Continuing the trend set by this year’s Grammys, the Brits also managed (for the most part) to make the most of a bad hand. David Bowie received posthumous awards for best album and best male for his stunning final album Blackstar. Belwood favourite Rag’n’Bone Man started the year in style by becoming the first act to ever win both the critics choice award and best breakthrough act in the same year. Emeli Sande won best British female solo artist and The 1975 beat Radiohead and Biffy Clyro to take best band. There were few surprises in the international categories with Beyoncé and Drake winning best female and best male respectively.
Brit Awards
Best of British?: Diversity at the Brit Awards
The Brit Awards, or any awards ceremony for that matter, rarely stray too far from controversy. Following in the footsteps of the Oscars the Brits have been accused of being “blind to black British talent”, as well as being too safe and commercialised. A number of celebrities have criticised the lack of prominent Grime artists such as Skepta and Stormzy and have even gone so far as boycotting the ceremony. How big is the issue here and how much do the Brits need to change? Continue reading
Brit Awards 2016
Britain’s foremost music awards have drawn to a close once again. Adele was far and away the big winner, picking up Best British Female, Best Album, Global Success and Best Single for ‘Hello’. There were some well deserved wins from James Bay and Tame Impala who won Best British Male and Best International Group respectively. Sadly Coldplay won Best British Group and Justin Bieber won Best International Male, continuing his meteoric rise from sinfully awful to plain mediocre. There were some pleasant surprises as Bjork won Best International Female and Catfish & the Bottlemen beat James Bay and Jess Glynne to win British Breakthrough Act (even though technically speaking they shouldn’t have been nominated as they didn’t release any new music in 2015). Top actor Gary Oldman gave a stirring speech in memory of his close friend David Bowie and Lorde gave a rendition of ‘Life On Mars?’ with Bowie’s backing band. Although not an obvious choice for a tribute, it was arguably the finest performance of her career and one of the highlights of the night.
Brit Awards 2016 nominations announced
The nominations for this year’s Brit Awards have been announced. Adele tops the list along with James Bay and Years & Years with four nominations apiece. As is often the case with the Brits the winners are often easy to guess but most of the important categories seem to be in good hands. Some Belwood favourites have been recognised with nominations including Father John Misty, Wolf Alice and Jack Garratt who has already claimed the Critic’s Choice Award. The Eagles of Death Metal have also been nominated for International Group following the attacks in Paris at one of their concerts. The full list of nominations can be found below: Continue reading
The Brit Awards 2015
The biggest music awards in Britain (the clue is in the name) have delivered a memorable evening of thrills and spills. The big winner of the night was Ed Sheeran picking up best album and best male. Sam Smith, who cleaned up at the Grammys, walked away with the award for best breakthrough act. Paloma Faith won best female, Royal Blood won best group and Mark Ronson won the award for best single for ‘Uptown Funk’. The international categories for best male, female and group were won by Pharrell Williams, Taylor Swift and Foo Fighters respectively. Many of the night’s winners also performed as well as George Ezra and Take That. One of the big talking points of the evening though was Madonna’s big fall after she was blown offstage by a wind machine thanks to her large cape.
What are your thoughts on the awards? Personally I think the results were hardly surprising, that generally the right people won and the ceremony featured some good performances.
Brit Awards 2015: The Nominations
The nominations for the 2015 Brit Awards have been revealed. The ceremony itself takes place on the 25th of February. The list of acts is a lot more varied than I anticipated and there’s a lot of musical talent being praised. As is always the case with these kind of awards you can never be too sure whether it’s about musical talent or just popularity, especially with the international categories, either way I think it would be a safe bet to say that a fair share of the awards will go to Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith. Congratulations to James Bay for winning the Critic’s Choice award. Here are the nominations in full: Continue reading
Belwood Music 