V.I.C named Act of the Year

"My story is the story of a dreamer... trying to make it to the top."

V.I.C has been named BBC Introducing in Berkshire's Act of the Year.

It follows a year of highs for the Reading-based rapper and producer, who released his EP VÄRIANT in May and played Reading and Leeds Festivals in August.

He also released a bounty of new music in 2025 and earned millions of streams in the process.

V.I.C is the county's third Act of the Year, joining previous winners Songer and Only the Poets, an accolade he describes as "crazy".

The Nigerian-born artist, whose influences include Kendrick Lamar, Chance the Rapper, Wretch 32, and Stormzy, first gained traction in 2022 after releasing his second single A Teen.

It gained widespread praise and later featured on the FIFA '22 soundtrack, garnering major label attention.

But momentum eluded him, and instead V.I.C quietly and sustainably built a fanbase through hard work.

After positive reactions to this year's singles Diamonds and Wasteman, he put everything he had into creating his new EP, which has gained more than six million streams.

"It was the last bit of money I had, and I put it into this project," he says.

"Thank God it worked, because I don't know what would have happened if it didn't."

In August V.I.C played the BBC Introducing stage at Reading and Leeds Festivals, which he calls his "proudest moment" of the year.

"The amount of people that turned up, when it's a rock festival as well, is insane," he says.

"I'm still trying to process it but when I look at the videos, and when people message me and say 'I was there at the BBC Introducing stage at Reading and it was incredible', I'm always just spun."

V.I.C agrees that 2025 was a year in which things came together creatively and commercially.

"I want to push the boundaries of what I've done in the past," he says.

"Each creative decision I'm making is not just things that I want to make, but it's also authentic to me."

This mindset has shaped the sound and vision behind his recent work, which he says "is what I've been chasing the whole time".

"My process is all about making the next song better than the last one, trying to figure out what makes a song good, and put my story into that."

He adds: "Then again there's always that 'X factor' that you don't know.

"You just put in the work and when it's the right moment whatever track needs to shine will shine."

V.I.C says the aim for 2026, which will see him play festivals overseas, is "consistency".

He teases "massive plans" and is aiming to "move the game forward", but also says a tactic will be to "just rinse and repeat".

"Hopefully by doing it over and over again you get better and it reaches more people," he says.

V.I.C's new single Cole Palmer is out now.