Becky Hill has responded after she was booed during a surprise set of new music at Scotland’s TRNSMT Festival.
The singer shocked fans when she appeared in the King Tut’s Stage at Glasgow Green on Friday (19 June) where she announced that she would be introducing “a brand new f***ing era”.
Not everyone in the crowd was supportive, however, with some people booing Hill after she said she would be playing “nothing but brand new music”.
Responding to the negative reaction, Hill – behind dance-pop hits such as “Piece of Me” (2020) and “Lose Control” (2019) – said at the time: “It’s alright, you’ve got plenty of other artists to see here.”
She did, however, end her set with her 2013 hit song with Wilkinson “Afterglow”, and “Disconnect”, her collaboration with Chase & Status from 2023.
The singer has since addressed the situation further, posting a video on Instagram in which she explained her decision and stated: “I’m not a jukebox.”
“I wanted to bring a new and exclusive 30-minute set of brand new music to the festival crowd, unannounced,” she said. “And I thought it would be a great opportunity to play the new music I’ve been working so hard on, and I personally love so much.”
Hill went on to say: “It was amazing to have such a captive audience who wanted to hear the new stuff too. I said on stage how difficult it is to transition into a new single and new music and new albums, and all this conversation online is exactly what I meant.
“I’m not a jukebox, I’m an artist, and the tickets for TRNSMT weren’t sold on my name being a part of the line-up. And I wanted to do something new and artistically driven. I don’t really get that opportunity to do that in my career often at all.”
Hill clarified that had her name been on the festival’s billing, she would be singing her hits.
“Trust me, when my name is on the poster, I’ll always sing the tunes that people know and love,” she said. “I feel very grateful to have those records in my catalogue after 14 years of making them.”
“But for me to be able to have a long career, I need to have new music,” she added, before thanking the fans who were at the show and urging people not to believe everything they read online.
Hill, one of the world’s most successful dance-pop artists with over 10 billion global streams, is preparing to release her third album Rebecca on 25 September.
