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).
Image: Styles played a big part in boosting the music industry last year
Image: 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.
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Image: 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.
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.
Image: 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.
Austria has won Eurovision 2025, with Austrian-Filipino singer-songwriter JJ taking the glass microphone.
The 24-year-old singer, who originally trained as a countertenor, represented his country with his operatic ballad Wasted Love, staged on a storm-tossed ship.
The song, which was not dissimilar to that of last year’s winner Nemo, told the story of unrequited love, with a techno breakdown near the end. Austria has won Eurovision twice before, the last time in 2014 with Conchita Wurst’s pop hit Rise Like A Phoenix.
Image: JJ singing Wasted Love for Austria. Pic: Reuters
Israel’s Yuval Raphael, who survived the October 7, 2023, attacks which were the catalyst for Israel’s ongoing offensive in Gaza, was the runner-up with piano ballad New Day Will Rise, performed in Hebrew, French and English.
The singer was left “shaken and upset,” after two pro-Palestinian protesters rushed towards her during her grand final performance.
Organisers confirmed a backstage crew member was hit with paint but was not hurt.
A spokesman for SRG SSR said: “At the end of the Israeli performance, a man and a woman tried to get over a barrier onto the stage.
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“They were stopped. One of the two agitators threw paint and a crew member was hit. The crew member is fine and nobody was injured. The man and the woman were taken out of the venue and handed over to the police.”
Israel has won Eurovision four times, and last year finished in fifth place with Eden Golan’s Hurricane.
Image: Yuval Raphael performs New Day Will Rise for Israel. Pic:AP
Just as the grand final began broadcasting, Spanish broadcaster shared a message of Palestinian support which read: “When human rights are at stake, silence is not an option. Peace and justice for Palestine.”
The broadcaster had already received a warning from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) over political statements reported by Israeli broadcaster Kan.
The EBU said in response to the latter incident: “We can confirm that we have spoken to RTVE regarding this matter and made it clear that commentators are expected to maintain neutrality within the broadcasts of the Eurovision Song Contest.”
During the evening, there were also pro-Palestinian protests near the centre of Basel, as well as a small group nearby protesting with Israeli flags.
Israeli National Security Council had issued a warning to Israeli civilians in the city to keep a low profile during the competition.
In a change from last year’s contest in Malmo, Sweden, the ban on certain flags being waved by the audience was relaxed which meant Palestinian symbols could be seen in the arena.
Image: Remember Monday perform What The Hell Just Happened for the UK. Pic: AP
The UK’s act – country pop trio Remember Monday – who performed in colourful Bridgerton-style outfits – avoided the dreaded “nul points”, coming in at 19th place with song What The Hell Just Happened?
However, for the second year running, the UK received no points in the public score.
The UK has had five wins at Eurovision, but in recent years have struggled to rank, with the exception being Sam Ryder with Space Man in 2022, who came second.
Last year, Olly Alexander placed 18th at Malmo, and Mae Muller was second to last the previous year in Liverpool.
The Eurovision grand final took place in the St Jakobshalle arena in Basel, Switzerland, with the winner from among the 26 performing nations decided by a mix of public voting and points from national juries.
The four-hour-long show was presented by an all-female team – stand-up comedian Hazel Brugger, TV presenter Michelle Hunziker and Eurovision veteran Sandra Studer.
There were performances by previous Eurovision runners-up Croatia’s Baby Lasagna and Finland’s Kaarija, as well as last year’s winner Nemo during the night.
Image: KAJ perform Bara Bada Bastu for Sweden. Pic: AP
Sweden had been widely tipped to win with their sauna-themed entry Bara Bada Bastu (Just Sauna), but ended up coming fourth.
Ukraine, who have made a strong showing each since they first entered the competition in 2003, and who won in 2023, came ninth.
Last year protests and politics overshadowed the singing event amid the outbreak of war in Gaza, with some calling for Israel to be kicked out of the contest.
Last year also saw Dutch singer Joost Klein kicked out of the competition by the EBU over alleged verbal threats to a female production worker, which he denied.
Next year’s competition, Eurovision’s 70th, will be held in Austria.
A second man has been charged with grievous bodily harm with intent after an incident at a London nightclub that allegedly involved US singer Chris Brown.
The Metropolitan Police said Omololu Akinlolu, 38, will appear at Manchester Magistrates’ Court on Saturday.
Better known by his stage name HoodyBaby, the American rapper has been charged in connection with an alleged assault at the Tape nightclub in central London in February 2023.
Brown, 36, was charged on Thursday with grievous bodily harm with intent and was remanded in custody by judge in Manchester until 13 June.
He is accused of attacking music producer Abraham Diaw with a bottle during the incident in February.
During a hearing at Manchester Magistrates’ Court on Friday, Brown watched intently as brief details of the case against him were outlined by prosecutor Hannah Nicholls.
She accused Brown of committing “an unprovoked attack with a weapon in a nightclub full of people”.
Brown spoke to confirm his name and date of birth, but did not enter a plea.
He will appear for a plea and trial preparation hearing in London on 13 June.
Brown – known for hits such as “Loyal”, “Run It” and “Under the Influence” – was arrested at a hotel in Manchester in the early hours of Thursday by detectives from the Metropolitan Police.
The Grammy Award-winning singer was due to tour the UK in June and July, with dates in Manchester, Cardiff, London, Glasgow and Birmingham.