Little Simz announced as curator for Meltdown Festival

Posted On February 12, 2025February 12, 2025

Mercury Prize-winning artist Little Simz has been announced as the curator for the 2025 edition of the Meltdown Festival in London.

The annual series is held at the Southbank Centre, and this year will run at the historic venue from June 12th to June 22nd. Previous curators of the Meltdown Festival include Nick Cave, David Bowie, Patti Smith, Jarvis Cocker, Massive Attack, Yoko Ono, David Byrne, Christine and the Queens, Chaka Khan, Robert Smith, Nile Rodgers and Grace Jones.

For the eleven-day festival, Simz will personally curate the line-up, which will be announced at a later date, and perform herself.

Commenting on her curatorship, Little Simz said: “I’m super excited to be the 2025 Meltdown festival curator! My team and I are preparing eleven days of art, music, workshops and more. So many incredible artists have curated this festival so it’s a true honour to be a part of it.”

Simz continued: “Thank you to the Southbank Centre for having me. Meltdown 2025 the Simz way is going to be epic. I’ll see you there.”

Meanwhile, Jane Beese, head of contemporary music at the Southbank Centre, remarked on the collaboration: “Little Simz’ ability to forge new genre-defying ideas and her ambition to inspire the next generation of creators aligns with what the Southbank Centre’s artistic programme and vision stands for. We’re incredibly excited to witness the lineup she’ll curate and for the power of her great art, leadership and culture to bring people together on-site for our 30th year.”

Additionally, Mark Ball, artistic director at the Southbank Centre, stated: “Meltdown has become one of the most enduring and anticipated highlights of the annual music calendar, shaped each year by the spirit, imagination and artistry of its curator. Little Simz is becoming such a powerful influence in London and beyond and we’re delighted that for eleven days in June the Southbank Centre will become her cultural playground where she can fully explore her musicianship, her icons and her cultural passions.”

Simz’ last album, No Thank You, was released in 2022. She previously won the Mercury Prize for her 2021 record, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert.

The London musician has largely kept a low profile since wrapping up her album cycle for No Thank You in 2023 but did take to the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival last summer for a spectacular show before Coldplay’s headline set.

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