Fender has announced its fifth class of Fender Next artists, and in doing so has identified 25 up-and-coming musicians who have been tipped for greatness by the guitar giant including Fast Friends' very own grentperez.
Previous Fender Next artists include Sam Fender, Wet Leg, Phoebe Bridgers, Japanese Breakfast, Madison Cunningham and more.
For its 2023 class, Fender has selected emerging bedroom indie pop heavyweight Dayglow – aka Sloane Struble – as well as fellow US-based indie acts Momma, Wallice, Bartees Strange and Jean Dawson.
“I feel absolutely honored to be part of Fender Next 2023. It's an absolute thrill to be part of this next class of creatives, to be able to share my music more intently with the guitar community. Whilst my skills aren't entirely the most refined, I definitely add my personality into each progression and melody I play.” - grentperez
Part of the Fender Next brief is to introduce wider audiences to artists from diverse geographies and genres, and so a handful of artists based in Japan, Taiwan, China, Mexico, Canada, and Australia have also been drafted in to complete the class.
These names include Luna Li, Bratty, Grentperez, Ruel, Breimen, Chilli Beans, Sunset Rollercoaster and Wen Zhaojie.
Each of the names listed above were hand-selected by Fender’s artist relations team following an open call that resulted in a record 800+ submissions to the program, with the team striving to select a class that is “representative of the future of guitar and the wider industry."