David Joseph, chairman of the Brits, said on Wednesday that as the end of his three-year tenure appraoches, this year’s award ceremony would go out with a bang. It ended with a performance by Emeli Sandé. Go figure. The evening’s award ceremony honouring the best in British music (and a few token international awards) was hardly controversial, staying conservative in its choice of winners and the behaviour of its attendees. The days are gone when the Gallaghers always caused an uproar and any ruckus has been replaced by ITV’s strategic shots of Harry Styles when Taylor Swift walked onto the stage to present an award (she also performed but I used that opportunity to go and watch some paint dry). Oh, and the awards themselves looked like they had a severe bout of chicken pox.
Photo credit to thesun.co.uk
The awards themselves proved to be disappointing with big wins for Emeli Sandé (Best Female Solo Artist and Mastercard British Album of the Year) and Ben Howard (Best British Male Solo Artist and British Breakthrough Act). As the evening wore on, it seemed to be a matter of charting high in the Top 40 to win an award. Whilst acts such as Jessie Ware and Alabama Shakes went unacknowledged, chart-toppers like Sandé came out on top. It’s as if the judges based their decisions solely on who sold records, not a reflection of the innovative work many nominated had crafted to produce their records. The one award I felt was thoroughly well-deserved was International Male Solo Artist which was picked up by Frank Ocean but the Brits fell back to earth with a nasty bump when One Direction were given an award for Global Success (which was definitely completely made-up just to get the boys in front of the cameras and make the Brit committee safe from any crazed fans attacking the headquarters for Mumford and Sons triumphing in the British Group category).
It is sad that with British music flourishing, the Brits still seem to ignore anything apart from the Top 40. While, I recognize that selling records means success, it most certainly does not mean creativity, innovation or talent which is something that an award should signify. If you are sick of Adele (don’t worry, she’s performing at the Oscars on Sunday), Coldplay (how do they manage to win something every year?) or Emeli Sandé (that’s if the Olympics Opening Ceremony, the Olympics Closing Ceremony, three appearances at a two hour Brit Award ceremony and your local village fete isn’t enough…), fear not for British music. Just don’t watch the Brits.
But if you are interested in who won what, you can find out here. P.S. don’t bother.
Daisy Meager, Music Editor
Photo credit to brits.co.uk
exeposedev 