TeaThere was a five-headed elephant in the room here in what was otherwise a strangely flat affair at the Brit Awards. As is tradition with music festivals, a row over representation (or rather, the lack of) erupted after the nominations were announced. The Gender-Neutral Artist of the Year category was composed entirely of male artists: Central Sea, Fred Again, George Ezra, Harry Styles and Stormzy.
The switch from gender categories was implemented after 2021 Sam Smith — who came out as non-binary two years ago — urged that the award show be “a reflection of the society we live in.” At the first non-gendered awards show in 2022, Adele won Artist of the Year, for which Little Simz, Sam Fender, Dave and Ed Sheeran were also nominated.
Olivia Rodrigo won Best International Song, Wolf Ellis won the British Group Award, Becky Hill for British Dance Act, Dua Lipa for Pop/R&B, and Little Simz a late but long overdue breakthrough artist Scooped up. Trophy.
A year later, however, the picture is very different. Beyoncé fans were still fuming over Harry Styles, who was fresh off beating her to the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. “As It Was” Composer Takes Top Awards brits, too, including another Album of the Year trophy. Mindful of the modest response to his Grammy speech, in which he claimed a rare victory for “people like him” (rich? white? famous?), he prematurely acknowledged his privilege wet feet To take home Best New Artist.
Accepting the award, the indie duo observed the gatekeeping that occurs in rock music, quoting Alex Turner’s infamous 2014 speech. of 1975 Matty HealyMeanwhile, the American seemed under instructions on their best behavior while accepting the fan-voted best rock/alternative act, a day after the podcast aired an interview in which they and the hosts talked about women, Chinese people Made several derogatory comments. , Hawaiian and Japanese prisoners of war.
Smith, herself, appeared with Kim Petras to sing a rendition of “Unholy,” following a hilarious uproar from right-wing pundits in the US over her Grammy performance. It says a lot about this year’s ceremony that a relatively innocuous pop song was one of the biggest controversies of the night. He and Wet Legg were shouting “F*** the Tories” during their Best Group acceptance speech, but even that felt off.
We should know by now that one shouldn’t look to award ceremonies to gauge the well-being of the industry, just as Ed Sheeran or Adele dominating the top 10 singles chart at any given time is no indication of the sheer diversity of the UK’s thriving music scene. Is. You can’t blame the cast members who ran through Styles’ final acceptance speech. Nowadays, the Brits have more than just an excuse to party.