R.A.E wins 2020 Emerging Talent Competition!

17th June 2020

We’re delighted to announce that R.A.E has been selected from thousands of entries as the winner of our 2020 EMERGING TALENT COMPETITION, which is once again supported by PRS for Music and PRS Foundation.

The incredible South-East Londoner was the overwhelming choice of our panel of judges, who were wowed by R.A.E’s radiant, pin-sharp hip-hop and R&B.

R.A.E’s prize is a slot on one of the main stages at Glastonbury 2021. She will also be awarded a £5,000 Talent Development prize from PRS Foundation to help take her songwriting and performing to the next level.

And listen to the song she entered with, below.

The final judges – who included Michael and Emily Eavis, Glastonbury stage bookers, music business professionals and former ETC winner Declan McKenna – awarded second place to Newcastle’s spellbinding AJIMAL and third place to West London singer-songwriter Matilda Mann. Both acts will be invited to play at Glastonbury 2021 and receive a £2,500 Talent Development prize from the PRS Foundation.

Said Emily Eavis: “I’m absolutely thrilled for R.A.E. Her music is so uplifting and vibrant, and she absolutely wowed the judges. I really can’t wait to see her at next year’s Glastonbury!”

Becci Scotcher, Senior Grants & Programmes Manager at PRS Foundation said, “Huge congratulations to the fantastic R.A.E. for winning this year’s Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition! The shortlist was incredibly competitive and we’re delighted to be awarding our £5,000 talent development bursary to R.A.E. and both £2,500 bursaries to the brilliant runners-up AJIMAL and Matilda Mann. We look forward to following their progress and seeing them perform at next year’s Glastonbury Festival.”

Amy Field, Senior Events Manager, PRS for Music: “A huge congratulations from all of us at PRS for Music to the outstanding R.A.E and runners up AJIMAL and Matilda Mann. The level of talent these songwriters have already displayed at such an early stage is inspiring. We look forward to supporting them as they take the next step in their careers.”

Each year, the free-to-enter Emerging Talent Competition is open to new UK and Ireland-based acts of any musical genre, who are asked to enter with one recorded track and a video of themselves performing.

Following the January entry period, our panel of 30 of the UK’s best online music writers & bloggers narrowed down the thousands of acts to a longlist of just 90. The eight finalists were then selected from that list by judges including Emily Eavis and Glastonbury’s Head of Music Programming, Nick Dewey. With no live finals possible this year, the final judges then used the eight acts’ songs and videos to select the winner.

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 following a year of highlights which included her performances at Glastonbury, a 6 Music live session and supporting Keane at the Royal Albert Hall.