BRIT Awards 2013
BY İDİL DAMLA BİNGÖL (IE/IV)
I'm here this week with another awards ceremony: the BRIT Awards. The BRITs are actually my favorite ceremony of the year. This year the ceremony was presented by James Corden, and according to The Guardian, the live TV coverage attracted the biggest audience of the last decade for the awards.
This year's most nominated artists were Mumford & Sons and Emeli Sandé with four nominations each, and the biggest winners were again Emeli Sandé and Ben Howard, with two awards each. Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake, Ben Howard, Mumford & Sons, Emeli Sandé, One Direction, Robbie Williams and Muse performed live at the event.
Even though they're my favorite music awards, this year's BRITs weren't interesting. That is, there was nothing interesting or unexpected about either the awards or the performances. I'm not saying that the performances were bad, but they weren't exciting. Did we see anything like Plan B's "She Said/Prayin'" performance in 2011? Of course it's not reasonable to expect a burning man (as in that performance) every year, but after all, it's an awards ceremony, and people are expecting (or should expect) more sensational performances. This year's best performance was Muse's "Supremacy," but again, we've seen far more amazing things than that at the BRIT Awards in the past.
As was the case at this year's Grammy Awards, there was also nothing unexpected in the nominations, or in the awards. This time, we watched the UK Top 40 live, getting their newly designed BRIT awards -- Mumford & Sons, Emeli Sandé, The Black Keys, even the British Single award -- there was nothing surprising, similarly to what I said about how we saw MTV artists receiving the awards at the Grammys.
In my opinion, this year's award was the Critics' Choice. That's because I've listened to two of the nominees, AlunaGeorge and Laura Mvula, and mentioned these artists in the BBC Sound of 2013 article almost a month ago, and I'm really curious about Tom Odell, the artist who was chosen for this award over them. So far, he looks really interesting, and I've listened to his single "Another Love," which is really good. His debut album, "Long Way Down," will be released on April 15.
The complete list of winners is below:
British breakthrough act:
Ben Howard
British female solo artist:
Emeli Sande
British group:
Mumford & Sons
Live act:
Coldplay
British male solo artist:
Ben Howard
British producer:
Paul Epworth
British single:
Adele - Skyfall
Special recognition award:
War Child
Brits global success (for international sales in 2012): One Direction
Critics' choice:
Tom Odell
International female solo artist:
Lana Del Rey
International group:
Black Keys
International male solo artist:
Frank Ocean
Best album:
Emeli Sandé - Our Version of Events
This Week's Songs:
Here's your mini-list for this week's new songs:
1. Tom Odell - Another Love
Thanks to the BRITs, he may be my new addiction.
2. Little Boots - Motorway
This is the best track Little Boots has released for a long time. (Maybe the best ever!)
3. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Sacrilege
Their new album will be released on April 16, and this track is from it. With the choir and everything, it's one epic song!
4. Frank Ocean - Eyes Like Sky
Frank Ocean proves that he deserves all those nominations and awards.
5. Still Corners - Berlin Lovers
Here's another London-based electropop duo, and here's the second single from their second album.
Enjoy.