Brits Rising Star award sees Holly Humberstone, Bree Runway & Lola Young make the cut

Women are dominating the field right now, with Bree Runway, Holly Humberstone and Lola Young shortlisted for the 2022 Brits rising star award.

The prize recognises future stars of British music, with previous winners including the likes of Adele, Ellie Goulding, Celeste, Sam Smith and 2021's winner Griff.

The trio were selected by a panel featuring music editors and journalists, radio and TV station bosses and songwriters, producers and live bookers.

East London's Bree Runway began making music at school and performed for Michelle Obama at the age of 14. The 29-year-old garnered social media attention for her covers, and has since found global acclaim with singles from her 2000AND4EVA mixtape - including 'ATM' featuring Missy Elliott and follow up hit 'Hot Hot'.

Runway kicked off the year shortlisted for the BBC Sound of 2021 and received a BET Award for best new international act. The singer-songwriter and rap sensation, real name Brenda Wireko Mensah, featured on the track 'Babylon' from Lady Gaga’s remix album, Dawn Of Chromatica.

"I feel so honoured to be recognised by the Brits in this way, it’s all so exciting especially as previous nominees have gone on to do such amazing things, I hope I’m struck by that same luck Attending the Brits alone has been something I’ve wanted to do for years, but attending as a rising star nominee is a dream."

Lincolnshire artist Holly Humberstone broke into the mainstream during the past 18 months with her debut EP Falling Asleep At The Wheel, with her tracks accumulating more than 200 million global streams so far.

The 21-year-old has been nominated for the Ivor Novello rising star award and was runner-up for the BBC Sound of 2021. The Grantham native was recently chosen as YouTube’s next artist on the rise.

In light of her new EP, The Walls Are Way Too Thin, the indie-pop star has also performed on US talk shows such as Jimmy Fallon, The Late Late Show With James Corden and Later...With Jools Holland.

"Music has always been my entire life, and being nominated for such a prestigious award really means everything to me," Holly said today. "Recognition from the Brits is something I am struggling to comprehend at the moment! It’s truly an honour to be nominated for the Brits Rising Star Award alongside two other incredibly inspiring female artists."

The third nominee, Young, started writing songs aged 11 and by 13 had competed in and won a national open mic competition. Lola later enrolled at the arts-focused Brit School in London, which counts Adele and Amy Winehouse among its alumni.

After gigging around London, she secured a record deal with Island Records and her catalogue so far includes the single 'Woman', her debut seven-track release titled Intro and the Renaissance EP.

The 20-year-old singer-songwriter, from south London, has also been chosen to provide the soundtrack to this year’s John Lewis Christmas advert. She covered 'Together In Electric Dreams' for the project, originally by Philip Oakey and Giorgio Moroder.

"I can’t believe I’ve been nominated for this award. It feels surreal and completely unexpected," Young commented. "I actually have to pinch myself looking at the other artists that have been nominated previously. It is such a big step for me and I feel very excited to have been nominated!"

The winner of the award will be revealed on December 10.

Pick up a copy of December's Hot Press to read our new interview with Holly Humberstone. Revisit her Whelan's gig from November 23 here.