Mahalia criticises BRIT Awards for lack of recognition of R&B artists

12 January, 2023

Mahalia

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

The nominees for this year’s awards were revealed earlier today (January 12), with Cat Burns, Charli XCX, Dua Lipa, Harry Styles and Sam Smith all up for the Best Pop/R&B category. It is the second year that the awards has had this category after replacing all gendered categories last year.

Now, Mahalia has taken 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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