after winning the Grammy for “Best Album of the Year”, one of the four top awards, Harry Styles was the exclusive star of the Brit Awardswhich took place this Saturday at the O2 Arena in London and rewarded the best of British music of the last year.
Brits 2023 seemed made for the former One Direction. And that’s how they ended: Styles won four awards, including one for best album, confirming that he is the icon of British music of the moment.
In fact, it was nominated for those four awards – best album (Harry’s house), Best Artist, Best Song (How it was“) and Best Pop/R&B Artist – and he took them all, as well as being the most acclaimed of the London gala. “Tonight was very, very special to me and I will never forget it,” he said.
Styles set the pace for the gala: every time his name appeared in a nomination or was mentioned by British comedian Mo Gilligan, host of the evening, the O2 exploded.
His live rendition of how it was, which opened the ceremony, was the most celebrated of the evening. Not even the pyrotechnic Lizzo could match the level of ovations Styles generated among the 13,000 spectators who watched the Brits with his impressive show.
Performances by Lewis Capaldi, David Guetta, Sam Smith and Cat Burns also fell far short of the acclaim Harry received, especially as the O2 started to empty once rapper Stormzy had his show towards the end of the gala.
The rush to avoid the long lines on the subway and the technical problems suffered by the ceremony – while they were solved, the organization put on the screen a performance by Adele from last year – favored the massive exit of the public before Styles received the award for best album of the year, the icing on the cake.
It was not a good cover letter for an event happening for the first time in history and held on a Saturday to try to alleviate the poor public of recent years.
In the 1990s, Britons attracted more than 9 million spectators, when Michael Jackson, David Bowie, Oasis, Freddie Mercury or Blur were award-winning regulars; now that the tone has changed, the numbers are down to 2.7 million – their lowest point – in 2022.
the other winners
After the award-winning Styles, the ones who left London very happy were Wet Leg. The rock band led by Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers -from the Isle of Wight-, conquered the British for “Best Group” and “Best New Artist”.
Beyoncé, who a few days ago became the most awarded artist in the history of the Grammys, was awarded these Brits: she won “Best International Artist” and “Best International Song”.
The award for “Best Alternative Album” went to The 1975; the British for “Best International Group” went to Fontaines DC; and “Best Dance Performance” went to Becky Hill.
Without awards were Arctic Monkeys, which had two nominations, Stormzy, which has already fallen three times in the “Best Album” category, and the soundtrack song by Charm, Let’s not talk about Brunowhich had been the first Disney song to be nominated in British history.
Few awards for women
For the second year in a row, the ceremony featured a gender-neutral category for the ‘Best British Artist’ of the year, created after non-binary singer Sam Smith was excluded in both genders in 2021.
However, all candidates this year were men. After winning the award, Styles remembered the women nominated in the category: Rina Sawayama, Charli XCX, Florence Welch, Mabel and Becky Hill.
“I’m very, very thankful for that and I’m very aware of my privilege tonight. So this award goes to Rina, Charli, Florence, Mabel and Becky,” she said.
The head of the Brit Awards Damian Christian told Music Week this month it was “disappointing to see the lack of female representation” but attributed it to a few 2022 releases from big female artists.
Source: Clarin
