Brits 2023: Lizzo joins Harry Styles in performer line-up as gender category controversy rumbles on
Lizzo has joined the line-up of performers for the 2023 Brit Awards, organisers have confirmed.
The American singer and flutist is the latest star to be revealed, along with David Guetta, Becky Hill and Ella Henderson who will also take to the stage next month.
They will share the bill with Harry Styles, Cat Burns, Sam Smith & Kim Petras and Wet Leg, who have been previously announced.
Former-boybander Harry Styles and Isle of Wight duo Wet Leg lead the nods
There has already been controversy around the recently revealed nominations, with an all-male best artist of the year list leading many to question the newly introduced gender-neutral categories.
Defending the nomination choices, the awards said that while the lack of female nominees was “disappointing”, it was down to 2022 seeing “fewer high-profile women artists in cycle with major releases” than in 2021.
The Brit Awards‘ organisers reportedly plan to evaluate their decision to adopt gender-neutral prizes as part of their annual review after the upcoming ceremony.
This year will be Lizzo’s second performance at the event. She’s nominated for international artist of the year and international song of the year for her hit About Damn Time, which reached number one in the US and number three in the UK.
The three times Grammy winner has over five billion global streams to her name and had a platinum selling debut album. Her fourth studio album Special was released to critical acclaim last year, reaching number two on the Billboard 200 chart and the UK Top Ten.
She performed a medley of songs at the 2020 Brit Awards, and delighted fans at one point in the evening by cosying up to pal Harry Styles and downing a drink from his table.
David Guetta is nominated for international song of the year
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Everything you need to know about the Brits Awards 2023
Harry Styles and Wet Leg lead Brit Award nominations
David Guetta is also nominated for international song of the year for I’m Good (Blue) with Bebe Rexha, which is his seventh number one UK record.
It’s the latest in a string of successful collaborations for Guetta, including Black Eyed Peas, Shakira, and Becky Hill along with Ella Henderson. A two-time Grammy winner, Guetta has achieved 14 billion global streams and 50 billion record sales worldwide to date.
Becky Hill is nominated for best dance act
Ella Henderson’s also performing on the night
Electric music pioneer Becky Hill is nominated for best dance act and is the current holder of the award, having won it last year. It will be her first Brit performance.
Nominations for the 2023 Brit Awards were announced earlier this month, with former-boybander Harry Styles and Isle of Wight duo Wet Leg leading the nods.
Other artists nominated for multiple awards include Aitch, Arctic Monkeys, Beyoncé, Cat Burns, Dave, Ed Sheeran, Eliza Rose, Lizzo, Nova Twins, Sam Smith, Stormzy and Taylor Swift.
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This year four genre categories will be decided by the public via a vote on TikTok – those are alternative rock act, hip hop/rap/grime act, dance act and pop/R&B act.
R&B girl group Flo were previously announced as the winners of the Rising Star award.
The Brit Awards 2023 will take place on Saturday 11 February and will be broadcast live on ITV1 and ITVX from London’s O2 arena, hosted by Mo Gilligan.
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Om Fahad: Iraqi social media influencer shot dead by gunman on motorbike who posed as food delivery rider – report
A well-known Iraqi social media influencer has reportedly been shot dead in her car by a gunman on a motorbike.
Om Fahad, whose real name is Ghufran Sawadi, was killed outside her home in Baghdad’s Zayouna district on Friday, according to the AFP news agency, citing security officials.
It appears the unidentified attacker pretended to be delivering food to the victim, one security source said.
Om Fahad, who has nearly half a million TikTok followers, became famous for posting light-hearted videos where she dances to Iraqi music.
Six days ago, she shared footage of herself driving in a car and also posing in front of a mirror. They have each been watched hundreds of thousands of times.
The influencer was sentenced to six months in prison in February last year for sharing videos that a court ruled contained “indecent speech that undermines modesty and public morality”.
A campaign was launched in 2023 by the Iraqi government to clamp down on social media content which broke the country’s “morals and traditions”.
The interior ministry set up a committee to look for “offensive” clips on platforms such as TikTok and YouTube, with several influencers being arrested.
“This type of content is no less dangerous than organised crime,” the ministry declared in a promotional video which asked the public to help by reporting such content.
“It is one of the causes of the destruction of the Iraqi family and society.”
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Speaking last year, interior ministry spokesman Saad Maan argued the morality campaign has “nothing to do with freedom of expression”.
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In 2018, gunmen in Baghdad shot dead Tara Fares, who was a model and influencer.
After years of war and sectarian conflict following the 2003 US invasion that overthrew dictator Saddam Hussein, Iraq has returned to some semblance of normality despite sporadic violence, political instability and corruption.
But civil liberties, particularly among women and sexual minorities, are still constrained in a conservative and male-dominated society.
R Kelly’s challenge against a 20-year sentence for child sex convictions has been quashed by an appeals court.
The singer was correctly sentenced to 20 years in prison, a Chicago court ruled on Friday.
He was convicted in 2022 on three charges of producing child sexual abuse images and three charges of enticement of minors for sex.
In his appeal, Kelly, 57, argued Illinois’ old statute of limitations – which required prosecution of child sex crime charges within 10 years – should have applied, rather than the current law permitting charges while an accuser is still alive.
The appeals court rejected this, labelling it an attempt by Kelly to elude the charges entirely after “employing a complex scheme to keep victims quiet”.
He also argued that charges involving one accuser should have been tried separately from the charges tied to three other accusers due to video evidence that became a focal point of the Chicago trial.
Prosecutors have said the video showed Kelly abusing a girl. The accuser, only identified as Jane, testified for the first time that she was 14 when the video was taken.
The three-judge panel from the appeals court noted jurors acquitted Kelly on seven of the 13 counts against him “even after viewing those abhorrent tapes”.
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In a written statement, Kelly’s attorney Jennifer Bonjean said they plan to seek a US Supreme Court review of the decision and “pursue all of his appellate remedies until we free R Kelly”.
“We are disappointed in the ruling, but our fight is far from over,” she said.
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