Little Simz to curate 30th Meltdown festival at London’s Southbank Centre
It comes after the singer earned rave reviews for her Pyramid Stage performance at the Glastonbury Festival last year.
British rapper and singer Little Simz has said she is “super excited” to curate the 30th edition of the Meltdown festival at London’s Southbank Centre.
The 30-year-old follows the likes of David Bowie, Grace Jones and Patti Smith in arranging the festival’s line-up, after a year which saw her earn rave reviews for her performance on the Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury Festival, where she also joined Coldplay during their headline set to perform We Pray.
Speaking about curating the festival, the musician, whose real name is Simbiatu Ajikawo, said: “I’m super excited to be the 2025 Meltdown festival curator. My team and I are preparing 11 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.
“Thank you to the Southbank Centre for having me. Meltdown 2025 the Simz way is going to be epic. I’ll see you there.”
It comes after the artist, who will also perform at Meltdown, curated a Tate Late event at London’s Tate Modern in August last year featuring art, music and workshops.
The 11-day festival will run from Thursday June 12 until Sunday June 22, and will also feature two weekends of free events.
Jane Beese, head of contemporary music at the Southbank Centre, said: “Little Simz’s 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 line-up she’ll curate and for the power of her great art, leadership and culture to bring people together on-site for our 30th year.”
Little Simz, who follows soul star Chaka Khan in curating Meltdown, has released five studio albums, with a run of three highly acclaimed albums in Grey Area (2019), Sometimes I Might Be Introvert (2021) and No Thank You (2022) propelling her into the spotlight.
The London-born musician has also embarked on an acting career that has seen her star as Shelley in Netflix’s Top Boy, as well as make a cameo appearance in Marvel film Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021) and play Vicky in BBC children’s series Spirit Warriors.
Meltdown has become known for unique performances, with The Smiths’ lead singer Morrissey getting a reunited New York Dolls to perform at his 2004 event, Ray Davies restaging 1960s TV pop show Ready Steady Go! in 2011, and Jeff Buckley playing his final UK show at Elvis Costello’s Meltdown in 1995.
The first acts on the line-up for Little Simz’s event are to be announced in the spring.
