Vans have crowned the winner of the Musicians Wanted competition for 2021 with a Livestream concert.
The competition was announced back in July and the winner was just recently crowned. The virtual show featured the five finalists from Europe, the Middle East and Africa perform and receive feedback from the judging panel. The judges included British rock star Yungblud, rapper Denzel Curry, Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Julia Michaels and the founder of 88rising Sean Miyashiro.
Northern Ireland’s Lemonade Shoelace was the first performer, he brought his highly positive experimental psych-pop to the competition. Miyashiro commented on the performance“Tight band, [it’s] music that I would want to listen to, They have a distinct sound. I love it.”
Next up was London-based singer Kenya Grace who shared her enigmatic R&B creations which won praise from Michaels who said “It’s really unique, I loved her voice. She has dynamics in her songs and she can perform them and sing them live, which is rare.” KY’ORION then followed this up with the Birmingham rapper showcasing his melodic, thought-provoking bars. “He’s just gotta keep going cos I like the vibe,” Curry said. “He needs to come up with some crazy patterns.”
Welsh duo Altered Myths then mixed things up with a two-track performance with immense bluesy riffs and blasting drums. Miyashiro enjoyed the performance stating “They’re fusing a lot of different things together and I think that’s really dope to make it their own style, I think the songwriting is great. I think they’re definitely onto something.”
Paris-based electronic musician p-i used samplers and other equipment to build the layers of her music, fusing them together to form hypnotic tracks that grew greater with each layer. YungBlud liked the act saying “I can see them going on after me, not before, It feels very late night. If I was in the dance tent and that came on, fuck yeah I’m there. Big vibes.” You can view all the artists performing below.
After the artists performed, the judges then awarded each of them a mark out of 10, with a final score being worked out from their average scores. At the end of the concert receiving the highest marks is Lemonade Shoelace with a score of 8.3. Micheals said of the winner “You can tell that they’ve put a lot of time and devotion and dedication into their artistry and their craft, and I’m so happy I got to experience that today,”
As a reward for Lemonade Shoelace’s victory he has won a support slot with Yungblud when he embarks on his UK tour in January 2022, as well as Vans products, Kramer gear, global music distribution, Spotify and Apple Music playlisting and more.
He spoke to NME ahead of the Livestream concert, where he said winning “would mean the absolute world to me. I feel like I’ve won already by just being selected as a finalist, which I never thought would happen,” to which he added. “It’s great to see recognition for my hard work; I produce everything myself and I’m so happy people are enjoying my output.”
