The Big Topic: Understanding the issue with the Brit Awards
Once upon a time, the Brit Awards was arguably the most important evening in the British musical calendar. The event provided artists with the opportunity to showcase their talent to millions and had the power to take their careers to another level. However, for many reasons, the list of nominations for 2023 makes for depressing reading, and the Brits have seemingly lost their touch.
Contrarily, last year, it seemed as though the Brits had found a way to accurately represent the broad spectrum of the British music scene. Refreshingly, Self Esteem received a nomination, and there were also big wins for Little Simz, Wolf Alice, and Sam Fender. Yet, after taking a step forward in 2022, the awards ceremony has presented a giant leap backwards this year with an uninspiring list of nominees.
Firstly, the most significant oversight is their illogical decision not to nominate a single woman for ‘Artist Of The Year’. The category was first introduced in 2022 to be more inclusive of gender-neutral artists following criticism, including from Sam Smith, after their exclusion in 2021. Smith wrote on Instagram: “Music for me has always been about unification not division. I look forward to a time where awards shows can be reflective of the society we live in. Let’s celebrate everybody regardless of gender, race, age, ability, sexuality and class.”
While the move was well-intentioned, those responsible for nominating artists didn’t take an inclusive approach to their task. Despite not finding room for one woman or gender-neutral person, they included primary school disco favourite George Ezra. The ‘Green Green Grass’ singer is nominated alongside Harry Styles, Stormzy, Central Cee, and Fred Again.
Previously, there would be five artists in the ‘Male Artist Of The Year’ category and ‘Female Artist Of Year’. Therefore, only having the same number up for ‘Artist Of The Year’ feels unnecessarily restrictive and makes it needlessly difficult to celebrate every corner of the British music scene. However, it’s no excuse for not including any women. It’s not as if there’s a dearth of female artists in British pop who are killing it or have less artistic integrity than George Ezra. For example, the first number-one of the year is courtesy of Raye and 070 Shake’s collaboration, ‘Escapism’. Making the decision to leave her major record deal to go independent after growing disillusioned, Raye has taken control of her own narrative and is making the best music of her career. However, according to the Brits, Raye isn’t worthy of celebration.
Furthermore, 2022 was also a time to remember for Charli XCX, who scored her first number-one album with Crash. The continued success story of Rina Sawayama also is a deserved shout for ‘Artist Of The Year’. According to the Daily Mirror, only 12 women were included in the 68-name longlist for the award, which raises questions about the integrity of the Brits and the silencing of female talent.
However, it is not only the ‘Artist Of The Year’ category which is perplexing. As Mahalia pointed out on Twitter, despite pop and R&B being combined into one category, the list of nominees doesn’t include one R&B artist. She wrote: “Forget putting us in this category. Give us our own! How many times do we have to scream at you?” In another post, Mahalia said: “I’m sorry but UK R&B right now is THRIVING”.
Meanwhile, Tom Grennan was nominated in the ‘Rock/Alternative’ category despite not actually being a rock or alternative act. While his debut album fell into that category, Grennan is now firmly in the pop realm, as his recent collaborations with KSI and Joel Corry prove.
A live performance at the Brit Awards also typically led to sales skyrocketing, but in 2022, it made little to no impact, which is tangible evidence of its waning impact. Now, we all have 24/7 access to our favourite artists, and performing on television means considerably less than it once did.
The one overarching commonality between all of the problems with the list of nominees at the Brits is a sense of it being out of touch. Rather than each category celebrating the true champions of each niche of music, instead, it’s merely the BBC Radio 1 playlist cosplaying as an award ceremony.
