae Holly Humberstone and Bree Runway.
Lola was also chosen to sing the theme for the John Lewis Christmas advert this year, with her take on ‘Together In Electric Dreams’ for their ‘Unexpected Guest’ ad.
Wet Leg recently announced their headline tour and their debut album and said: “We want to be recognised as guitar heroes. We agreed on the premise of our band there and then: as long as you’re having fun, then everything will be alright, and we’ve told ourselves that we’ll stick to that, always.”
Eight of the ten nominees this year are female artists.
They were all selected by a panel of 133 industry experts, including names like Elton John, Charli XCX, Ed Sheeran and former nominees Billie Eilish, Jorja Smith and Foals.
Elton recently named Yard Act as one of his new favourite bands, admiring their style and sound.
See the long list below:
Baby Queen
Central Cee
ENNY
Lola Young
Mimi Webb
PinkPantheress
Priya Ragu
Tems
Wet Leg
Yard Act