Playlist: Little Simz’ Meltdown

It began with the sound of The Streets and ended with a Simz, complete with soaring orchestral accompaniment; bookends to 11 days of gigs, DJ sets, workshops and more that was Little Simz’ Meltdown.

Joining us in June 2025 for this, the 30th edition of our annual summer festival of live music, were established and up and coming names from both sides of the Atlantic. In between openers The Streets and Little Simz’ Chineke!-backed finale, our Royal Festival Hall hosted R&B singer-songwriter Mahalia, ‘Queen of Afrobeats’ Tiwa Savage, fusers of jazz and hip-hop BADBADNOTGOOD, alternative pop star Lola Young, razor-sharp rhymes from Ghetts, powerful piano from James Blake and the legendary Jon Batiste.

Whilst South Africa’s The Joy were sadly unable to give their scheduled Queen Elizabeth Hall gig, the venue still offered up a great range of acts beginning with British-Colombian singer Sasha Keable, vocalist and percussionist Yukimi, saxophonist and musician Nubya Garcia, and North London singer MEGA. And in the adjacent Purcell Room we saw sensational performances from alt-country singer Kara Jackson and ‘Tottenham songbird’ Miraa May.

And it doesn’t stop there, with superb support from a breadth of artists including Jazz rock four-piece Oreglo, alternative R&B artist BINA, emotive vocalist Jon Poppii and alternative pop/indie singer Connie Constance whilst emerging talents Ben DSP and Nat Oaks appeared at a special Meltdown edition of our free futuretense gig series.

Whether you joined us for Meltdown 2025 to see these acts in person and want to relive what you heard all over again, or you want to get a flavour of what you missed out on, settle in, set your speakers and enjoy 58 tracks that were the sound of our summer.