Shortlist announced for the 2023 Brits Rising Star award

Cat Burns, Flo and Nia Archives are the three artists to have made the shortlist for the 2023 Brit Awards Rising Star award, it has been announced.

The prestigious award, supported by BBC Radio 1, seeks to identify future stars of the UK music scene, and the winner is selected by a panel of music editors and critics from across the industry.

Past winners of the Rising Star award have included Adele, Florence and the Machine, Sam Smith and Sam Fender.

The award is open to British artists who, as of October 31 2022, have not yet achieved an Official Album Charts Top 20 placing or achieved more than one Top 20 chart placing in the Official Singles Chart.

Burns is a 22-year-old platinum-selling singer/songwriter from Streatham, in south London.

In 2016 she released her debut EP, Adolescent, which climbed to number 11 on the singer/songwriter charts in just 24 hours.

In 2020 Burns released Go, which went viral on TikTok, peaked at  number two in the Official Singles Chart this year and became her first platinum-selling hit.

Amid this success she released her six-track EP emotionally unavailable in May and supported Ed Sheeran on the European leg of his Mathematics Tour earlier this year, and is due to support Sam Smith on their UK and Ireland headline tour in Spring 2023.

“A Brits Rising Star nomination was a major thing on my bucket list for me this year, so to have achieved that honestly means the world to me,” Burns said.

“I’m super grateful for the year I’ve had and am so honoured to have been chosen!”

R and B girl group Flo is comprised of 20-year-olds Renee, Jorja and Stella, who released their debut single Cardboard Box earlier in 2022, catapulting them into the collective consciousness and winning the approval of famous faces including SZA, Missy Elliott, and girl group royalty Kelly Rowland and the Sugababes.

The trio went on to perform the song on late night US TV show Jimmy Kimmel, the UK’s Later…with Jools Holland, and The Glamour Women of the Year Awards among other events.

Flo released their debut EP The Lead at the height of summer 2022 to critical acclaim, and it has since amassed over 70 million global streams.

“We all grew up watching the Brits with our mums, and have been inspired by the girl groups and powerful female artists who have performed on that stage,” the group said.

“We’re grateful to everyone who has believed in our vision so far and can’t wait to share more music with the world.

“Girl groups are back and we want to pave the way for more artists to achieve their dreams. We hope that this is the first of many Brit nominations for Flo.”

Leeds-born Archives developed her love of music through connections in her close-community of like-minded ravers.

She self-taught herself production at the age of 16 in order to develop her own brand of soft-hearted lo-fi jungle for introverted extroverts.

Her first EP Headz Gone West was made mainly in the early hours of the morning in her cramped bedroom studio last August.

“Words won’t describe how I’m feeling about being nominated for the Brits Rising Star. Growing up and watching it on TV, I really never thought it could happen to someone like me,” she said.

The Brits Rising Star is organised by the Brit Awards 2023 with Mastercard. The winner will be announced next week on December 8.

The 2023 Brit Awards will take place on Saturday February 11 – the first time the show will be held on a Saturday in its history – and will broadcast live on ITV and ITVX from The O2 arena.