Taylor Swift has announced five new opening acts for her final five dates in London.
Alongside legendary pop punk band Paramore, Taylor will bring out five British female singers for each night at Wembley.
The 14-time Grammy winner is playing the British capital more times than ever other city in the world, as part of her record breaking Eras Tour.
The singers will join Paramore for one night each to entertain the crowd of nearly 90,000 fans.
Joining Raye and Suki Waterhouse in entertaining the nearly 90,000 fans will be Maisie Peters, Holly Humberstone, and Sofia Isella.
Announcing the news, Taylor wrote: ‘Just wanted to tell you about something coming up that I’ve been so excited about: we’re adding 5 incredible artists to our 5 Wembley shows, going on right before Paramore!!
‘I asked them to play on this tour because I love their music and think they’ll absolutely smash it in Wembley Stadium!! Go check out their music if you haven’t already! Gonna be a fun 5 nights!!!’
Sharing her excitement, Suki gushed that is is an ‘honour’ and ‘dream come true’ to open Taylor’s gig.
Suki said: ‘It feels like an honour to simply exist at the same time as @taylorswift, let alone be an opener for her on the biggest and best tour ever.
‘A dream come true that I never want to wake up from. Playing at wembley stadium in my hometown!!! See you august 17th at THE ERAS TOUR’.
And while they’re all openly Swifites, some may ruffle feathers.
Suki is said to have fallen out with Taylor’s best friend Gigi Hadid, over Bradley Cooper.
Here, FEMAIL looks at the whose who of the British stars coming to Wembley.
Suki Waterhouse: Model turned singer who is Taylor’s wildest friend she can ‘trust with anything’ – but has tension BFF Gigi Hadid
Suki has been a long time fan – and friend – of Taylor.
The multi-talented actress, model and singer, who grew up in the desirable west London neighbourhood of Chiswick, also previously dated Bradley Cooper – who is now loved up with Taylor’s BFF Gigi Hadid.
Suki and Bradley met at the Elle Style Awards in London in February 2013 and ‘hit it off almost immediately’.
The actress was aged just 20 at the time, while Bradley was 17 years her senior having just celebrated his 37th birthday.
Of how their romance started, Suki told Wonderland in 2014: ‘We were dancing at the afterparty, and he asked me if I fancied going to a club’.
Their split in 2015 appeared to coincide with the Hang Over star’s new relationship with Russian supermodel Irina Shayk.
Suki described her split from the actor as ‘very isolating and disorientating’.
The Daisy Jones star told Vogue: ‘I really will say that I’m pretty strong at this point, but when something very public happens to you and the story behind it is dark and difficult, and you’re actually not doing well, and you can’t explain yourself to the world, that’s very isolating and disorientating.’
Admitting the effect it had on her, she added: ‘It probably has taken a decade to work myself out and actually be able to have this expansion in my life.
‘If you told her then this is where she would be now I wouldn’t have believed you.’
Reflecting on her romantically unstable twenties, Suki, now 32 and establishing herself as a promising singer-songwriter, admitted her new music has been inspired by the ‘colossal heartbreak’ she suffered during that turbulent chapter.
‘I was kind of depressed for a while,’ she told The Sunday Times Style magazine last year. ‘It stuck around for a long time. I think it was just the break-up and also just being in my twenties and in the f***ing trenches.’
Suki, who began her career as a model in her own right before forging separate paths as an actress and singer, also admits to growing weary of relentless comparisons with her former boyfriend’s new partner.
‘You constantly read about how much more beautiful the new girlfriend is or whatever,’ she said. ‘That sounds silly, but when you’re actually the one that’s heartbroken, it’s pretty rough.’
Gigi allegedly fell out with Suki over the biting remarks.
The supermodel- who has been a public item with Bradley since last October – is said to be ‘furious’ at Suki over the comments, a source alleged to Life & Style.
‘They’ve fallen out and there’s no indication that things will ever be the same for them. Gigi is totally team Bradley and taking this up as her own cause. She isn’t about to let this go,’ the insider claimed.
Another source took the opposite side, declaring: ‘Suki spoke her truth. If Gigi doesn’t like it, that’s her problem.’
While discussing her breakup with Bradley, Suki said: ‘I really will say that I’m pretty strong at this point, but when something very public happens to you and the story behind it is dark and difficult, and you’re actually not doing well, and you can’t explain yourself to the world, that’s very isolating and disorientating.’
She added: ‘It probably has taken a decade to work myself out and actually be able to have this expansion in my life,’ to British Vogue.
However, the beef doesn’t seem to have come between Taylor and Suki, who recently welcomed a baby with fiancee Robert Pattinson.
The pair attended the premiere of Poor Things together, and Suki effusively praised the 14-time Grammy award winner’s latest album – The Tortured Poets Department.
Speaking to Ssense in 2023, Taylor said: ‘Suki has always seemed like she stepped out of a time machine.
‘Her music is so raw and hopelessly romantic because that’s how she moves through the world.’
‘When we hang out, I often come away wondering how someone can be simultaneously spontaneous and free—and also preternaturally wise. She is the wildest person I know who I would also trust to keep any secret.’
‘You’ll be stressed about something trivial,’ Taylor remarked, ‘she’ll just look at you, cigarette in hand, and say ‘Babe, you know none of this actually matters.’ And she’ll be exactly right.’
Raye: ‘Little girl from Croydon’ who is a darling of the critics
She once described herself a ‘little girl from Croydon with a dream’.
The singer-songwriter, 26, from South London, made Brit Award history when she scooped six accolades in one night last year – beating records set by Blur, Harry Styles and Adele.
Raye, whose full name is Rachel Agatha Keen, won Best New Artist, Songwriter of the Year, Song of the Year, Best R&B Act, Artist of the Year and Mastercard’s Album of the Year.
For the final award, the star – who was forced to release her music independently after being restricted by a previous record label – was in floods of tears as she was joined by her grandmother on stage.
She said: ‘You just don’t understand what this means to me. I’m ugly crying on national television.
And she clearly caught the attention of Swift.
The admiration is clearly mutual. With Raye saying of Taylor: ‘She is an absolute powerhouse’.
‘She is just one of those rare timeless artists who gets it right every time.’
”For what she did rerecording her music, she’s incredible for standing up to the systems. I respect her,’,
‘All I ever wanted to be was an artist, and now I’m an artist with an album of the year. Thank you so much, this is too much – come on Grandma, let’s go.’
As a teenager, Raye attended BRIT school for two years before then dropping out because she ‘hated being told how to write a song’.
When she was 17-year-old, the rising star was assaulted by a music producer – and revealed how she turned to alcohol and drugs to cope.
Just like Taylor, Raye works closely with her family and has appointed her father as her manager while she also works closely with her sister.
In June 2021, Raye revealed that her record label, Polydor Records, had been withholding her debut album for several years – forcing her to then release her music independently.
In an interview with F Word magazine, Raye said Croydon was a ‘really great place to grow up’.
She explained: ‘[It is] very down to earth, very multi-cultured, very fun, really great. I grew up in the church as well, so I go to church every Sunday with the family.
‘That’s where I learnt how to sing and understand my love for music.’
When she was 14 years old, Raye was accepted into Brit School – whose alumnae include Adele, Ella Eyre, Jessie J and Leona Lewis.
Speaking to The Times, Raye explained how she dropped out of the school after two years because she ‘hated’ being told how to write a song.
She said: ‘It’s not in my nature to follow rules. I didn’t get on with them in school and I don’t understand why they even exist in music.
‘I love songs that don’t do what you expect them to. For me it’s liberating to write something sonically different every time that doesn’t sound like anyone else. Otherwise, what’s the point?’
What’s more, the star also told the BBC that she felt ‘confined’ as a student at Brit school – as other students were all ‘cool, underground, indie artists’.
When she was 16 years old, radio host Clara Amfo played Raye’s music on her show for the first time.
The following year, she signed a four-album deal with the record label Polydor.
In 2017, she was shortlisted for the BBC Music Sound of… award and came in third place.
After this, she won at the ASCAP London Music Awards and was nominated for a BRIT award for her You Don’t Know Me single in 2018.
Around this time, Raye was assaulted by a music producer – who forced his hand between her legs when she was 17 years old.
Whilst performing on the Pyramid Stage last year at Glastonbury she paused between singing the song saying: ‘This next song is about sexual abuse, and rape, and sexual violence. And I know that’s heavy, okay.
‘But I also know one in four men and women will experience that in their lifetime. So I know that I’m not alone when I sing this today.’
In an interview with Cosmopolitan last year, she said she still suffers from panic attacks and PTSD regularly.
‘When I think about the panic attacks, the PTSD…you realise that someone’s actions become your burden to carry, and there is nowhere you can put it other than a therapy session,’ she said.
‘Every girl I know in this industry has some sort of story to tell me. The studio is such a vulnerable space.
‘And if you say something, you create an enemy who will spread rumours or blacklist you – and you need those connections to open doors for yourself.
‘Even though the people decide very much what’s consumed on the outside, inside, the music industry is still very much a gatekept society.’
Despite the buzz around her music and her regular appearances at festivals, Raye’s debut album never materialised – as she later revealed she was in a stand-off with her record label.
In an emotional interview with Lous Theroux in November 2023, Raye revealed that she was ‘constantly in some kind of sedation’ when she first started her career.
During the television interview, Raye said all she wanted was to be ‘in control of her life’ as she discussed her frustration with her old label Polydor for not allowing her to release an album.
During the conversation, Raye admitted to taking ‘codine’ and ‘MDMA’ as she ‘reached her limit’ and had ‘nothing left to lose’.
She said: ‘I think I wasn’t able to get along with my career because I was just constantly in some form of sedation just to get along with it. Whether it be weed or other things which I write about on my album.
‘This is the thing, when I became sober, I realised, wow, I can’t do this sober. Like, this is deep. It’s actually deep.
‘It’s so deep what I’d realized I’d actually been doing to myself as a person to try and be somebody that they wanted me to be.
‘And it’s so sad. So I just got into that point where I was just like, ‘What is my life right now?’ ‘What is the point?’
‘Yeah, so I just was at a point where I just had nothing left to lose. Yeah, so I was just like, ‘F*** it.’ I’ve absolutely reached my limit.’
Raye says she reached breaking point when her label would not let her release an album – which led to her venting her frustrations on social media.
She continued: ‘But that is how far you push me. They either listen to me now, listen to their artists in pain, or we part ways, and they can save themselves this headache because I’m about to make it a headache.’
After Raye started giving interviews about her label not allowing her to release her debut album, she was able to part ways with Polydor in 2021.
Raye’s album My 21st Century Blues is her first project as an independent artist
The singer touches on substance abuse, assault and sexual violence and anxiety in her lyrics, and previously explained why she didn’t want to shy away from ‘difficult’ topics.
She told MailOnline: ‘I just want to be a woman discussing uncomfortable topics that we don’t talk about, these are all things I battled with in the darkness and in silence.
‘You hope in writing about these songs and putting them out into the world, you just hope that people hear them, and and relate to them also.
‘It’s very much medicine in a way that you have a different feeling to to put quite a painful emotion to it.
‘For me is just very empowering, and I hope it can be medicine for anyone else who who needs it.’
During her interview with F Word magazine, Raye revealed that her dad is her manager while she also works closely with her sister. One of her younger sister has also had music featured in a Target advert in the US.
Raye added: ‘Music is in all our genes. Mum is the next one, she’s taking some of the workload with Dad. She’s worked in the NHS all her life so she is the next, hopefully in a year or two she will be able to join the team and it’ll be a full family empire.’
In January 2023, Raye’s single ‘Escapism’ went to UK number one and became a huge hit on TikTok. The single now has been used in over 700,000 videos on the social media platform.
The star partnered up with TikTok for the launch of their #ElectronicMusic campaign in September and her single Call on Me was also named the platform’s Song of the Summer in 2021.
Speaking to Cosmo Middle East, Raye explained how she never expected to gain such success on TikTok.
She said: ‘I think my sister pointed it out [it was blowing up on TikTok]. I checked, and it had like 1000 videos made to the sound.
‘I was like ‘oh that’s exciting!’ and then the next day it was 2000 and it just kept doubling out of nowhere and I was like ‘wow!’
‘It’s the kind of thing you can’t plan. You can’t be like ‘Okay I’m gonna have a viral hit’. You know, it just doesn’t work like that. I’m just grateful that TikTok was like ‘Yeah we like that. Let’s make so many videos to it’. I was very overwhelmed.’
Despite her music’s sudden surge in popularity, Raye told The Times she does her own makeup and hair while on tour.
She also bought a house in Streatham, South-West London two years and continues living with her two sisters.
Raye’s incredible sweep at the Brits last night marks one of the music industry’s greatest ever comebacks – just three years after Polydor refused to release any of her albums.
This led to Raye leaving the company and releasing her critically acclaimed, and now award winning, debut My 21st Century Blues as an independent artist.
The singer/songwriter scooped the Song of the year award for her hit Escapism ft 070 Shake, shortly before also taking home the R&B Act gong and Best New Artist.
‘I’m shaking. I don’t really know what to say right now, but… thank you. I’ve always dreamed of saying that,’ she said as the reached the podium to accept her first award of the night.
Referencing her new beginning in her Best New Artist Speech, Raye said: ”I have to thank my mum and my dad who are also part of my team, and my grandma. Yes grandma! I, in ways, do feel like a new artist. I released my first song when I was 15, my first mixtape when I was 16, don’t go and listen to it because it’s not that good any more.
‘But I do feel like a new artist, I got to start again. The artist I was three years ago would not believe what she’s seeing today. I’m my own boss now, I’m in control. Thank you!’
She also scooped the first ever BRIT Award for R&B act, which is voted for by the public via Instagram and is a new standalone genre category after musicians and fans complained about R&B being conjoined with the pop last year.
Raye acknowledged the the uproar in her speech, telling the crowd: ‘Look I just wanna say, when I was about 16, 15 years old, I wanted to be an R&B artist, that’s what I would say. And I was told, I think, a lie that R&B doesn’t sell in the UK so I needed to learn how to make different kinds of music.’
‘I know that’s a bit shady but I need to say R&B is so important and there are so many R&B artists in the UK eating it up. I wanna shout out to Mahalia, who campaigned for this award, Cleo Sol, who’s immaculate, Sault. This really is a lot – thank you.’
Raye also won Songwriter of the Year, which was announced ahead of the live ceremony, with host Clara Amfo handing her the gong in a surprise moment after her Best New Artist win.
Clara – who gave Raye her first ever radio play – told the star: ‘There is no such thing as an overnight success, I am so proud of you.’
Maisie Peters: Youngest star in the UK to get a number one album since 2015 – whose signed to Taylor’s best friend Ed Ed Sheeran
A blonde singer-songwriter is smashing records in her early 20s, it’s no surprise Taylor Swift sees a lot of herself in Maisie Peters.
The Sussex-born star, 24, became the youngest female British artist in nine years to score a number one album at age 23, according to the Official Charts Company, last year.
The singer’s record, The Good Witch, follows her 2021 debut release You Signed Up For This, which peaked at number two in the charts.
Speaking to the Official Charts Company, Maisie said: ‘This is my Official Charts number one award for my album The Good Witch and it’s just the craziest, it’s coolest thing.
‘I’m so happy, especially for myself and for my fans and everyone I work with; my band and my crew and my manager and my label.
‘Also all of the fans, we’ve all been on this journey together for the longest time and this album really felt like an album for all of us.’
‘This number one is for all of us, too, so thank you so much,’ she concluded.
Maisie was signed by Ed Sheeran – a long term collaborator and best friend of Taylor.
West Sussex-born singer-songwriter made her debut at Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage this year and her performance coincided with the release of her new album.
She is signed to Ed Sheeran’s label, Gingerbread Man Records.
Ed said he has enjoyed some ‘great’ writing sessions with Maisie.
Maisie, who made her U.S. TV debut on The Late Late Show with James Corden, has spent the past three years honing her craft in sessions across London, LA and Nashville.
Following the singing announcement, Maisie says: ‘Signing to Gingerbread is a dream come true.
‘I grew up inspired and in awe of Ed, like many other 13 year olds who heard Lego House for the first time, so, it’s kind of amazing and hard to believe that I get to be the 21 year old who is able to call him and the whole Gingerbread team now friends, family and mentors for life.’
Following the announcement, Ed Said: ‘Excited to announce that I’ve signed the wonderful Maisie Peters to Gingerbread Man Records. She’s a very special artist who continues to push her storytelling in new directions.
‘We had a few great writing sessions together and from there I knew I had to work with her. Can’t wait for you to hear her debut album x’
Ed also excitedly discussed the collaboration on Instagram as he shared a snap of him and Maisie posing for a picture together.
‘I’d like to introduce you to the newest signing of Gingerbread Man Records – @maisiehpeters! ive been following Maisie’s music for a few years since Feels Like This and Place We Were Made, and have had the pleasure of working with her for her debut album You Signed Up For This coming 27th August.
‘She is a real, real talent, and such a lovely presence to be around. i’m sure a lot of you have heard some of her songs before but please if you haven’t heard her check her out. you’ll be hearing a lot more from her, and me, very soon. xx’
Holly Humberstone: BRIT Rising Star who said opening for Taylor is the ‘hardest secret I’ve ever had to keep’
Another British-born rising star opening for Taylor is 24-year-old Grantham native Holly Humberstone.
Holly, who in 2022’s BRITs Rising Star award, said playing alongside the megastar at Wembely in a ‘pinch me’ moment.
‘The hardest secret I’ve ever had to keep. As if I get to support Taylor at The Eras Tour !!!!!! pinch me !!!!! @taylorswift thank you thank you thank you I am eternally grateful what an honour, I have no words & I can’t f***** wait for the 16th ! See you soon Wembley.
‘Quite ridicolous really. I am so honoured, Taylor thank you,’ she added’.
The star, who opts for a goth punk look, is in a legaue with d Adele, Florence + The Machine, Ellie Goulding, Jessie J, Emeli Sandé, Tom Odell, Sam Smith, James Bay, Jack Garratt, Rag ‘n’ Bone Man, Jorja Smith, Celeste and fellow Taylor Swift opener Griff, who previously picked up the rising star award.
Sofia Isella: Little known 19 year old who calls herself a ‘slut for words’ and is ‘inspired by Sylvia Plath’
The first act opening for Taylor is a little known alt-pop star Sofia Isaelle.
The British-born singer, who is also the youngest of the openers at just 19, has a smaller following than the other openers, but is sure to wow with her Lana Del Ray-like vocals.
Sofia, who previously opened for Tom Odell, describes herself as a ‘slut for words’.
With a grungy aesthetic, the classically trained violinist, who also writes and produces her own music, says she’s inspired by Sylvia Plath and Maragaret Atwood as well as Nine Inch Nails songwriter Trent Reznor and Beck.
Taking to Instagram to announce the news, Sofia wrote: ‘Taylor has invited me on The Eras Tour to open for her at Wembley Stadium. August 15.
‘Someone I’ve never met has changed my life even more than she already has just through her writing alone.
‘Your fearlessness in continuing to push yourself and win again and again is the most joyful thing to watch, Taylor. Thank you. Holy s***’,
She took to TikTok to share a video of herself finding out at 5am, crying in bed with excitement.
Her debut, I Can Be Your Mother, is out in September.
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