Harry Styles, Arctic Monkeys, Wet Leg, Stormzy and Little Simz are among the artists nominated for this year’s Ivor Novello Awards for songwriting.
Other artists on the shortlist include Ed Sheeran, Florence + The Machine, and Cleo Sol and Inflo – as well as Kate Bush,whose 1980s hit Running Up That Hill is shortlisted as one of the top five most performed songs of 2022 thanks to its revival in sci-fi series Stranger Things.
Raye is also nominated for best contemporary song for Escapism – the hit thatstormed the charts after she cut ties with her record label and went independent. The track is up against songs including Hide And Seek by Stormzy, and Payback by Kojey Radical featuring Knucks.
Image: Little Simz. Pic: Ivor Novello Awards
Styles and his songwriting partner Kid Harpoon have three nominations, including for songwriter of the year – up against Florence Welch (Florence + The Machine), Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers (Wet Leg), George Daniel and Matty Healy (The 1975), and Central Cee and Young Chencs.
Cleopatra Nikolic (Cleo Sol) and Dean “Inflo” Josiah Cover are also up for three awards together.
Arctic Monkeys, Little Simz, Fontaines DC, SAULT and Obongjayar are the five artists shortlisted for best album, while Cat Burns, Ines Dunn, tendai, venbee and Victoria Canal are up for the rising star prize.
The Ivor Novello Awards recognise creative musical achievement in songwriting and composition, and also celebrate a number of singer-songwriters and groups for their wider contribution to UK music.
In total, some 72 individual songwriters and composers have been recognised, with more than half (54%) receiving a nomination for the very first time.
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Tom Gray, chair of The Ivors Academy, said: “The music nominated for an Ivor Novello this year is testament to the power and range of British and Irish songwriting and screen composing. It’s a superlative list and on behalf of The Ivors Academy I’m delighted to congratulate every writer nominated for their craft and achievements.”
Image: Rhian Teasdale, left, and Hester Chambers of Wet Leg at the 2022 Grammy Awards. Pic: AP
This year, as previously announced, Sting is expected to become a fellow of the Ivors Academy, its highest honour – following in the footsteps of artists including Sir Elton John, Sir Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox and Joan Armatrading.
Other special awards to be announced include prizes for outstanding song collection and an icon award.
The winners will be revealed at a ceremony in London on Thursday 18 May.
The full list of nominees
Image: Stormzy on stage at Reading Festival in 2021
BEST ALBUM 11 – written by Dean “Inflo” Josiah Cover, Jamar McNaughton, Cleopatra Nikolic and Jack Peñate, performed by SAULT
No Thank You –written by Dean “Inflo” Josiah Cover, Little Simz and Cleopatra Nikolic, performed by Little Simz
Skinty Fia – written by Grian Chatten, Thomas Coll, Conor Curley, Conor Deegan and Carlos O’Connell, performed by Fontaines DC
Some Nights I Dream Of Doors – written by Barney Lister and Obongjayar, performed by Obongjayar
The Car – written by Alex Turner, performed by Arctic Monkeys
BEST CONTEMPORARY SONG Cold Summer – written by Wesley Joseph and Leon Vynehall, performed by Wesley Joseph
Escapism – written by 070 Shake, Raye and Mike Sabath, performed by Raye & 070 Shake
Hide & Seek – written by Owen Cutts, P2J, PRGRSHN and Stormzy, performed by Stormzy
Leon The Professional – written by Knucks, Venna and Toshifumi Hinata, performed by Knucks
Payback – written by Knucks, Kojey Radical and Swindle, performed by Kojey Radical featuring Knucks
Image: Sigourney Weaver in Avatar: The Way Of Water. Pic: 20th Century Studios
BEST ORIGINAL FILM SCORE Avatar: The Way Of Water – composed by Simon Franglen
Death On The Nile – composed by Patrick Doyle
Don’t Worry Darling – composed by John Powell
Mrs Harris Goes To Paris – composed by Rael Jones
The Electrical Life Of Louis Wain – composed by Arthur Sharpe
BEST ORIGINAL VIDEO GAME SCORE Gotham Knights – composed by The Flight
Horizon Forbidden West – composed by Joris de Man, Oleksa Lozowchuk and The Flight
Mario + Rabbids Sparks Of Hope – composed by Gareth Coker, Grant Kirkhope and Yoko Shimomura
Snoop Dogg has become a co-owner and investor of Swansea, with the US rapper hailing the Welsh football club as “an underdog that bites back, just like me”.
The former Premier League club, which plays in the English second tier, confirmed theUS rapper and producer plans to use his own money to invest in it, Sky Sports reports, although it didn’t disclose financial details.
“My love of football is well known, but it feels special to me that I make my move into club ownership with Swansea City,” the music icon said in the announcement.
“The story of the club and the area really struck a chord with me,” he added. “This is a proud, working class city and club.
“An underdog that bites back, just like me.
“I’m proud to be part of Swansea City. I am going to do all I can to help the club.”
Swansea’s American owners, led by Brett Cravatt and Jason Cohen, are trying to grow the Championship club’s global brand and increase commercial revenue.
Snoop Dogg, 53, who has 89m followers on Instagram and more than 20m on X, helped launch the team’s 2025-26 home shirt last weekend.
The club ownership group said: “To borrow a phrase from Snoop’s back catalogue, this announcement is the next episode for Swansea City as we seek to create new opportunities to boost the club’s reach and profile.”
Luka Modric, who recently signed with AC Milan from Real Madrid, joined Swansea’s ownership group in April.
Police are taking no further action over Kneecap’s performance at Glastonbury.
Officers said they had investigated “comments about a forthcoming court case made during Kneecap’s performance” at the festival on 28 June.
However, after Crown Prosecution Service advice, they decided there is not enough evidence “to provide a realistic prospect of conviction for any offence”.
It said they were looking at a possible public order incident.
Police said on Friday that the investigation into Bob Vylan’s performance was ongoing.
The London duo were widely criticised – and caused a BBC crisis – after leading on-stage chants of “death to the IDF” (Israel Defence Forces).
Image: Kneecap’s Liam Og O Hannaidh appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in June. Pic: PA
Kneecap posted a photograph on Instagram, which the group said was an email from police announcing the case was being dropped.
They said their packed Glastonbury gig was a “celebration of love and solidarity” and reporting used “wildly misleading headlines”.
Fears over what Kneecap might do or say during the performance had prompted the BBC not to show it live.
The group said: “Every single person who saw our set knew no law was broken, not even close… yet the police saw fit to publicly announce they were opening an investigation.”
“There is no public apology, they don’t send this to media or post it on police accounts,” they added.
The police statement on Friday said they had informed Kneecap of their decision to drop the case.
A huge fire has destroyed the main stage of a major festival in Belgium – two days before it was due to begin.
Tomorrowland is a dance music event as big as Glastonbury – and David Guetta was due to perform.
Footage showed flames and thick plumes of black smoke engulfing the stage and spreading to nearby woodland on Wednesday.
Image: The fire gutted the main stage
Image: Fire crews attempt to bring the blaze under control
The annual festival in the town of Boom, north of Brussels, is one of the biggest in Europe and attracts about 400,000 people over two consecutive weekends.
It is famous for its immersive and elaborate designs and attracts big names within dance music – including Guetta, best known for tracks When Love Takes Over and Titanium.
Dutch DJs Martin Garrix and Charlotte de Witte were also due to perform, along with the likes of Swedish House Mafia, Eric Prydz and Alok.
Image: Black smoke could be seen rising into the sky
The festival’s website described the creative elements which went into the elaborate main stage.
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The theme, described as Orbyz, was “set in a magical universe made entirely out of ice” and “full of mythical creatures”.
Organisers said no one was injured in the blaze but confirmed “our beloved main stage has been severely damaged”, adding they were “devastated”.
Spokesperson Debby Wilmsen added: “We received some truly terrible news today. A fire broke out on the Tomorrowland site … and our main stage was essentially destroyed there, which is truly awful.
“That’s a stage that took years to build, with so much love and passion. So I think a lot of people are devastated.”
Image: Spokesperson Debby Wilmsen told reporters ‘a lot of people are devastated’
Despite the fire, Tomorrowland organisers said they were still expecting 38,000 festivalgoers at DreamVille, the event’s campsite.