With the Brits airing live in the London O2 Arena last week, as always there have been mixed opinions about the results, who deserved to win, or who should’ve won instead. When examining the results, it is evident that the Brits are bleeding green – but not in the Exeter way. The Brits 2025 have gone Brat-themed.
Charli XCX swept up four awards for her 2024 summer album – more than any other artist this year. The categories that Charli won with ‘Brat’ include Album of the Year, Artist of the Year, Song of the Year for the song ‘Guess’ with Billie Eilish’s feature, and Best Dance Act. This comes after the chart success of ‘Brat’ since its primary release, debuting at number 2 and later peaking at number 1 in the UK, and the ‘Brat Summer’ trend on social media platform TikTok, involving going out, partying, meeting new people, and going feral for all things lime green.
The next notable nomination was won by The Last Dinner Party, who won last year’s Rising Star award and secured the Best New Artist Award along their 2024 album, ‘Prelude to Ecstasy’. Other winners included Stormzy for Best Hip Hop/ Grime Act, Jade for Best Pop Act, Raye for Best R&B Act, Sam Fender for Best Alternative/ Rock Act, Ezra Collective for Group of the Year, Chappell Roan for International Artist of the Year, and Fontaines DC for International Group of the Year.
Furthermore, in terms of acceptance speeches, several artists, including Stormzy, Myles Smith, The Last Dinner Party, and Ezra Collective, have called for action to protect small, independent music venues in the UK. Whereas this sort of activism has been increasingly prominent in award acceptance speeches in recent years, others see it as performative – with many of the artists who claim to support small venues, not choosing to hold shows at them or not donating any money towards them.
The performances included the revolutionary Sabrina Carpenter, who is currently touring the UK with her recent album, ‘Short n’ Sweet’, the Luton artist Myles Smith, who proudly spoke about his roots while accepting his Rising Star Award, ex-Little Mix star Jade, TikTok-viral Lola Young, Ezra Collective, Sam Fender, and Teddy Swims. My personal favourite, however, was definitely The Last Dinner Party’s performance of ‘Nothing Matters’, though I wish they had the opportunity to perform some of their other songs, which are equally just as good!
Sabrina Carpenter, who opened the awards show with her performance of ‘Espresso’ and ‘Bed Chem’, quickly received backlash following her performance at the Brits, where the general public has claimed her lingerie outfit for ‘Bed Chem’ – which she wears for every one of her tour shows – was inappropriate. Sabrina, with her incredible and fun stage presence, was surrounded by male dancers dressed up as beefeaters, which some found to be offensive and mocking.
One mum claimed under a Facebook post that she “cannot believe they would let her perform on stage singing and being sexual in sexy lingerie” – expressing concerns for what her daughter was watching. Some claimed her performance should have come with a warning, or should have been “reserved for the watershed” – meaning that it should have only been shown upon disclosing the live broadcast was not suitable for an underage audience. Sabrina quickly responded on Instagram with a post showing her Red Carpet look and a joking caption of “I now know what watershed is!!!!”
For me personally, most of the Brit awards were well-deserved, though of course with my well-disclosed personal bias, I especially wish that the winner for Best Alternative/ Rock Act would have been Beabadobee, which would have secured her the second Brit award in her rise to fame. I also thoroughly enjoyed the performances, and I thought they were a good break for both the audience and the artists from the stress of award shows!
