Kylie doing a shoey! RAYE’s grandma! Rob Beckett dressed as a giraffe! The BRIT awards are always eventful, and this year was no exception. It was a night of incredible music, fantastic performances and emotional moments.  

The night was dominated by singer-songwriter RAYE, who won a record-breaking six awards, including best artist and song of the year. Her success is a story of triumph over adversity; after leaving Polydor Records due to their refusal to allow her to release an album of her own, to win the award for Best Album is an incredible moment which proves the importance of self-belief and being true to yourself. Her music includes candid references to her struggles with mental health and her experience of sexual harassment in the industry, and it was fantastic to hear her use one of her many speeches to advocate for better recognition for songwriters.  

Other notable speeches came from sub-postmaster Jo Hamilton, who courageously called out the UK government for failing to compensate victims of the Horizon post office scandal. Furthermore, Norfolk’s own Bimini Bon Boulash shared a powerful message of support for trans and non-binary people, fighting back against the lack of respect that politicians such as Rishi Sunak have shown towards the LGBTQ+ community by stating that ‘trans rights are human rights’.  

The BRITS came under scrutiny last year for the lack of female nominees; for example, every contender in the best artist category was male. Fortunately, this year saw strong female representation. Ten out of the fifteen awards were won by female or non-binary artists such as Dua Lipa, SZA and Miley Cyrus. Furthermore, the awards have retained their gender-neutral award categories, a really positive step towards ensuring that all artists, regardless of gender identity, are able to have their achievements recognised.  

The night saw some stunning live performances. After a now infamous performance in 2018 which gave birth to the ‘go girl, give us nothing’ meme, Dua Lipa opened the show with a high-energy performance of Training Season. With a high-powered dance routine and background dancers on wires, she proved that, with her recent venture into acting on the big screen, she’s a true triple threat. There was also an amazing performance from Afrobeats artist Rema of his hit single Calm Down, as well as from Canadian pop star Tate McRae. 

For most categories, it was relatively easy to predict who the winner would be; there were, however, a couple of surprises. After an enormous year for Taylor Swift, many assumed that she would be the winner of International Artist of the Year. However, the award instead went to SZA, who recently took home three Grammys after being nominated for an incredible nine in total.  

We also saw Casisdead win the award for Best Hip Hop, Grime or Rap Act despite being up against far more well-known names in the genre such as Dave and Central Cee, the latter having over ten times as many monthly listeners as him on Spotify.  

Many thought that the night was far less exciting than it has been in previous years, for example, none of the winners gave a host the middle finger like Adele did in 2013, or fell down the stairs mid-performance like Madonna in 2015. And whilst the night did lack the chaotic energy of many previous years (with the exception of CMAT, who channelled her inner Jarvis Cocker circa 1996), it was still an evening of real emotion, bold statements and iconic moments. It has clearly been an incredible year for British music.  

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