It’s that time of year again! The BRIT Awards are gearing up for their 40th year of championing the best in UK music, so here’s an overview of some of our artist highlights…
Harry Styles
Nominations: Male Solo Artist, Album of The Year
2019 was the year ex-1D heartthrob Harry Styles released his most successful singles to date: ‘Adore You’, ‘Watermelon Sugar’ and ‘Lights Up’. All three were taken from his innovative second album Fine Line, which was released on 13th December. Despite only being out for a month, its mystic, souring pop sounds and nostalgic, soulful rock remedies have ensured it as a strong contender for Album of The Year! His incredible style change and infectious personality has also lead to a nomination for Best Male Solo Artist.
Lewis Capaldi
Nominations: Male Solo Artist, Song of The Year, Album of The Year, Best New Artist
Scottish singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi has risen from playing every local venue he could, to amassing over 4 million online followers, spatting with Noel Gallagher, playing at Glastonbury and selling out multiple arena dates before his debut album was even released. So, there’s really no questioning why he’s been nominated for Best Male Solo Artist and Best New Artist, while leading single which helped him reach these heights, ‘Someone You Loved’, is up for Song of The Year as well after spending 7 consecutive weeks at #1. Also nominated is his multi-Platinum-certified album Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent, which lived up to expectations as The Skinny referred to it as a “collection of poignant love songs that are honest and sincere, resonating with a generation that have his undivided attention and will now sink further into his palm.”
Michael Kiwanuka
Nominations: Male Solo Artist, Album of The Year
In November, the artist from London stormed the radio with songs taken for his third album Kiwanuka. Rated 5 stars by the likes of Q and The Line of Best Fit, with such comments as “a stunning cinematic-soul display” from Dork, it’s a highly rated contender for Album of The Year. Featuring singles such as ‘Hero’ and ‘You Ain’t The Problem’, it’s 14 tracks of contemporary yet timeless soul. He’s also been put forward for Best Male Solo Artist, highlighting his impact on the UK soul scene!
Stormzy
Nominations: Male Solo Artist, Song of The Year, Album of The Year
Grime figurehead Stormzy has had an incredible 2019. From his front-page-worthy headlining set at Glastonbury to causing uproar online for his political activism, he’s proven himself to be one of the boldest artists in British music, and worthy of the Best Male Solo Artist title. The festival performance alone proved how unafraid he is to take risks as he stepped on stage wearing a Banksy-designed bullet proof vest to ferocious amounts of pyro. The set also featured two songs taken from his second full-length album Heavy Is The Head. Both ‘Crown’ and ‘Vossi Bop’ welcomed immense reactions, with the latter being a particular success further afield as it debuted as his first ever #1 single and has been nominated for Song of The Year.
Mabel
Nominations: Female Solo Artist, Song of The Year, Best New Artist
Mabel has entered 2020 on a wave of success, the lead single from her debut album (Higher Expectations), ‘Don’t Call Me Up’, released in January 2019 has amassed over 400 million online streams, and has now been nominated for ‘Song of The Year’. Mabel told the BBC “It’s crazy how a song can grow wings and fly you everywhere. I’m really grateful for that tune.” The daughter of Swedish singer Neneh Cherry, her nominations come exactly 30 years after her mother’s double Brit success with Best International Artist and Best International Breakthrough. While the talent is certainly in her genetics, lets hope the awards are too!
Mahalia
Nomination: Female Solo Artist
Having released multiple hit singles throughout 2019, Mahalia has made sure everyone’s heard her potential. In her debut album (Love and Compromise), in which the likes of ‘I Wish I Missed My Ex’ and ‘What You Did’ feat. Ella Mai were taken, she intertwines her playfully infectious spirit with her youthful charisma, idiosyncratic storytelling and consciousness. All of this has resulted in setting her apart as one of the UK’s most-loved rising stars.
Foals
Nomination: Best Group
Foals have had a relentless year with the release of two full-length albums as part of the most ambitious project of their career, performing at The Mercury Prize ceremony, a surprise set at Glastonbury and a world tour. It’s undeniable that they’ve pushed themselves to the limit as the Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost era symbolises the band’s trajectory so far. Part 1 (released in March) earned them critical acclaim across the board including 5* reviews from NME and The Independent, while Part 2 (released in October) scored them their first ever number 1 album! Showing exactly how driven they are, Foals have set the bar high for work ethic.
Tom Walker
Nomination: Song of The Year
After taking home the BRIT Award for British Breakthrough Act last year, the Scottish born, Manchester-bread singer-songwriter is well on the way to bagging another thanks to Platinum-certified single ‘Just You And I’. It spent 44 weeks in the chart, captivating audiences with the unique vocals and beautiful mellow pop choruses which featured.
Sam Fender
Nomination: Best New Artist
Last year, North Shields indie-rock singer-songwriter Sam Fender was awarded Critics’ Choice Award at the BRITs, and this year he’s back for more. After selling out shows across the world, including Japan, America and Australia, as well as seeing his debut album Hypersonic Missiles reach #1, he’s certainly ticked a fair few things off his bucket list! Taking on topics such as toxic masculinity, working class struggles and war, he’s eloquently used this release to voice his own experiences in a manner NME have called “chest-punching”.
Billie Eilish
Nomination: International Female Solo Artist
Chart-topping artist Billie Eilish has had one of the most powerful breakthroughs 2019 has seen. Her debut album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? has been certified 2x multi-platinum, while major single ‘bad guy’ has been a global hit. A humble 18-year-old, Eilish is a strong advocate for climate change, with the music video for ‘all the good girls go to hell’ channelling a deeper message on the subject. Furthermore, her upcoming 2020 tour will see her attempt to create and encourage an eco-conscious environment as she asks fans to bring refillable water bottles with water-stations available at every venue alongside an ‘Eco-Village’ providing information and resources on ways to help combat climate change. Not only is she using her platform for good, but she’s dropped plenty of great tunes to go with the message.
Camila Cabello
Nomination: International Female Solo Artist
Three-time GRAMMY Award-nominated, multi-platinum and chart-topping singer-songwriter Camila Cabello has spent 2019 smashing records. In June, she released the global hit single ‘Señorita’ with Shawn Mendes, which debuted at #1, broke Spotify’s record for the biggest debut from a male/female duet in its history, and went on to be the most streamed song on the platform, coming in at over a billion streams. Meanwhile, Cabello herself is the most listened to female artist in the world on Spotify and broke the record for the most monthly listeners for a female artist in Spotify history! She’s also the first female artist since Adele to triple up atop Billboard’s Hot 100, Billboard 200 and Artist 100 charts. Last year she proved to the world that she’s unstoppable and unparalleled.
Dermot Kennedy
Nomination: International Male Solo Artist
Singer-songwriter Dermot Kennedy has successfully taken his homeland of Ireland by storm, and is now set on the rest of the world. His album Without Fear was was the fastest selling debut album of the year in Ireland, and reached #1 in the Official UK and Irish Charts and #18 in the Billboard Top 100, showing him to be a true star across the globe. Furthermore, his huge three-date run of Irish shows in June set a new record for Kennedy as all 50,000 tickets sold out in under 10 minutes. He’s bringing that same energy to the UK with a major headlining show at London’s Alexandra Palace.
The BRIT Awards ceremony will take place on Tuesday 18th February live at London’s O2 Arena, hosted by Jack Whitehall for the third year running. See the whole list of nominations here.