Billboard and Samsung Galaxy announced that chart-topping artists Anitta, Charli XCX, and Todrick Hall will become celebrity mentors for their newly-launched Billboard NXT Talent Competition, a search for the next unsigned superstar. The first-of-its-kind competition will showcase today’s brightest talent as they participate in challenges that test their artistry, creativity, and live performance skills. Contestants will have the chance to work with a celebrity mentor ahead of the competition’s finale, preparing them for the performance of a lifetime and the chance to win a grand prize.   

Billboard NXT opened the competition by inviting artists across the country to create a show stopping :60 cover of the new song “Out Out” by Joel Corry & Jax Jones featuring Charli XCX and Saweetie, and posting to TikTok with the hashtag #BillboardNXT. Over the next few weeks, Billboard will select 12 hashtag challenge participants to go on to compete in a series of weekly challenges captured on the new Galaxy Z Flip3 5G – Samsung’s newest foldable smartphone designed for expressing, socializing, and capturing your best moments right from the palm of your hand.  Billboard will then rank contestants’ performances after each challenge on a custom chart and at the end of several weeks, match the top 3 performers with a celebrity mentor to help them prepare for the Grand Finale, a livestreamed performance event on Billboard.com. 

“We’re thrilled to introduce Billboard’s first competition series and bring undiscovered talent to a global stage, and we’re even more thrilled to launch it in a mobile-first, social environment,” said Julian Holguin, President of Billboard. “As more artists break out on social media platforms, this is Billboard’s way of continuing to support them and helping their music get discovered. There’s no better partner than Samsung Galaxy to bring this all to life and we’re very excited to see what kind of talent this competition yields. Good luck to all the participants and thank you to Charli XCX, Todrick Hall and Anitta for helping to mentor this new class of artists.” 

The winner of Billboard NXT will be determined at the end of the Grand Finale event and will receive a lifechanging grand prize—a Billboard cover, a music video, studio time to record a first single and tickets to the Billboard Music Awards! To learn more about the Billboard NXT Talent Competition, visit Billboard.com.