Interview with Project Icon contestant - Charlie Baker. New reality series starts Sunday 26 March

Hosted by Jordan North, Project Icon see’s 10 unsigned UK artists competing for the attention of global singer-songwriter Jason Derulo and his long-time business partner, music mogul Frank Harris. They are joined by double Brit Award winner, Becky Hill, who knows exactly what it takes to go from talent show competitor to superstar.

This talent show leaves the shiny floor studios behind and instead throws the artists into the real world of today’s music industry. Designed to find out who’s got what it takes to make it in the fiercely-competitive world of music, the unsigned artists will compete against each other in a series of industry-inspired challenges.

[Date Originally Published: March 16, 2023]

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BBC Three

Charlie Baker

Essex
Pop/RnB

Describe your music style?

My style is a blend of pop and R&B, I try to create catchy pop lyrics but still in keeping to that cool and collected, sexy R&B feel to my music.

What musical influences did you have growing up that inspired you?

I have always been a massive fan of Bruno Mars and seeing his Superbowl performance was huge inspiration in giving me that push to start creating my own music. He is an unreal all-round performer and watching his performances would fill me with so much motivation. His energy on stage was crazy and would give me goosebumps just watching the man at work. Another influence of mine in terms of sound was Justin Bieber; I would always cover his songs and play them on guitar and when he created his R&B album I was driven to follow in his footsteps musically. A lot of my acoustic song writing was inspired by Shawn Mendes, so he is an honourable mention.

Who are your current musical icons?

I think again Justin Bieber continues to kill the game as he’s been producing hit songs for over a decade now. I think it would be amazing to create a legacy like he has in pop culture. Someone I’ve been massively looking up to recently is Harry Styles, this is purely because of the absolute insane journey he has been on. He began on a TV show with limited experience, fast forward to now and he’s one the biggest entertainers, winning multiple awards and breaking records for his albums. It just goes to show how far hard work can get you and I’m so ready to give it my absolute everything and continue to get stronger and better at what I do. I also am a massive fan of Drake, again an artists that has been incredibly successful over the last 10 years and continues to be a household name, getting to his level would be a dream!

What’s the dream?

The dream is to tour the world playing shows and continue to create music that just uplifts people’s moods and changes their day. Playing the Superbowl would be such an achievement and a full circle moment after being so motivated by Bruno’s performance.