Brit Awards 2023
Brit Awards 2023, the 43rd edition of the ceremony, presented by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), was held on 11 February 2023 to recognise the best in British and international music.[1] The ceremony took place at The O2 Arena in London, and was hosted by British comedian Mo Gilligan, who returns after hosting the 2022 edition.[2] Coverage of the red carpet was broadcast on ITV2 and presented by Clara Amfo, Maya Jama and Roman Kemp. The 2023 Brit Award trophy was designed by Nigerian-born London-based artist Olaolu Slawn.[3]
| Brit Awards 2023 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Date | 11 February 2023 |
| Location | The O2 Arena |
| Hosted by | Mo Gilligan |
| Most awards | Harry Styles (4) |
| Most nominations |
|
| Website | brits |
| Television/radio coverage | |
| Network | ITV & ITVX (United Kingdom) YouTube (outside United Kingdom) |
Going into the ceremony, Harry Styles and Wet Leg were the most-nominated artists, with four each. Styles emerged as the night's big winner, winning in all four of the categories he was nominated in, with Wet Leg and Beyoncé also winning multiple awards.[4][5]
Performances
Brits Week 2023
In order to promote the awards ceremony and support the charity War Child, the BPI hosted a number of gigs around the country as part of Brits Week[7] Artists performing as part of Brits Week included:
- The Hunna at Lafayette, London (31 January)
- Metronomy at HERE at Outernet, London (1 February)
- The 1975 at Gorilla, Manchester (1 February)
- Years & Years at HERE at Outernet, London (2 February)
- Kojey Radical at XOYO, London (3 February)
- Beabadoobee at Lafayette, London (3 February)
- Cavetown at Omeara, London (4 February)
- The Snuts at Stereo, Glasgow (5 February)
- Sea Girls at 100 Club, London (7 February)
- Easy Life at Trinity Centre, Bristol (7 February)
- Sugababes at The Garage, London (8 February)
- Frank Turner and The Sleeping Souls at O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire, London (9 February)
- Bob Vylan at Omeara, London (10 February)
- Rina Sawayama at Lafayette, London (10 February)
Main ceremony
On 12 January, Wet Leg, Sam Smith & Kim Petras were confirmed as the first set of performers.[8] On 17 January, Harry Styles joined the line-up,[9] with Cat Burns being confirmed on 20 January.[10] Lizzo, David Guetta, Becky Hill & Ella Henderson all joined the line-up on 23 January.[11]
| Performer(s) | Song | UK Singles Chart reaction (week ending 17 February 2023) |
UK Albums Chart reaction (week ending 17 February 2023) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harry Styles | "As It Was" | 7 (+27) | Harry's House - 2 (+4) Fine Line - 20 (+11) Harry Styles - 76 (re) |
| Wet Leg | "Chaise Longue" | 82 (re) | Wet Leg - 29 (re) |
| Lewis Capaldi House Gospel Choir |
"Forget Me" | 37 (+7) | Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent - 13 (-2) |
| Lizzo | "Special" "2 Be Loved (Am I Ready)" "About Damn Time" |
66 (new entry) 93 (re) 97 (re) |
Special - 77 (re) |
| Stormzy | "Hide & Seek" "I Got My Smile Back" |
29 (+/-) N/A |
— |
| Cat Burns | "Go" | 64 (+24) | — |
| Sam Smith Kim Petras |
"Unholy" | 20 (+1) | Gloria - 19 (-6) In The Lonely Hour - 58 (-2) |
| David Guetta Becky Hill Ella Henderson Sam Ryder |
"Remember" "Crazy What Love Can Do" "I'm Good (Blue)" |
N/A N/A 26 (+/-) |
N/A Only Honest on the Weekend - 51 (+7) Everything I Didn't Say - 53 (-9) N/A |
Winners and nominees
Nominees
The eligibility period for the 2023 Brit Awards ran from 10 December 2021 to 9 December 2022. Nominees for the Rising Star Award were announced on 29 November 2022,[12] and the winner was announced on 8 December 2022.[13] The nominees for the other categories were announced on 12 January 2023 via the BRITs social platforms by Vick Hope alongside Jack Saunders and Tom Daley.[14] British singer Sam Ryder, became the first Eurovision artist to be nominated for Best New Artist and K-pop girl group Blackpink, became the first Kpop girl group to be nominated for International Group.[15]
Voting methods
Source:[16]
There were a variety of voting methods to determine the winners of the awards:
- Genre categories (Pop/R&B Act, Dance, Alternative/Rock Act and Hip Hop/Rap/Grime): Public vote exclusively via TikTok
- Rising Star: Shortlist selected by an invited panel from the music press, radio/music TV along with other music professionals
- Honorary awards (Producer of the Year and Songwriter of the Year): The BRITs Committee
- All other awards: The BRITs Voting Academy
The public voting held on TikTok took place from 19 January to 2 February with voters allowed to vote up to ten times a day per nominee per category.[17] The BRITs Voting Academy is made up of around 1,200 music industry experts selected by the BRITs Committee.
Winners are listed first and highlighted in bold.[18][19]
Artists with multiple wins and nominations
The following artists received multiple awards and nominations:
| Nominations | Series |
|---|---|
| 4 | Harry Styles |
| Wet Leg | |
| 3 | Cat Burns |
| Fred Again | |
| Stormzy | |
| The 1975 | |
| 2 | Aitch |
| Arctic Monkeys | |
| Beyoncé | |
| Central Cee | |
| Dave | |
| Ed Sheeran | |
| Eliza Rose | |
| Lizzo | |
| Nova Twins | |
| Sam Smith | |
| Taylor Swift | |
| Awards | Series |
| 4 | Harry Styles |
| 2 | Beyoncé |
| Wet Leg |
Controversy
Upon the announcement of the 2023 nominees, the Brits garnered significant controversy when the Artist of the Year featured exclusively male nominees.[20][21]
Eligibility to be the Best British Artist of the Year is to have released at least one top 40 album or two top 20 singles, released between 10 December 2021 and 9 December 2022.[22] An artist's record company decides whether to propose an eligible artist to be considered by The Brits for nomination. Of the seventy eligible artists, twelve were female. Female artists were significantly represented in other categories, with Wet Leg receiving the joint highest number of nominations for the ceremony along with Harry Styles. A spokesperson for the Brits stated that 2022 saw fewer high profile women artists major releases and would monitor future nomination patterns.[23] When Styles won the category, he dedicated the award to several of the female artists who had not been nominated.[24]
Additional controversy surrounded the Brit Award for Pop/R&B Act category, with critics citing a lack of R&B representation and questioning why the two genres were grouped together in the first place.[25]
Several issues arose throughout the ceremony. During the acceptance speech for British Group, one member of the group Wet Leg shouted an expletive anti-Conservative Party message, which was subsequently censored.[26]
Another incident involved comedian Daisy May Cooper, who seemingly made an inappropriate cocaine joke about the Sugababes. Despite Daisy’s microphone crackling, as she uttered the insensitive joke, it was not bleeped out of the show for people watching at home.[27]
Additionally, production issues concerning the construction of the set for Sam Smith's performance resulted in a pre-recording of Adele performing her song "I Drink Wine" from last year's ceremony, being shown.[28]
Sam Smith and Kim Petras' performance of "Unholy" received backlash's resulting in over 100 Ofcom complaints being made.[29]
References
- "BRITs 2023 date confirmed". BRIT Awards. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
- Richards, Will (10 January 2023). "Mo Gilligan returning to host 2023 BRIT Awards". NME. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
- Jones, Roz (25 November 2022). "Nigerian creative Slawn brings his signature playful style to the design of the 2023 Brit Awards". It's Nice That. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
- Whitehead, Jamie (11 February 2023). "Harry Styles sweeps Brit Awards with four wins including Best Album, artist and pop/R&B act". BBC News. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
- "Brit awards 2023: Harry Styles and Wet Leg triumph while Lizzo delivers the glitz – as it happened". Guardian. 12 February 2023. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
- D'Souza, Shaad (2023-02-13). "Brit awards viewing figures up after Saturday night TV debut". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
- Alexander, David (13 January 2023). "From The 1975 to Sugababes: Your guide to Brits Week 2023 gigs". Metro. Retrieved 13 January 2023.
- "First BRITs performers announced!". BRITs. 2023-01-12. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
- "Harry Styles to perform at BRITs!". BRITs. 2023-01-12. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
- "Cat Burns to perform!". BRITs. 2023-01-12. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
- "More performers announced!". BRITs. 2023-01-12. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
- "Flo, Cat Burns and Nia Archives tipped for Brits Rising Star award". BBC News. 29 November 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
- Grein, Paul (8 December 2022). "FLO Wins Brit Awards' Rising Star Award". Billboard. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
- Smith, Carl (12 January 2023). "BRIT Awards 2023 nominations REVEALED". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
- "Brit Awards: Harry Styles and Wet Leg lead male-dominated nominations". BBC News. 2023-01-12. Retrieved 2023-01-16.
- "FLO announced as winners of BRITs Rising Star award supported by BBC Radio 1". The BRITs. 8 December 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
- Dredge, Stuart (12 January 2023). "TikTok to host public votes for the 2023 Brit Awards". Music Ally. Retrieved 13 January 2023.
- "BRITs 2023 Winners!". BRIT Awards. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
- Aniftos, Rania (11 February 2023). "Here Are the 2023 Brit Award Winners (Full List)". Billboard. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
- Snapes, Laura (12 January 2023). "Brit awards 2023: Wet Leg and Harry Styles lead male-dominated nominations". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
- Singh, Anita (12 January 2023). "Gender neutral Brit Awards sees only men nominated in top category". The Telegraph. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
- Peplow, emma; Spencer, Kate (10 February 2023). "The Brits: Harry Styles, Stormzy, Wet Leg, Lizzo and more get ready for weekend ceremony - amid controversy over all-male best artist shortlist". Sky News. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
- Youngs, Ian (14 January 2023). "Brit Awards 2023: Why are no women nominated for best artist?". BBC News. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
- "BRIT Awards 2023: Harry Styles acknowledges 'privilege' as he wins best artist and album". ITV News. 11 February 2023. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
- Wilkes, Emma (13 January 2023). "Acts hit out at lack of R&B representation at BRIT Awards". NME. Retrieved 13 January 2023.
- Bashforth, Emily (11 February 2023). "Wet Leg slip cheeky anti-Tories gag into Brit Awards acceptance speech". Metro.co.uk. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
- Ferlita, Gabriella (12 February 2023). "BRIT Awards viewers gobsmacked by Daisy May Cooper's odd Sugababes drugs joke". The Mirror. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
- McGeorge, Alistair. "Sam Smith in 'chaotic' backstage row before Brit Awards performance". Metro.co.uk. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
- Daly, Rhian (15 February 2023). "Sam Smith's BRITs 2023 performance sparks over 100 Ofcom complaints". Nme.com. Retrieved 10 October 2023.