Christine and the Queens to curate Meltdown Festival 2023

Christine and the Queens has been unveiled as the curator of Meltdown Festival 2023.

The ‘Tilted’ hitmaker admits his “curating” has been “erratic” of late, with the star finding themselves yearning for the music of their adolescence.

However, the artist promises music with real emotion.

Speaking about the announcement, Chris said: “What an honour to be picked by the fantastical teams of the Meltdown festival to be a curator this year ! It’s a tough thing to be a curator.

“Art wise, recently, my curating was erratic. Visceral. Sometimes regressive, back to the music I listened to when I was a teenager. A life-saviour, music. One song to soothe them all. We expect from art to still save us yet we endanger it so much, everywhere. Thinking it should sell and clatter like jewels. Thinking it should be the catchiest s*** in less than ten seconds when truly the birth of an emotion takes years in some people.”

He continued: “We want it to heal it all but we deprive it of its true strength, which is eternity, a cancellation of human time. Now it’s fast, quick, a lot, and never about eternity. Cause eternity is death, too. It’s a cycle of ashes and birth. Over and over again.

Chris added: “The time Meltdown takes is quite exquisite, the abundance feels appropriately generous too. We need this for ourselves, art in the city, art for the citizen, collective catharsis, a wonderful purge of the soul.

“I hope you’ll enjoy this glorious edition and again, long live poetry that burns and musicians crazy and brave enough to keep going – they are shaping the emotions of the future. Let’s thank them all!”

The 2021 edition was curated by Grace Jones and saw performances from the likes of Peaches, Skunk Anansie, John Grant, Sky Ferreira, and Hot Chip.

Previous curators include Nile Rodgers, David Bowie, The Cure’s Robert Smith, Yoko Ono and Patti Smith.

The festival returns on June 9, 2023, through to June 18, and is held at London’s Southbank Centre.