The organisers of the BRIT Awards have introduced that they are going to be tweaking their guidelines for the 2024 instalment, following a row over range.
The structuring of the award ceremony confronted criticism at the beginning of the 12 months when it was revealed that no feminine artists had been shortlisted for the 2023 Greatest Artist award. This got here following the 2021 merging of the Greatest Male and Greatest Feminine classes.
The winner of this 12 months’s prize was pop icon Harry Kinds, who additionally made a nod in the direction of the perceived lack of equity within the broader class – dedicating his speech to feminine artists together with Rina Sawayama, Charli XCX, and Becky Hill, and acknowledging his “privilege”.
Now, based on a brand new report by BBC News, it has been introduced that the organisers of the BRITS will now enhance the variety of shortlisted artists for the Greatest Artist award. This sees an growth from 5 to 10 nominees for the 2024 version, within the hopes of making a extra balanced subject.
The expanded shortlist can even apply to the Greatest Worldwide Artist class as of subsequent 12 months.
In addition to broadening the variety of nominees, the organisers have additionally confirmed that they are going to be introducing a brand new award class, devoted solely to the R&B style. This comes because the nominees from the R&B world had been beforehand compiled right into a broader Greatest Pop/R&B style – that means that they confronted competitors from among the largest mainstream pop stars together with Sam Smith and Dua Lipa.
Talking to the outlet, the brand new restructuring of BRITS classes was supported by BBC 1Xtra’s DJ Ace, who mentioned that “proper now could be such a good time for R&B,” and artists from the style deserve a fairer likelihood at profitable an award.
Singer Mahalia – who contested the joined pop/R&B class by carrying a coat with the phrases “Lengthy Reside R&B” painted on the again a this 12 months’s ceremony – additionally shared her “pure happiness and pleasure” on the change.
“For me, when the [combined] class acquired introduced a few years in the past, I used to be disenchanted for the youthful era of R&B youngsters, who had been going to assume a Brit nomination was not possible,” she advised BBC Information. “I used to be type of feeling that, too. If I’m in a longlist with all of those enormous artwork pop artists, I don’t know the way I’m going to shine by way of.”
To make up for the R&B artists who might have been neglected this 12 months as a result of mixed class, organisers have additionally mentioned that for the 2024 version there could be an eligibility interval of 24 months (as an alternative of the standard 12), that means that those that went for the 2023 awards are nonetheless in a position to qualify.
“Clearly we had been disenchanted that no ladies had been nominated for artist of the 12 months in 2023,” Dr Jo Twist, CEO of awards organisers the BPI advised the outlet, reflecting on the explanations behind the restructure. “So we reached out to individuals within the trade and skilled teams to know how we will enhance this for this 12 months, to make the Brits inclusive and reflective.”
The subsequent instalment of the BRIT Awards ceremony will happen at London’s O2 Area on March 2. The 2024 version of the trophy has been designed by British visible artist Rachel Jones, who has hinted that the design will probably be “vibrant and chaotic”.
In different BRIT Award information, earlier this 12 months Sam Smith’s outfit on the crimson carpet occasion sparked upset with viewers, and over 100 Ofcom complaints had been filed based on the broadcasting regulator.
After the ceremony, Charli XCX criticised the awards for his or her all-male Artist Of The Yr shortlist – “I’ve heard a whole lot of chat in regards to the truth there weren’t sufficient females in album cycle,” she wrote to a fan who requested her about her lack of nominations. “That’s why nobody was nominated.”
