We are delighted to present the Anchor Award again this year as part of a glamorous award show on the Saturday of the festival. Our high-calibre jury will judge the performances of the nominees at Gruenspan and choose a winner, who will take home not only the prestigious title, but also international attention and recognition. This year promises an outstanding jury and a diverse selection of nominees ready to conquer the music world. 

Each year, the Anchor Awards jury is made up of renowned personalities from the international music industry, all of whom have impressive careers and extensive experience in various areas of music. 

Emily Kokal 

Emily Kokal is a founding member and co-lead vocalist of Warpaint, a band known for their unique creative vision over the past two decades. Emily’s distinctive voice, artistic flair, and stage-ready delivery have set Warpaint apart from their peers. She is currently exploring new musical landscapes as a solo artist and working on various projects, including film music, visual art, and poetry. Emily will bring her extensive experience and unique perspective to the judging panel and will undoubtedly offer valuable insights for the nominees. 

Julia Stone 

Julia Stone has established herself as a major creative force in the international music industry over the last 20 years. Together with her brother Angus, she has released six studio albums, all of which have been critically acclaimed. Her second album, “Down the Way”, won five ARIA Awards and reached triple platinum status. Julia has also released three solo albums and has been involved in various artistic projects, including film scoring and acting. As a mentor to emerging artists, she shares her extensive knowledge and experience in order to nurture the next generation of musicians. 

Tayla Parx 

Tayla Parx is one of the most sought-after songwriters in the music industry. Her work has taken artists such as Ariana Grande, Khalid, and Panic! At the Disco into the top 10. With her latest album, “Many Moons, Many Suns”, she shows a deeper, more emotional side to her art. Tayla will bring not only her extensive technical skills to the jury, but also her ability to work across genres and to give emotional depth to the music. 

Tim Bendzko 

Tim Bendzko has shaped the German pop music landscape like hardly anyone else from his generation. Since his breakthrough with “Nur noch kurz die Welt retten”, the versatile artist has enriched the music landscape with his profound lyrics and catchy melodies and has received numerous awards, including the Bambi and the Echo. Authenticity, creativity, and extensive experience in the music industry together with Tim’s ability to tell stories through music and to create emotional connections with his audience make him a valuable member of the Anchor jury. 

This year, six outstanding talents have made it onto the shortlist for the Anchor Award. They will all have the opportunity to present their skills to you and the high-calibre jury live on stage at Gruenspan over two festival days.

The nominees are: 

Beth McCarthy 

Beth McCarthy does her very own thing in the international music scene without bending over backwards to please the industry. In other words, she uses sources of inspiration such as Avril Lavigne and Miley Cyrus with great verve and musical expertise to translate the feminine pop rock of the early 2000s into modern songs. She demonstrated her ability to do this with flying colours three years ago with the single “She Gets The Flowers”, which went viral shortly after its release. “What Do You Call It?” and “She’s Pretty” also became million-clicked pop anthems about the pressing issues of Gen Z. Beth deals with love and loss, friendship and shame, autonomy and dependence in catchy but never-staid songs that testify to a great performer, but her songs are always 100% authentic. And her sold-out shows throughout Germany speak for themselves. 

Enji 

Today, it is probably clearer than ever before that the world not only is growing together, but also belongs together. This is just as evident in politics and business as it is in art and culture. Enji is currently one of the most impressive examples of how different cultures can cross-fertilise one another to create something uniquely new. The singer of Mongolian origin lives in Munich and combines graceful vocal jazz with chamber folk and Urtiin duu – a traditional form of music from the Central Asian state with endless steppes. Influenced by the greats of American jazz such as Ella Fitzgerald and Carmen McRae, Enji’s voice is at once graceful and warm, self-confident and restrained. With unusual time signatures, improvised brass parts, and a smoky, reflective salon atmosphere, her latest album, “Ulaan” (2023), is probably one of the most intimate jazz experiences that enthusiasts of the genre have been able to enjoy in recent times. A warm recommendation, even for newcomers. 

KÄSSY 

With feminine verve and a sound that is at once both modern and familiar, KÄSSY has been making her mark on the international music circuit since early 2024. Hardly anything is yet known about the young singer – except that she has already established an unmistakable style in both aural and visual terms. Her first single, “Skirt On Pants”, contains hyperpop references, a heavy use of vocoder, and a bubble-gum aesthetic and made it clear that KÄSSY is not a child of yesterday. The newcomer celebrates a futuristic sound that some people will probably only realise in a few years’ time. But we are already bringing her to Hamburg for you and are looking forward to a show that is sure to be as emotional as it is surreal. 

Milan Ring 

It was clear from the release of her first album, “I’m Feeling Hopeful” (2021), that Milan Ring doesn’t do things halfway. The established artist – who is already regarded as a leading icon of the Australian “R’n’B renaissance” – knows what she wants and also how to assert her will in an industry that is still dominated by men. She is not only a singer and guitarist, but also a producer, sound engineer, and director of her own musical work, as she has already demonstrated in collaborations with names such as Questlove, Che Lingo, and Sampa the Great. In her productions, she explores the realms of alternative electronic music and creates ethereal vocal arrangements with her guitar at the centre. With singles such as “Mangos”, “Quicksand”, and “Photograph”, Milan heralds a new era and once again makes it clear that her music will not remain an insider tip in Europe for much longer. 

Moonchild Sanelly 

The rhythms get your pulse racing, the melodies sound like something from another world, and then there’s that voice, which is somehow childishly carefree and yet full of energy. Moonchild Sanelly’s sound has an unmistakable effect on the mind and body that hardly anyone can escape. What the young singer–songwriter and dancer has achieved over and over again in recent years with tracks of the calibre of “Yebo Mama” and “Scrambled Eggs” has gathered a worldwide audience around her – an audience that sees a direct connection between sound and movement. Shifting stylistically between kwaito and gqom, sweaty Afrobeats and erotic deep house, Moonchild Sanelly provides the right score for losing control of your limbs. With her music, your sympathetic nervous system runs riot, and all you can do is just go, go, go: dance. 

strongboi 

The vision is lo-fi, the view hazy, the sound framework soldered together from toys and Kasio keyboards: strongboi are as unpretentious as a muesli bar in a high-class restaurant. The duo from Berlin send their listeners on a journey through nostalgic scraps of memory with their minimalist bedroom pop, which is as sepia-toned and warm as a holiday on the Baltic Sea. Alice Phoebe Lou – who has already earned herself a reputation as an established magician of sophisti-pop with her solo work – and Ziv Yamin work together so well as a team that they easily bring the sound of their self-titled debut album, “strongboi” (2023), from the studio to the stage. They also have session musicians with them, but the overall musical picture is characterised by the unmistakable sense of understatement for which the two have been celebrated by their fans for four years now. If you also want to become a fan, all you have to do is attend their gig in Hamburg in September. Guaranteed.