The executive producers of this year’s MTV EMAs have hailed the calibre of UK talent ahead of Sunday’s ceremony.
Bruce Gillmer and Richard Godfrey are presiding over the event, which is returning to London for the first time since 1996.
The line-up includes a healthy dose of British acts, with Stormzy, Clean Bandit, Anne Marie, Liam Payne and host Rita Ora all set to perform.
“London is one of our key international markets and has such a robust music scene,” Gillmer told Music Week. “People should expect a fairly wide aperture of talent with a bit more UK or even London centric-talent than usual.
“We want people to get a solid representation of the year in music and we also want them to come away having experienced what the MTV brand is all about. With the EMAs, it's really an opportunity for us to show what the brand is all about and what MTV can do in terms of bringing together amazing musicians under one roof and celebrating the year in music like nobody else can.
“We would love for the fans to come away with a sense of, 'Wow, that sums up the year and that it felt like an amazing MTV event’. If we can accomplish those two things, then we'll have done our job.”
Godfrey added that he was confident the historic venue would add to the magnitude of the occasion. “Every big name music act has said, ‘Hello Wembley!’ at some point in their career,” he said. “It's often one of the things they want to tick off, so we want to provide that experience to the artists who haven’t played there before.”
It's going to be a lot of fun, with a lot of surprises and really strong musical performances
Bruce Gillmer
The pair also waxed lyrical about Rita Ora’s role as presenter. “She's a great choice,” said Godfrey. “She is very much a Londoner in spirit and she's lived here most of her life. Rita's a great character and a very successful musician in her own right.
“She's been on The Voice, here but she also has been hosting a lot of TV shows in America so she combines being a very cool music name,and a professional host, with a great London character. We're very excited about the choice we made and she was so enthusiastic.”
Other confirmed performers include Shawn Mendes, Demi Lovato, Camila Cabello, Kesha, The Killers, Travis Scott and French Montana.
“Rita Ora’s a hometown hero,” added Gillmer. “You're going to get a nice dash of British flavour mixed with some iconic acts from around the globe. Without question, Rita's going to have a lot of fun with this; you're going to see all sides of her personality, including her incredible sense of humour.
"It's going to be a lot of fun, with a lot of surprises and a mix of really strong musical performances.”
SSE Arena, Wembley boss John Drury talks hosting the venue here, while MTV UK head of talent and music Anna Karatziva speaks about MTV Music Week here.
