The winner of this year’s Wight Noize competition has been revealed, with the Island’s very own Beth Brookfield now set to perform on the main stage at this year’s Isle of Wight Festival.
An industry showcase event took place last Saturday (18th May) at Strings Music Venue in Newport. It’s here that the finalists battled it out for that top spot in front of a panel of judges including Claydon Conor, Jess Paine, Silas Gregory and Rob Homes.
The panel gave each act feedback on their performance before going on to make the ultimate decision as to who will be opening the main stage on Sunday 19th June.
It was a unanimous decision at the end of the night to crown 19-year-old Beth Brookfield as the winner. Runners Up included The Optimists, Greek Tragedies and Chicks.
Beth is a singer-songwriter from the Isle of Wight, whose music is a perfect blend of hooky indie-pop paired with dreamy slide guitar. She released her debut single ‘The Journey’ in November 2020 at just 17-years-old, and after having Radio Play on BBC Solent, AmazingRadioUSA in America and more, she released the feel-good single ‘No Words To Describe’ in 2021 which received support from BBC Introducing.
Beth supported American singer Arielle in 2020 and most recently supported James Walsh, frontman of English post-Britpop band Starsailor. She made her UK Festival debut at The Isle of Wight Festival in 2021, playing 4 different sets over the weekend.
The music video for this year’s ‘Chasing After You’ was filmed in London at PixiPixel Studios and was released through VEVO. The single has had radio play on BBC Introducing and BBC Radio Solent, including a prime time interview.
In March, Beth performed at TEDx Lukely Brook, where she wrote an original song specifically for the event. The performance has now been uploaded to the Official Tedx YouTube channel with over 34million subscribers.
David Pontin, Director of Platform One, says:
“What an incredible evening, showcasing the talents of young musicians on the Island. The standard of all acts was unbelievable. The opportunity to be involved in the Isle of Wight Festival has made a significant difference. This is the twentieth year that Platform One have been involved with the festival. We are so proud of the achievements of all of our incredible students”.
Platform One College of Music has been involved in the festival since its rebirth in 2002. Opportunities for young musicians at the festival have evolved each year thanks to the commitment of John Giddings, who is one of Platform One patrons.
John says:
“I am very proud to be a patron of Platform One. I think they do an incredible job of preparing young musicians for the reality of the music industry. I like helping people and my work with Platform One feels the right thing to do – they have integrity, and they are good at what they do”.
Any young musician would do well to watch Rick Beato’s YouTube posting of “A warning on the future of music with Author Ted Gioia .podcast#1”
Actually, any youngster wanting to be involved in the music industry should subscribe to Rick Beato’s channel, he’s just done a piece on Halsey being “held hostage” by her record label. He’s one of the good guys in the industry.