The Pop Corporation

The Brit Awards (remember those?) is coming in for some justifiable stick this week, as they’ve completely failed to recognise any women in their Best British Artist category. So, what we’ll do is try our best to give them the benefit of the doubt while simultaneously rinsing them and pointing out the women that absolutely should have been nominated and in fact, won.

Before we get going, this was a balls-up of their own making when initially they thought they were being progressive. See, the Brits merged some awards because frankly, it’s ridiculous to have Best British Male and Best British Female when you can just go gender neutral on who is considered ‘Best’. You can imagine some younger members of the Brits backroom explaining what a non binary person is to the older heads there, and saying ‘this is something that’s going to be a problem for you at some point’, and the older heads agreed, before using this information to completely ignore all the British women making great music.

So, who did the Brits panel think was best in the last year? They’ve nodded Harry Styles, which is predictable and probably fair enough. Same goes for Stormzy. They’ve also decided to champion Central Cee, Fred Again, and George Ezra.

Fred Again there, an impossibly posh young man who is the son of King’s Counsel barrister Charles Anthony Warneford Gibson and Mary Ann Frances Morgan, members of the British peerage and the great grandson of an aristocrat and the godson of Brian Eno. That’s not really got anything to do with anything as such, but it’s just a little side-note to wind you up.

And George Ezra, who may well be very nice and all that, but genuinely, we had no idea he’d released a record in the past year. Or the year before that. Or the year before that, etc. Now, the International Best Artist award does have some women involved, namely Beyonce, Taylor Swift and Lizzo, but that reeks of an award show hoping they’ll turn up, doesn’t it?

So, are the Brit Awards people so progressive that they just don’t see gender anymore? They’re so freed from the shackles of binary thinking, that the only thing they see is talent? They would have nominated some women for the big gong, but the women just didn’t release any massive and exciting records last year. They knew there’d be a kerfuffle, but y’know, they looked at music purely on it’s own merit and frankly, the women let themselves down, right?

A spokesperson: “This year’s Brits promise to again showcase the very best of music talent from the UK and around the globe – with the nominations reflecting artists of all backgrounds and a wide breadth of music genres. Last year’s introduction of new categories aimed at making the awards even more inclusive, recognising exceptional work rather than how artists identify. It saw women artists thrive, winning 10 of the 15 awards on the night and Adele being crowned inaugural Artist of the Year.”

“We are pleased to see Wet Leg leading the nominations with four nods and FLO winning the Rising Star, and artists such as Nova Twins also included in this year’s shortlists, and while it’s disappointing there are no nominations in the Artist of the Year category, we also have to recognise that 2022 saw fewer high profile women artists in cycle with major releases as was the case in 2021.”

“These trends based around the release schedule are a feature of the music industry, but if, over time, a pattern emerges, then this puts the onus on the industry to deal with this important issue – and the BPI is already carrying out a major study to identify barriers that may inhibit more women becoming successful in music, so that there can be solutions that result in meaningful change.”

Little Simz wants a word, who was far more written about, critically acclaimed and enthused about that most of the heads in this year’s noms. Didn’t Florence & The Machine have a massive ol’ LP out last year? Not ThePopCorps bag as such, but she’s still clearly a big deal and extremely talented. Same goes for CharliXCX who has been hot-shit for a minute now, and the internet loooooves her. RAYE went solo and got a huge number one after years of mismanagement, and would have been the kind of inclusion into an awards ceremony that would have provided not only a lovely narrative, but also, evidence of an awards show and industry keeping it’s ear to the ground and proving what really matters.

It’s the case for Little Simz which is most compelling though. She picked up plaudits and prizes galore in recent years – and deservedly so. She worked incredibly hard and came good on the raw talented she’d shown for years. And then, after 12 years of work and four studio albums, the Brits gave her Best New Artist. In all that time, she wasn’t a tiny independent act – she’d been spoken about highly for years and years, and featured on many Best Of The Year lists – and the folks at the Brits saw fit to treat her like she was fresh out of the packet, wilfully out-of-step as usual.

Picking up her New Artist award, she simply said “Thank you”. It’s little wonder she’d had enough on release of the pointedly titled ‘NO, THANK YOU’, lambasting the industry that is likely to have used her to tick a few boxes and leaving her vexed and emotionally drained. Maybe the award shows are aware of lines like “You don’t even recognise who it is that you’re becoming – they don’t give a shit, long as the gravy train running,” and “play the game, play the game is what they scream – you can play the game I don’t see the need, no”.

When they stab you in the back, trust me, they ain’t finished yet
Had them on they toes, got ’em doin’ pirouette
All this fake love got me feelin’ I’m the realest here
You know what the deal is here

Little simz/silhouette

You imagine that Simz isn’t at all arsed about a Brit snub, but we are. Her being overlooked is either a sign of an award that can’t spot a generational talent (so therefore, what’s the point of them?) or an organisation to petty to acknowledge deserved criticism (so therefore, fuck ’em).

In addition to all that, it’s pretty obvious that award shows don’t have the draw they once did (and that’s right across the entertainment world – apart from the winners and clothes designers, anyone really give a shit about the Grammys and all that?) and it’s interesting to think of the reasons why that is. Is it a bit galling to see wealthy people in incredibly expensive clothes, being at a bash that’s dripping in money during the cost of living crisis? Maybe. Is it that award shows year-on-year prove themselves to be entirely out-of-touch with what the kids are actually listening to during the year? Very likely. Has online-living created a gulf between what suits think is relevant and what the kids do? Probably.

Little Simz is the people’s champ, that’s for sure, but if you want to watch a cold-looking echoey room full of people who have taken cocaine, the show will be on ITV on Saturday 11th February and hosted by Mo Gilligan, and will have a bunch of live performances to boot. You know the drill by now.