Monthly Archives: February 2020

BRIT Awards 2020

Posted on by
1

The 2020 BRIT Awards were hosted by Jack Whitehall, sadly without his dad in tow, and took place at the O2 Arena in London on Tuesday night (February 18th). Here are the winners of those new-fangled award categories.

British Album of the Year

Presented by Billie Eilish and Finneas. The nominees:

  • Lewis Capaldi – Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent
  • Dave – Psychodrama
  • Michael Kiwanuka – Kiwanuka
  • Harry Styles – Fine Line
  • Stormzy – Heavy is the Head

Winner: Dave

Song of the Year

The award formerly known as Best British Single was presented by the rubbery Tom Jones. Nominated were:

  • Lewis Capaldi – Someone You Loved
  • Dave feat. Burna Boy – Location
  • Calvin Harris and Rag ‘n’ Bone Man – Giant
  • Mabel – Don’t Call Me Up
  • Mark Ronson feat. Miley Cyrus – Nothing Breaks Like a Heart
  • Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber – I Don’t Care
  • Sam Smith and Normani – Dancing with a Stranger
  • Stormzy – Vossi Bop
  • AJ Tracey – Ladbroke Grove
  • Tom Walker – Just You and I

Winner: Lewis Capaldi

British Male Solo Artist

Presented by the also-rubbery Ronnie Wood. The nominees:

  • Lewis Capaldi
  • Dave
  • Michael Kiwanuka
  • Stormzy
  • Harry Styles

Winner: Stormzy

British Female Solo Artist

Presented by Ellie Goulding and Jorja Smith. The nominees were:

  • Charli XCX
  • FKA Twigs
  • Mabel
  • Mahalia
  • Freya Ridings

Winner: Mabel

British Group

Presented by an unnecessary large group consisting of Anne-Marie, Courtney Love, and Hailee Steinfeld. Nominees:

  • Bastille
  • Bring Me the Horizon
  • Coldplay
  • D-Block Europe
  • Foals

Winner: Foals

Best New Artist

The now-elderly Best British Newcomer and subsequently Best British Breakthrough Act award was presented by Clara Amfo and Niall Horan. Nominees:

  • Aitch
  • Lewis Capaldi
  • Dave
  • Sam Fender
  • Mabel

Winner: Lewis Capaldi

International Male Solo Artist

Improbably presented by Kiefer Sutherland and Paloma Faith, with the following nominees:

  • Burna Boy
  • Dermot Kennedy
  • Post Malone
  • Bruce Springsteen
  • Tyler, the Creator

Winner: Tyler, the Creator

International Female Solo Artist

Presented by Melanie C. Nominated were:

  • Camila Cabello
  • Lana Del Rey
  • Billie Eilish
  • Ariana Grande
  • Lizzo

Winner: Billie Eilish

Rising Star Award

This one used to be the Critics’ Choice Award. Nominated were:

  • Beabadoobee
  • Celeste
  • Joy Crookes

Winner: Celeste

British Producer of the Year

Winner: Fred Again

So that’s it for another year!

Advertisement

Preview – The Beloved

Posted on by
Reply

I’ll no doubt write a longer piece about this at some point, but back in the day, The Beloved were my favourite band. At some point, well over a decade after it happened, I discovered they had had a whole indie career before the dance-pop I knew them for. And now, it’s back again! For the first time in 33 years, Where It Is is available on CD and digital formats, from Bandcamp and all the other regular sites, with a whole host of bonus tracks, all remastered and EQ’d up. It’s pretty incredible to hear it finally sounding this good. Here’s Forever Dancing, as a taster:

Ivor Novello Awards 2019

Posted on by
Reply

Another ceremony we missed was the 2019 Ivor Novello Awards, or “Ivors”. Intended to honour songwriters rather than performers, these never get a huge amount of attention, but occasionally someone or something of interest gets honoured.

The ceremony took place on the 23rd of May, at Grosvenor House in London.

Ivors Inspiration Award

Winner: Wiley

Best Song Musically and Lyrically

Nominated were:

  • Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys) – Four Out of Five
  • Ben Howard – Nica Libres at Dusk
  • Hozier – Nina Cried Power

Winner: Ben Howard

Best Contemporary Song

The nominees:

  • Ghetts feat. Kojey Redical – Black Rose
  • Jorja Smith (with Guy Bonnet, Dizzee Rascal, and Roman Romanelli) – Blue Lights
  • The1975 – Love it if We Made it

Winner: The 1975

Outstanding Song Collection

Winner: Dido, who, by the way, is pretty much the only person on this list who I’ve heard of, which probably shows how out of touch I am these days…

PRS for Music Most Performed Work

Nominees:

  • Jax Jones feat. Ina Wroldsen – Breathe
  • George Ezra – Shotgun
  • Rudimental feat. Jess Glynne, Macklemore and Dan Caplen – These Days

Winner: Rudimental and friends

Jazz Award

Winner: Django Bates

Best Album

Nominees:

  • Young Fathers – Cocoa Sugar
  • Let’s Eat Grandma – I’m All Ears
  • Idles – Joy as an Act of Resistance

Winner: Idles

International Achievement

Winner: Deep Purple, Mark II — Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord (posthumous) and Ian Paice

Outstanding Contribution to British Music

Winner: Richard Ashcroft

Best Original Video Game Score

Nominees:

  • Michael Georgiades, Joe Henson and Alexis Smith – Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
  • David Housden – Q.U.B.E. 2
  • Robin Bealand – Sea of Thieves

Winner: Sea of Thieves

Best Television Soundtrack

Nominees:

  • Arthur Sharpe – Flowers (Series 2)
  • Clint Mansell – Happy New Year, Colin Burstead
  • Natasha Khan and Dominik Scherrer – Requiem

Winner: Requiem

Best Original Film Score

Nominees:

  • Anne Nikitin – American Animals
  • Jonny Greenwood – Phantom Thread
  • Daniel Pemberton – Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Winner: Jonny Greenwood