12th February 2019: 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 English singer Sam Fender join as 2019’s global priority acts. Manuel Turizo, Dreezy and Cheyo Carrillo join as priority acts for the US, a group that highlights diversity in music and also demonstrates the great impact that Latin artists are having on a global scale.

Returning for its third consecutive year, the program supports developing artists and provides them with an avenue for new exposure to local and worldwide audiences. The new class of Deezer 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 to grow to become a global priority act following participation in the local UK program. During his year in the UK Deezer NEXT program, 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!”

Among the selected is Manuel Turizo, who at the age of 19 managed to captivate Latin America with his well-known success, “Una señora como tú” in the company of his brother Julián. They formed a powerful duo thanks to Manuel’s deeply rich voice and the accompaniment of Julian on the ukulele. In addition, they have managed to expand their repertoire thanks to being featured on major hits with artists from around the world, including Ozuna, Piso 21, Juan Magán, Belinda, Nacho and many more.

Manuel Turizo commented: “Thanks to Deezer for inviting me to be part of their Next project. We are going to work hard together and achieve incredible things! “

Dreezy, considered “The Princess of Chicago Rap”, she has continued to garner a loyal fanbase and positive critical reception through singles, mixtapes and impressive collaborations.T Dreezy returns with her second full length project Big Dreez. The lyricist takes her style to new levels, which includes singles “Where Them $ @” and “Chanel Slides” featuring Kash Doll.

Dreezy commented:  “It’s happening! This Princess of Chicago Rap is ready to take on the Deezer Next program in 2019″

Cheyo Carrillo, an up-and-coming Regional Mexican artist and Los Angeles native.  He released his debut single “No Es Normal” which landed him in the top 10 Billboard Regional Mexican Songs chart and has garnered over six million views. He is due to release new music in 2019.  

Cheyo Carrillo commented: I can’t wait to work with Deezer on this upcoming program in 2019. Lots of surprises coming this year – thank you all for all the love.”

David Atkinson, Director of Label Relations North America at Deezer commented: “Deezer has the privilege of connecting artists and fans all over the world. In the US, we also have the opportunity to support talented acts both from here or those that have sought out the thriving music industry in the US to make their dreams come true. We have worked with many great artists before including Gashi, Sofia Reyes, R.LUM.R, Johann Vera, and Leslie Grace. I’m very excited to add the new group of rising stars Dreezy, Chayo Carrillo and Manuel Turizo to the list. Each of them have what it takes to become something very special in 2019.”

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.  US Priority acts Brytiago and Gashi have also experienced increases in their streams of over 200% each.

The first round of 2019 global and regional acts are:

Global

• Lewis Capaldi is a Scottish singer-songwriter, who began his musical career singing in pubs and rose to prominence after self-releasing his debut single “Bruises” in 2017. With his distinctive, powerful voice he turns personal, poignant lyrics into hit songs with universal appeal.  To date, Capaldi has played four sold-out back-to-back tours, and in his first 10 months of touring sold 60,000 headline tickets.
• Sam Fender gained attention with his indie rock and electronica inspired debut EP ‘Dead Boys’ last year and fans can look forward to an exciting debut album and sold out shows during 2019

Latin America

• 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

UK

• Jade Bird, a singer-songwriter with a powerful voice that crosses Americana, Rock and Folk. With her debut album due in April, 2019 is going to be a huge year
• Hamzaa, a 19 year old R&B / Soul singer from Hackney, has a songwriting ability beyond her years and made a strong impression with debut EP ‘First Signs Of Me’

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
• Fontaines D.C., a rock band from Dublin/Ireland, made a big impression at Eurosonic Festival and will release debut album ‘Dogrel’ in April

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 Quiles, Demarco Flamenco and María Artés

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

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

In addition to the above, Deezer will select and announce two additional global priority artists and a selection of regional artists across multiple markets during 2019.