Niall Horan’s protege Lewis Capaldi is among the 10 acts chosen on the MTV Push: Ones To Watch 2019 shortlist
The Scottish singer-songwriter is on the list of up-and-coming artists up for the prestigious accolade, which was previously called MTV Brand New, and has been won by acts including Justin Bieber, The Vamps, Anne-Marie, and Conor Maynard.
On his nomination, Lewis said in a press release: “It’s a huge platform for new people to hear my music and it’s an honor to be chosen, also very good for the CV (resume) if the music thing goes south and I have to apply for office jobs again.”
The musician counts Chloe Grace Moretz, James Bay, Ellie Goulding, among his fans, has toured with Rag’n’Bone Man and Sam Smith – and earlier this year Niall invited him via social media to provide support at two gigs in Glasgow, Scotland.
“The way he (Niall) asked me to do it was via Instagram, so basically at this point he’s already Tweeted about the music,” Lewis told British newspaper The Sun. “He’s been a very vocal supporter of what I’m doing online. It was mad. And ever since then we’ve just kind of kept in touch.”
The Grace rocker, 22, is joined on the shortlist by English folk star Jade Bird, British singer and singer/ actress Mahalia, London rapper Loski, singer-songwriter Sam Fender, Icelandic songstress Glowie, soul star Grace Carter, Irish indie folk musician Dermot Kennedy, another London hip-hop artist, Col3trane, and U.K. grime duo Young T and Bugsey.
Shortlisted acts will go head-to-head in a fan-voted poll, with the winner announced in the new year.
The 2018 winner was Neneh Cherry’s daughter Mabel – who said the accolade kicked off the “most exciting year” of her career and that she cannot wait to see which new act will follow in her footsteps.