YouTube has expanded its Artist on the Rise program to spotlight a new musician every month. The program will start by promoting singer songwriter Jessie Reyez.
With over 270,000 subscribers on YouTube, Reyez released a new music video on the platform yesterday for her latest original song, Body Count. It already has nearly 44,000 views. The 27-year-old Colombian Canadian has also collaborated with established stars like DJ Calvin Harris and Romeo Santos, and she won Breakthrough Artist of the year at the 2018 Juno Awards in Canada. She’s currently signed to the Toronto-based label FMLY.
About being the “inaugural” artist featured in YouTube’s Artist on the Rise program, Reyez said, “I feel honored. To have ‘inaugural’ anywhere near my name is dope, and on Artist on the Rise is even crazier. Hope everyone enjoys what we’re making …and if not…feel free to blow up the comments lol.”
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As Artist on the Rise, Reyez is featured in a YouTube for Artists blog post and will have her work promoted across YouTube. The program also includes events at YouTube spaces and other “out-of-home” experiences, about which the video platform has yet to elaborate.
YouTube started Artists on the Rise last year. Until now, it’s just been a feature on YouTube’s Trending tab, showcasing three songs a week from new artists making a splash on the video platform.
Reyez first gained recognition on YouTube for her covers of songs like Adele’s Hello, which she posted in 2015. “Watching covers of other people was almost like a window,” she said in her YouTube for Artists blog post. “Someone could hear your voice and hear you play an instrument, and if that person liked you they’d be more inclined to listen to your original music. I didn’t have enough money to pay for a commercial, but YouTube was like my idea of a commercial.”
Artists on the Rise is an initiative by YouTube Music, led by the company’s global head of music Lyor Cohen.
