Usually a noisy start to festival season, this year Radio 1’s Big Weekend is a noisy start to a summer of nothing. Everything else is cancelled, but the station is still doing its best to generate virtual buzz from today until Sunday, with lockdown-filmed sets by big names including Sam Smith, Biffy Clyro and Ellie Goulding, on the Sounds app and the iPlayer, taking the place of the real thing in Dundee.
Among the five “stages”, there’s a huge selection of newcomers playing under the BBC Music Introducing banner. Watford’s Griff leaps out, partly because of her mighty ponytail and the fact that this former textiles student makes her own clothes, but also thanks to the kind of high-gloss pop and big voice that suggests she’s already polished enough for the pop charts.
Half-Chinese, half-Jamaican, she was combining music-making with A-levels until quite recently. Her latest single, Good Stuff, is a minimal piano ballad, but there are livelier sounds to come.
You no longer need a ticket, or a journey to Scotland, to discover her this weekend.
Head here for more information on Radio 1's Big Weekend
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