Q Awards 2017

The 2017 Q Awards in association with Absolute Radio (for that was the ceremony’s now drearily over-commercial name) took place at the Roundhouse in London on 18th October, hosted by Christian O’Connell. Let’s take a quick look at who won, and probably also a quick chuckle at the ridiculously long commercialised award names while we’re at it.

Of course, on the plus side, the sponsorship of individual awards does help you tell all the almost-identically-named ones apart…

Q Best Breakthrough Act, presented by Red Stripe

Nominees:

• The Big Moon
• Formation
• Girl Ray
• HMLTD
• The Moonlandingz
• Pumarosa
• Rag ‘n’ Bone Man
• Sampha
• Shame
• Stefflon Don

Winner: Rag ‘n’ Bone Man

Q Best Live Act, presented by Cavern Club

Nominees:

• Liam Gallagher
• The Killers
• Lorde
• Radiohead
• Stormzy

Winner: Liam Gallagher

Q Maverick, presented by Roundhouse

Winner: Viv Albertine

Q Innovation In Sound

Winner: Wiley

Q Best Video, presented by Pretty Green

Nominees:

• Eagles of Death Metal – Nos Amis (Our Friends)
• Iggy Pop & Josh Homme – American Valhalla
• The Rolling Stones – Havana Moon
• Sleaford Mods – Bunch of Kunst
• The The – The Inertia Variations

Winner: Sleaford Mods

Q Best Track, presented by Flare Audio

Nominees:

• Liam Gallagher – Wall of Glass
• Kasabian – You’re in Love with a Psycho
• Kendrick Lamar – Humble
• Lorde – Green Light
• Ed Sheeran – Shape of You

Winner: Kasabian

Q Best Album, presented by The Box Plus Network

Nominees:

• Gorillaz – Humanz
• Kendrick Lamar – DAMN
• Sleaford Mods – English Tapes
• Stormzy – Gang Signs & Prayer
• The xx – I See You

Winner: Gorillaz

Q Best Solo Artist presented by Help Musicians UK

Nominees:

• Liam Gallagher
• Lana del Rey
• Ed Sheeran
• St. Vincent
• Stormzy

Winner: Stormzy

Q Best Act In The World Today, presented Buster & Punch

Nominees:

• The 1975
• Adele
• Depeche Mode
• Queens of the Stone Age
• Ed Sheeran

Winner: Ed Sheeran

Q Icon, presented by BMW

Winner: Liam Gallagher

Q Gibson Les Paul Award

Winner: Kelley Deal

Q Inspiration, presented by Three

Winner: Manic Street Preachers

You can read our coverage of previous years, starting with the 2016 awards here.

The BRIT Awards 2016

Quite rightly, you were very excited about the BRIT Awards this year, and you flocked in your hundreds to read my latest selection of The Best of the BRIT Awards. What I wasn’t able to do, mainly due to being on holiday, was list the winners for you. So here goes…

British Male Solo Artist

Nominees:

• Aphex Twin
• James Bay
• Calvin Harris
• Mark Ronson
• Jamie xx

Winner: James Bay

British Female Solo Artist

Nominees:

• Adele
• Florence + The Machine
• Jess Glynne
• Laura Marling
• Amy Winehouse

Winner: Adele

British Group

• Blur
• Coldplay
• Foals
• One Direction
• Years & Years

Winner: Coldplay

British Breakthrough Act

• James Bay
• Catfish and the Bottlemen
• Jess Glynne
• Wolf Alice
• Years & Years

Winner: Catfish and the Bottlemen

British Producer of the Year

• Charlie Andrew
• Mike Crossey
• Tom Dalgety
• Mark Ronson

Winner: Charlie Andrew

British Single

• Adele – Hello
• James Bay – Hold Back the River
• Philip George – Wish You Were Mine
• Jess Glynne – Hold My Hand
• Ellie Goulding – Love Me Like You Do
• Little Mix – Black Magic
• Calvin Harris & Disciples – How Deep is Your Love
• Olly Murs feat. Demi Lovato – Up
• Ed Sheeran & Rudimental – Bloodstream
• Years & Years – King

Winner: Adele

Mastercard British Album of the Year

• Adele – 25
• James Bay – Chaos and the Calm
• Coldplay – A Head Full of Dreams
• Florence + The Machine – How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful
• Jamie xx – In Colour

Winner: Adele

British Artist Video

• Adele – Hello
• Ellie Goulding – Love Me Like You Do
• Calvin Harris & Disciples – How Deep is Your Love
• Jessie J – Flashlight
• Little Mix – Black Magic
• Naughty Boy feat. Beyoncé & Arrow Benjamin – Runnin’ (Lose it All)
• One Direction – Drag Me Down
• Ed Sheeran – Photograph
• Sam Smith – Writing’s on the Wall
• Years & Years – King

Winner: One Direction

International Male Solo Artist

• Justin Bieber
• Drake
• Kendrick Lamar
• Father John Misty
• The Weeknd

Winner: Justin Bieber

International Female Solo Artist

• Courtney Barnett
• Björk
• Ariana Grande
• Lana del Rey
• Meghan Trainor

Winner: Björk. Again.

International Group

• Alabama Shakes
• Eagles of Death Metal
• Major Lazer
• Tame Impala
• U2

Winner: Tame Impala. I bet U2 were furious – they always win this award.

Critics’ Choice

• Izzy Bizu
• Frances
• Jack Garratt

Winner: Jack Garratt

Global Success

A special made-up award for Adele, because she was robbed in the International Male Solo Artist category and was so upset.

Well, that’s it for another year. See you next January for the latest nominees in the ADELE Awards.

The BRIT Awards 2016 – Nominations

On the 24th of February this year, we’ll find out who has won a BRIT Award this year. Or more likely, who has won five, as that tends to be the way it goes. The nominations are spectacularly dull this year, as you’ll see below if you can bring yourself to keep reading – the only truly interesting thing is that they have changed some of the names this year…

British Artist Video

• Adele – Hello
• Ellie Goulding – Love Me Like You Do
• Calvin Harris & Disciples – How Deep is Your Love
• Jessie J – Flashlight
• Little Mix – Black Magic
• Naughty Boy feat. Beyonce & Arrow Benjamin – Runnin’ (Lose it All)
• One Direction – Drag Me Down
• Ed Sheeran – Photograph
• Sam Smith – Writing’s on the Wall
• Years & Years – King

British Breakthrough Act

• James Bay
• Catfish and the Bottlemen
• Jess Glynne
• Wolf Alice
• Years & Years

That’s the same James Bay who won the Critics’ Choice last year (beating Years & Years), both of whom did pretty well on the charts in 2015, after all.

British Male Solo Artist

• Aphex Twin
• James Bay
• Calvin Harris
• Mark Ronson
• Jamie xx

British Female Solo Artist

• Adele
• Florence + The Machine
• Jess Glynne
• Laura Marling
• Amy Winehouse

British Group

• Blur
• Coldplay
• Foals
• One Direction
• Years & Years

British Producer of the Year

• Charlie Andrew
• Mike Crossey
• Tom Dalgety
• Mark Ronson

British Single

• Adele – Hello
• James Bay – Hold Back the River
• Philip George – Wish You Were Mine
• Jess Glynne – Hold My Hand
• Ellie Goulding – Love Me Like You Do
• Little Mix – Black Magic
• Calvin Harris & Disciples – How Deep is Your Love
• Olly Murs feat. Demi Lovato – Up
• Ed Sheeran & Rudimental – Bloodstream
• Years & Years – King

Mastercard British Album of the Year

• Adele – 25
• James Bay – Chaos and the Calm
• Coldplay – A Head Full of Dreams
• Florence + The Machine – How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful
• Jamie xx – In Colour

International Male Solo Artist

• Justin Bieber
• Drake
• Kendrick Lamar
• Father John Misty
• The Weeknd

International Female Solo Artist

• Courtney Barnett
• Björk
• Ariana Grande
• Lana del Rey
• Meghan Trainor

Björk, the only non-British female who anybody cares about (seemingly) receives her sixty-third nomination in this category.

International Group

• Alabama Shakes
• Eagles of Death Metal
• Major Lazer
• Tame Impala
• U2

Oh look, U2 rack up their six thousandth nomination in this category. Because so few other foreign groups are popular in the UK, apparently. It’s a shame R.E.M. haven’t been up to much recently.

Critics’ Choice

• Izzy Bizu
• Frances
• Jack Garratt

The winner of which will be Jack Garratt.

Anyway, good luck to Aphex Twin, who is inexplicably nominated for just the third time ever. Other than that, if you care about any of those nominees, you can vote for some of them at the BRIT Awards website.