The BRIT Awards returned for their 42nd edition on February 8, with some of the biggest artists of the last 12 months gathering at London’s O2 Arena.
A full arena audience was back at the ceremony for the since time since the COVID-19 pandemic, while new hosts presided over the distribution of several recently modified awards.
Beyond their flashy front, though, the BRITs are an institution in a time of flux.
So, how did 2022’s event compare to its predecessors?
These were the headlines…
Gender-neutral changes need some refining
When it was announced back in November 2021 that the BRITs would no longer use gendered categories, it was commended as a positive move.
This change came an entire decade after the Grammys had made the same move, but of course, stubbornness is a trait as British as drinking tea.
In the first year of gender-neutral categories, the achievements of women will steal headlines, with eight of the ten solo awards presented on the night going to female artists.
However, the diversity of female representation suffered from the nature of this year’s nominations.
Adele was dominant with three of the aforementioned eight awards, but beyond her, there weren’t many British females given much airtime on the night.
It did help that Adele addressed this, though.
In her acceptance speech for Artist of the Year – sounding almost exasperated from her earlier wins on the night – she admitted a fondness for the now-defunct Best British Female award and its celebration of a diverse range of acts.
Acts who would’ve been on the five-woman shortlist for that award – the likes of Jessie Ware, Mabel or Nao, for example – will now receive commendation and attention.
On another note, when the five acts nominated for Artist of the Year are the exact same as for Album of the Year, too, it makes the night’s crescendo something of a bore-fest.
I’m a fan of all of those who got nods – Sam Fender, Adele, Ed Sheeran, Dave and Little Simz – but when there was such a love-in for them, others are inevitably suffering.
Genre categories give reasons for optimism
On a lighter note, the return of genre-specific prizes was positive.
Indeed, it delivered probably the night’s best acceptance speech from Becky Hill, who few could begrudge a win in the Best Dance Act category after years of dedication to the scene.
Elsewhere, Sam Fender and Dave were probably the right choices in Rock/Alternative and Hip Hop/Rap/Grime.
Dua Lipa’s win in Pop/R&B, meanwhile, was the most obvious example of how TikTok voting can create a popularity contest.
That is something that the BRITs willingly accept in industry-voted awards though; Adele’s win for Album of the Year being the chief offender this year, when the artist’s stature meant ’30’ would naturally achieve stunning sales figures.
What needs fixing in Lipa’s case is the terms under which artists can be nominated.
Lipa was amazing in 2021, but her success was off the back of 2020’s ‘Future Nostalgia’, hardly off the three singles she released afterwards.
Performances a mixed bag – but end on a high note
If you do tune in to the BRITs (when increasingly people aren’t), then there’s a good chance that it’s for the broad range of live performers they boast every year.
Nine very different ends of the musical spectrum were touched by performances on this occasion, each to varying degrees of success.
There were no Madonna-level disasters, but on the less effective side we had Anne-Marie, KSI and Digital Farm Animal’s concoction of bland pop-rap, and – hate me for this if you like – totally fine but inoffensive renditions from Adele and Sheeran.
Liam Gallagher was brought on to enact his usual levels of self-impersonation, while Sheeran’s opening ‘Bad Habits’ collaboration with Bring Me The Horizon was decent but probably shouldn’t be repeated.
Little Simz and Fender will both receive plaudits for powerful turns, and while Holly Humberstone’s debut BRITs performance was somewhat poorly choreographed, the moments she was allowed to sit at the piano saw her at her best.
For airtime economy, though, look no further than Dave.
The man has great form at the BRITs, of course, with a truly historic performance of ‘Black’ at the 2020 show in his locker.
He displayed all of that conviction and more here in an epic eight-minute performance of ‘In The Fire’.
The now two-time BRIT Award recipient, still only 23, was impeccably supported by Fredo, Meekz, Ghetts and Giggs before picking up the microphone himself, but it was his display on a pyrotechnically-adapted guitar that really stole the show.
Dave is everything the BRITs is crying out for more of; genuine, political, impactful and influential as an artist, and thoroughly decent as a human being.
When it comes down to it, the event should cut out its tendency for fakery, desperate nostalgia and sycophantic treatment of major stars, and focus on the principles that he personifies.
Conclusions
The BRITs are in a sea change at the moment, no doubt.
There are commitments to diversity being followed, and that’s great to see.
But after another year where the transition was incredibly evident, with no real confidence over whether to aim performances, nominations or even jokes at the young or not-so-young, or the musically-inclined or sonically casual, greater leadership is required.
Whether more changes need to be made to director boards, voting panels or even to who is broadcasting the show, there are fundamental fixes out there somewhere.
We’re not asking for perfection, but it would be nice to have a BRITs that fans can have pride in.
The show, after all, is a celebration of British music.
Much like any good event, it’s all about confidence and putting on a good display, and we should be able to do this because British music, for the most part, is very bloody good.
The full list of award winners is available on the BRIT Award website here: https://www.brits.co.uk/news/brits-2022-winners.
Feature Image Credit: Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP