BRIT Awards face backlash for all male Artist Of The Year nominations

13 January, 2023

Brit Awards

This year’s BRIT Awards have faced a backlash after the UK Artist Of The Year nomination category was filled with all male entrants.

Nominees for the upcoming awards in February were announced yesterday (January 12) and in the UK Artist Of The Year category, Central Cee, Fred Again.., George Ezra, Harry Styles and Stormzy were all nominated.

This is the second year that the awards have abandoned gender categories in favour of gender neutral ones, but when it was revealed that the UK Artist Of The Year category was all-male, the awards were criticised by fans and figures from across the entertainment industry.

“So the Brits introduced an Artist of the Year category as a gender-neutral replacement for Best Male and Best Female Artist category – but this year all five nominees are blokes,” musician Tim Burgess tweeted. “One step forward, three steps back.”

A Brits spokesperson said the lack of women in the category was “disappointing”. Speaking to HuffPost, they said: “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.”

You can see some more of the reaction to the news below:

Elsewhere, Mahalia criticised the BRIT Awards for their lack of recognition of R&B artists, calling upon the awards to give R&B its own category instead of grouping it with pop.

Cat Burns, Charli XCX, Dua Lipa, Harry Styles and Sam Smith are all up for the Best Pop/R&B category.

Mahalia took to social media to question why R&B hasn’t been recognised enough in the category. In the first of a string of tweets, she said she was “desperately searching for the R&B act at the BRITs”, accompanied by a GIF of someone making binoculars with their hands. She later added, “I’m sorry but UK R&B right now is THRIVING”.

Another more frustrated tweet saw her tag the BRITs directly: “Forget putting us in this category. Give us our own!!!!! How many times do we have to scream at you? @BRITs.”

She added: “Winning awards isn’t the reason why we make and release music. We do this shit out of love. But, at this point, it’s nothing short of disrespectful.”

It’s not the first time that the choice to group pop and R&B into one category has been criticised – the move was widely questioned online after the new gender neutral categories were announced in late 2021.

Mahalia also lent her voice to the outcry at the time. “Putting pop and R&B in the same category is really nuts to me. And proves that the powers that be once again just do not get it,” she said. “I love the Brits. I have since I was a kid. But as an R&B singer/songwriter, this feels completely unprogressive to the whole UK R&B scene.”

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