Lewis Capaldi is the first artist ever to take the step up from a local to a global Deezer NEXT priority act

The Deezer NEXT 2019 programme includes emerging global and local talent from France, Germany, Brazil, LATAM and more

Last year’s NEXT Global alumni experienced over 3,370% boost in streams in 2018

Deezer, the global music streaming service, is proud to roll out the 2019 edition of Deezer NEXT. The annual artist development initiative is designed to identify and champion emerging talent around the world. Lewis Capaldi, the Scottish singer-songwriter and 2018 UK Deezer NEXT artist and English singer Sam Fender join as 2019’s global priority acts.

Returning for its third consecutive year, the programme supports developing artists and provides them with an avenue for new exposure to local and worldwide audiences. The new class of NEXT will receive 12 months of dedicated support from Deezer’s Artist Marketing and Editorial teams. This includes playlisting and creative marketing campaigns involving special content, fan events and social media amplification.

Lewis Capaldi is the first artist in the history of Deezer NEXT to grow to become a global priority act following participation in the local UK programme. During his year in the UK Deezer NEXT programme, Lewis experienced a 110% increase in streams and a 438% increase in his fanbase. Lewis’ latest track ‘Someone You Loved’ recently hit the top 10 UK singles chart.

Lewis Capaldi commented: “I’ve been absolutely blown away by the support of Deezer since I’ve started releasing music, from coming to a number of my live shows to choosing me as one of their UK Deezer NEXT artists for last year. So to be told that they’ve now chosen me as their Deezer NEXT Global artist for this year is a huge honour and I’m massively looking forward to the year ahead! Have had thousands of messages of people discovering my tunes over on Deezer so am absolutely buzzing about the year ahead!”

English singer songwriter, Sam Fender, is also Deezer’s new global priority artist. Sam gained attention with his introspective indie rock inspired debut EP ‘Dead Boys’ last year and fans can look forward to an exciting debut album and sold out shows during 2019.

Sam Fender commented: “Buzzing to be a part of Deezer next and super excited to share some new tunes with you all!”

Alexander Holland, Chief Content and Product Officer at Deezer commented: “As a streaming platform we have the privilege of connecting artists all over the world with their fans. We also have the opportunity to help talented artists take the magic step that takes them from being a local gem to an international phenomenon. We’ve done that journey several times before with artists like Rag’n’Bone Man, Anne Marie and Jorja Smith and I’m very excited to add Lewis Capaldi and Sam Fender to the list. Each of them has a unique sound and they represent exactly the kind of artists that make us crank up the volume in the office”.

Local artists for the UK & Ireland include:

• Hamzaa, a 19 year old R&B and Soul singer from Hackney, has a songwriting ability beyond her years and made a strong impression with debut EP ‘First Signs Of Me’. Hamzaa comments: “Omg! Thank you so much for the support, I can’t wait to keep sharing my music with you and your listeners. So excited for the year ahead, it’s going to be epic.”

• Jade Bird, a singer-songwriter with a beautifully powerful voice that crosses Americana, Rock and Folk. Her self-titled debut album is released in April on Glassnote. Jade comments: “I am so thrilled to be included in the 2019 Deezer NEXT campaign! Deezer have been so supportive of my music since the beginning so I can’t wait to be able to share my album with them and their listeners this year!” 

• Fontaines D.C., a punk band from Dublin, have made a big impression across Europe with their live shows, including a standout performance at the Eurosonic Festival. Fontaines D.C. comments: “We're over the moon to be featured as part of the Deezer Next campaign. The support from them has been deadly. We'll be releasing our new album Dogrel on Deezer on April 12th!” 

The Deezer NEXT 2018 Global alumni, Jorja Smith, Zak Abel, The Blaze and Sofi Tukker, between them experienced an amazing 3,370% increase in fanbase on average. From a month prior to joining NEXT to present day, Jorja Smith’s fanbase on Deezer grew by 7,781%. On average the streams of the global acts grew 432% during the campaign year. In addition to Sam and Lewis, Deezer will select and announce two additional global priority artists and a selection of regional artists across multiple markets during 2019.

The first round of regional acts are:

France

• Hervé, part of electro-pop duo 'Postaal’, is about to go solo on what promises to be a truly unique debut EP, mixing heartfelt songwriting with transcendent electronic beats

• Lolo Zouaï was born in France and raised in San Francisco around Algerian culture, she draws from French chanson, 90's R&B and classic raï to deliver seductive melodies and lyrics

• Voyou mixes a fun and playful persona with electro-pop experiments that are enriched with poetry and optimism

• Green Montana is the newest Belgian rap sensation with big melodies and hypnotic verses that create an unmistakable smoky vibe

Germany

• Gurr is a an all-girl garage band from Berlin and were the support act for the tour of UK band Shame, with Shame also supporting Gurr in Germany

• Ilira, Swiss-German singer with a four octave range currently features in Alle Farben’s top hit ‘Fading’. The track features in Deezer’s TV commercial

LATAM

• MYA, also known as Maxi and Agustin, are the new trending Argentinian duo impressing Argentina and beyond with acoustic romantic and reggaeton beats music

• ATL, a 21 year old Mexican singer-songwriter, reached the top 5 in in the Viña del Mar International Song Festival contest and was the second youngest artist involved

• Mabiland mixes rap, R&B and soul, and is impressing fans with her unique style and full-of-energy concerts

US

• Dreezy, considered “The Princess of Chicago Rap”, is rewarding her loyal fans with a second full length project comprising of 10 tracks, Big Dreez

• Cheyo Carrillo, an up-and-coming Regional Mexican artist and Los Angeles native, released single “No Es Normal” and is due to release new music in 2019

US & LATAM

• At just 18 years old, Manuel Turizo is working on his first album after quickly climbing the Latin urban music scene following his hit ‘Una Lady Como Tú’ at 16

Austria

• Mathea is a rising pop star in Austria, with her first single "2x" now heading up the singles chart

• Josh. has already making waves in the German-speaking music scene with track "Cordula Grün" reaching platinum status and his debut longplayer due this year

Netherlands

• Idaly contributed on the famous ‘New Wave’ album that had a huge impact on local Hip Hop scene in the Netherlands. Currently he is on a roll with hits like ‘Wine Slow’ and ‘Fallin’ and his debut album is due in March

• Pip Blom are Amsterdam’s exciting new musical export; delivering catchy, angsty guitar-pop. Newly signed to Heavenly Recordings, they release their highly anticipated debut album ‘Boat’ in May

Spain

• Nyno Vargas is a Spanish urban artist and one of the best representatives of the new Flamenco/Hip Hop trend. His last album ‘Dicen de mí’, includes collaborations with Justin Quilles, Demarco Flamenco and María Artés

South Africa

• Easy Freak, a South African Pop duo with a funk and R&B vibe, will release their sophomore album 'No Lies' in May 2019 with some fresh collaborations and exciting new sounds