The Pop Corporation

Do we care about awards these days? Especially in the music industry, they seem rather quaint and outdated, and great within the industry for sure – but should we care about who wins a BRIT any more than who gets Best New Restaurant at the Leicester City Council Awards?

Either way, we’ll do a rundown in case anyone does or, indeed, to tickle the pickle of anyone who thinks we might have something sniffy to say about the bands that have been nominated.

The big guns at the Ivor Novello Awards ’23 are Harry Styles, Cleo Sol and Little Simz. Not a bad line-up, all told. We’d be especially pleased if Cleo Sol won a gong because she’s been putting out such wonderful music and consistently, that it’d be very satisfying to see her rewarded for her efforts.

As the Novellos look at songwriting rather than simply focusing on sales, then there’s something nicer about these ones, isn’t there? Harry Styles is pretty ubiquitous at the moment, so it’s not very surprising that he’s been given the nod on three separate awards – but so has Cleo Sol, which is cool. Looks like we’re rooting for her then, eh? No shade, Styles.

Other nominees include Florence + the Machine, Wet Leg, 1975, Raye, Kate Bush, Stomzy, Arctic Monkeys, Fontaines DC, and obviously, we’ll have a full list for you to look at without being swayed by what we think.

Tom Gray, chair of the Ivors Academy, heralded “the power and range of British and Irish songwriting and screen composing.” The awards take place on Thursday 18th May and we’re not invited and neither are you.

FULL LIST OF IVOR NOVELLO NOMINATIONS 2023

Songwriter of the Year with Amazon Music

• Central Cee and Young Chens
• Florence Welch 
• George Daniel and Matty Healy
• Harry Styles and Kid Harpoon
• Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers

Rising Star Award with Amazon Music

• Cat Burns
• Ines Dunn
• Tendai 
• Venbee
• Victoria Canal

Best Album

• 11 – performed by SAULT
• No Thank You – performed by Little Simz
• Skinty Fia – performed by Fontaines D.C
• Some Nights I Dream of Doors – performed by Obongjayar
• The Car – performed by Arctic Monkeys

Best Contemporary Song

• Cold Summer – performed by Wesley Joseph
• Escapism – performed by RAYE & 070 Shake
• Hide & Seek – performed by Stormzy
• Leon the Professional – performed by Knucks
• Payback – performed by Kojey Radical ft. Knucks

Best Original Film Score

• Avatar: The Way of Water – composed by Simon Franglen
• Death on the Nile – composed by Patrick Doyle
• Don’t Worry Darling – composed by John Powell
• Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris – composed by Rael Jones
• The Electrical Life of Louis Wain – composed by Arthur Sharpe 

Best Original Video Game Score

• Gotham Knights – composed by The Flight
• Horizon Forbidden West – composed by Joris de Man, Oleksa Lozowchuk and The Flight
• Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope – composed by Gareth Coker, Grant Kirkhope and Yoko Shimomura

Best Song Musically and Lyrically 

• As It Was – performed by Harry Styles
• Best Day of My Life – performed by Tom Odell
• Complex – performed by Katie Gregson-Macleod
• King – performed by Florence + The Machine
• Stronger – performed by SAULT

Best Television Soundtrack

• Bad Sisters – composed by PJ Harvey and Tim Phillips
• Elizabeth: The Unseen Queen – composed by David Schweitzer
• The Midwich Cuckoos – composed by Hannah Peel
• The Responder – composed by Matthew Herbert
• The Thief, His WIfe and the Canoe – composed by Harry Escott and Ben Pearson

PRS For Music Most Performed Work

• As It Was – performed by Harry Styles
• Bad Habits – performed by Ed Sheeran
• Heat Waves – performed by Glass Animals 
• Running Up That Hill – performed by Kate Bush
• Shivers – performed by Ed Sheeran