Brit Awards 2023: Harry Styles and Wet Leg lead the nominations with Stormzy, The 1975 and Fred Again not far behind
Ex-boybander Harry Styles and Isle of Wight indie rock band Wet Leg lead this year’s Brit Awards race, with four nods each.
Pop megastar Styles played a large part in boosting music industry sales last year, with his smash hit As It Was, spending 10 consecutive weeks at number one on the Official Singles Chart and becoming the only track to surpass 180 million streams during 2022, according to analysis of Official Charts data by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).
Styles played a big part in boosting the music industry last year
Wet Leg – Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers. Pic: Hollie Fernando
Styles was also behind 2022’s top album with his Grammy and Mercury shortlisted Harry’s House.
Isle of Wight duo Wet Leg – Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers – have had massive critical and commercial success since signing with their record label in 2021, with their debut single Chaise Longue going viral.
They were shortlisted for last year’s Mercury Prize, nabbed five nominations at this year’s Grammys, and count Barack Obama and Iggy Pop as fans.
South London singer Cat Burns, whose song Go went viral on TikTok last year and was the fourth most streamed single of the year, received three nominations.
Stormzy, Fred Again and The 1975 also got three nods.
Central Cee, George Ezra, Arctic Monkeys, Nova Twins, Aitch, Dave, Eliza Rose, Beyonce, Lizzo, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith all received two nods each.
The nominations were announced online by presenters Vick Hope and Jack Saunders.
South London singer Cat Burns
There are a host of first-time nominees in the mix, including four-piece K-Pop girl group Blackpink, Cat Buns, Eliza Rose, Nova Twins, Sam Ryder, Jack Harlow and Kojey Radical.
Speaking in a pre-recorded video during the nomination reveal, best new artist nominee Rina Sawayama – who was born in Japan but moved to the UK with her parents aged five – admitted she hadn’t initially been eligible to be part of the awards because she didn’t have a British passport, but said that after campaigning the rules were changed to allow her to take part.
R&B girl group FLO – featuring Renee, Jorja and Stella – had already been announced as the winner of the highly coveted rising star award, following in the footsteps of the likes of Adele, Sam Smith and Celeste.
The Brits announced that they would be scrapping their male and female award categories in 2021, going gender-neutral in an attempt to make their music prize more inclusive.
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Four public voted genre awards introduced last year – Alternative/Rock, Dance, Hip Hop/Grime/Rap and Pop/R&B – will also be continuing this year.
Mo Gilligan will be hosting the Brits, after making his debut last year, which he called “one of he most phenomenal moments of my life”.
The first acts who will perform on the night were also announced, with Wet Leg on the bill as well as a duet from Sam Smith and Kim Petras.
For the first time the ceremony will take place on a Saturday, in a bid to reach a wider audience.
Blackpink, from left, Lisa, Jisoo, Jennie, and Rose
The awards follows a stellar performance from British music in 2022, with last year’s UK recorded music consumption increasing for the eighth consecutive year.
The 2023 BRIT Awards takes place on Saturday 11 February at the O2 Arena and will be broadcast live on ITV and ITVX.
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John David Washington says he felt like he had to conceal his desire to act because of the external expectations of him being the child of Denzel and Pauletta Washington.
He tells Sky News it took some time for him to pursue an acting career, choosing football instead to assert his “independence” and create his own “identity” separate from his famous family.
“I’ve been wanting to do this my whole life… but I was hiding it,” he said.
“I had to conceal that passion based on my relationship to the world and more specifically, my folks being in the industry, so I chose ball.
“I loved ball, but I was sort of hiding my love for the arts under a helmet – literally an American football helmet – and so when I wanted to become an actor, when I decided to pursue it, that was a big shock to some people.”
The 40-year-old actor says when he decided to pursue an acting career, he kept the decision quiet.
“Some people didn’t know I was even pursuing it professionally until I got a job,” he said.
John David with fellow actor Danielle Deadwyler. Pic: David Lee/ Netflix
Since switching to acting, John David has starred in a number of notable roles including the protagonist in Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, Ron Stallworth in BlacKkKlansman and Joshua in The Creator.
He also led the stage revival of the 2022 Tony-nominated play The Piano Lesson on Broadway alongside Samuel L Jackson.
“He [Jackson] originated the role [I play] in 1987 at Yale with Lloyd Richards and August Wilson,” John David said.
“So it was of great importance for us to learn from both he and Michael Potts about August Wilson. It was a great blessing for me, I think, for all of us to have him present on set.”
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The Piano Lesson is the third August Wilson play to be adapted for the screen by Denzel Washington’s production company Mundy Lane Entertainment.
It is part of a pledge made by the Gladiator II actor to make all 10 of the playwright’s works into films.
The Netflix project is directed by another Washington family member, Malcolm, and stars most of the cast from the Broadway revival.
The Piano Lesson is Malcolm Washington’s directorial debut. Pic: Katia Washington/ Netflix
Set in 1936 Pittsburgh in the aftermath of the Great Depression, the film centres on a family heirloom, a piano, that is etched with the carvings of their family history made by their enslaved ancestor.
Malcolm says he started reading the play for the first time during the pandemic and immediately wanted to be involved in the film adaptation.
“I think with this movie, reclamation of story and identity is so central to the theme and it’s something that’s central to my life where I both acknowledge the fertile ground that I was raised on and who I am today.
“That’s what Wining Boy [played by Michael Potts] really is trying to do, he’s trying to build on that legacy, so that’s a story that really resonated with me.”
The filmmaker added: “I take all the gifts that my ancestors laid in front of me, and I’m trying to build something for the next generation to pass down – all of their gifts, plus mine to the next generation and let them build on it.”
Malcolm has dedicated his directorial debut to his mother, Pauletta Washington. Pic: David Lee/Netflix
Malcolm says his goal was to put family at the forefront of the production. By dedicating his feature debut to “Mama”, he is acknowledging the dedication and sacrifices that mothers make for the growth of their families.
“There’s so much pointing to my mother in particular, who inspired this adaptation so much. I see so much of her life in Berniece’s character [played by Danielle Deadwyler] – and that became a guiding light for me in this adaptation,” he said.
“As we made this thing and started reconnecting with our ancestors, my mum became like a kind of representative of them.
“She’s the matriarch of our family. She tells me about my grandparents and great-grandparents and the line that I come from, and I see them in her.
“And when the movie ends, I want people to kind of have that moment of reflection for their own lives. So in dedicating it to her, I was trying to dedicate it to all mums everywhere.”
The Piano Lesson is now available on Netflix.
Blockbuster Wicked has landed the largest opening weekend of 2024 at Vue International.
The film, starring Oscar-nominated actress Cynthia Erivo and Grammy-winning pop star Ariana Grande as Elphaba and Glinda, surpassed both Gladiator II and Paddington In Peru.
It has also had the largest opening weekend for a stage musical adaptation in the cinema chain’s history.
A boss for Vue International said it had seen a “sea of pink and green” over the weekend.
Ariana Grande (left) as Glinda and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba in the film. Pic: PA
Pic: PA
Pic: PA
Released on Friday, Wicked is up 60% on Les Miserables’ opening weekend in 2012 and three times larger than the 2022 film adaptation of Matilda.
Founder and chief executive of Vue International Tim Richards said: “Vue has seen a sea of pink and green over the opening weekend of Wicked, which has shown continued high demand for the big screen experience.
“We saw record-breaking pre-sales for Wicked, followed by a chart-topping opening weekend – the biggest for 2024.”
The film is the first of two parts, with the second expected in November next year.
Wicked and Gladiator II – known together as Glicked – have reportedly failed to beat out Barbenheimer, Barbie and Oppenheimer, in its own opening weekend last summer.
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Glicked brought in £215m in worldwide ticket sales – with Wicked making the majority of that.
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