BRITs 2025 Award Selections

Best New Artist: The Last Dinner Party

The Last Dinner Party have become one of the most exciting new UK bands in many years since releasing their debut single and now signature song ‘Nothing Matters’ in April 2023. Arriving with a clear and unique identity combing a myriad of rock and pop influences and a theatrical, classical aesthetic, they have captured the hearts of a devoted fan base remarkably quickly and in the last year have achieved a number one album and main stage performances at all of the major UK festivals. Their exceptionally cohesive record, ‘Prelude To Ecstasy’, was one the best albums of the year and presented its exuberant tales covering the spectrum of human emotion with the drama and passion of an opera. Their distinctive and alluring offering has proved irresistible in a way that has not been seen for some time and they are not only one of the best new bands in the UK but one of the best generally. What more can be said?

Pop Act: Myles Smith

Myles Smith appeared in 2024 with a guitar and an amazing voice in a fantastic display of natural talent. His authentic, folky style stood out in a huge year for more highly-produced pop music and success came on the back of the quality and relatability of his songs. His most successful single ‘Stargazing’ was a warm celebration of love and self-discovery and speaks to the appeal of his honest, human messages. Smith no doubt established himself in 2024 as a big star for the future but also a significant contributor to UK pop music right now.

Hip Hop/ Grime/ Rap Act: Central Cee

Following on from the likes of Stormzy and Dave, Central Cee has managed to ascend from the UK rap underground to cultivate huge and diverse appeal. A further testament to his artistry however, is that he has been tipped for the challenge of taking UK rap beyond these shores, with his debut studio album Can’t Rush Greatness which was realised last month, becoming the first UK rap record to reach the Top 10 in the US and surely making him deserving of this award. This marks a huge step forward for the genre and is hopefully a sign that the rest of the world is finally waking up to the massive array of talent in UK rap music and beginning to consider it to be on the same level as America.

Alternative/ Rock Act: The Cure

The Cure are one of Britain’s most culturally significant bands and have had huge influence on alternative culture and a limitless list of groups since finding success in the 1980s. In 2024, they released Songs of a Lost World, their first record in 16 years, which was the runaway number one in the UK and number 4 in the US, their highest since Wish in 1992, and was universally praised for its dark and expansive sound and exploration of life’s monumental themes. The band evidently have a huge place in UK music, just as much today as in the past, as the love of their unique and distinct style clearly remains after so long without new music. Although this award goes no way to recognising the band’s importance to British music, it does appreciate one of the albums of the year and how The Cure remain to be incredibly innovative and completely relevant.

Dance Act: Nia Archives

It would be wholly deserved if Charli XCX received the award for best dance act given the influence of rave music and club culture on BRAT and the exposure this has given to this scene. Another worthy winner however would be Nia Archives who has established herself as one of key names in UK dance music and a contributor to the huge success of drum and bass music in recent years. The surging popularity of this once underground genre has given it far greater exposure in more mainstream environments. The second main stage at Reading Festival was replaced in 2024 by the immersive dance-focused Chevron Stage, on which Nia Archives drew a huge crowd for the penultimate slot, and her debut album Silence Is Loud was nominated for the Mercury Prize. The strength of electronic music is illustrated perfectly by the other nominees for this award with Fred Again, Chase and Status and Becky Hill as well as Charli XCX representing the biggest names in house, DnB, EDM and rave. For Archives to win in the wake of Chase and Status’ Best Producer nod last year however, would be a significant acknowledgement of the resurgence of drum and bass and jungle and their incredibly British roots.

International Artist of the Year: Chappell Roan

2024 will be remembered for the success of two international stars, but as Sabrina Carpenter has already been revealed to be receiving the global success award, Chappell Roan could be rightly named International Artist of the Year. She came from seemingly nowhere to be one of the most talked about artists in the world but had been growing a significant following over the first half of the 2020s. The release of ‘Good Luck, Babe’ in April, which became a hit around the world, could be said to have been the breakthrough which led to millions discovering her previous releases and her 2023 debut album peaking at number 2 on the US charts in August as well as being nominated for two Grammy awards. Chappell Roan’s rise to become one of the biggest pop stars in the world shows the huge appeal there is for her artistry, which was been developed over a decade, and was one of the most amazing musical stories of the year.

International Group of the Year: Fontaines D.C.

It’s hard to argue against Fontaines D.C. for this award after the release of their fourth album Romance which has been universally acclaimed and widely considered to be the guitar album of the year, especially in the UK and Ireland. The record broadened the horizons of the band’s writing and blended styles across and within its tracks, standing simultaneously as their most artistic work to date while being enjoyable to a wide audience. The first two singles ‘Starburster’ and ‘Favourite’ were particularly celebrated standouts and examples of the album’s depth with the former employing a frantic spoken word style over an audacious synth-string-based instrumental, and latter stirring up a both sad and joyous sense of longing over a jangly, 80s riff. Fontaines have again showed themselves to be on a creative plain that is a level above and, thanks to Romance, 2024 was a year where their incredible talent was recognised more widely, and applauded even more by their fans.

Group of the Year: Coldplay

Possibly the biggest group in the world and one of Britain’s most significant but seemingly somehow underestimated musical exports have unsurprisingly continued to sell out stadiums worldwide in the last year. The pyramid stage favourites added another colourful, communal spectacle to their record of prolific Glastonbury performances and they brought out an album which again demonstrated their knack for capturing all that is joyful about being alive. Although their music has progressed and their profile has sky-rocketed in the last 20 years, Coldplay deserve nothing but admiration as they are one of the most successful music outfits that this country has produced and are dedicated to spreading happiness and positivity. Unless they stick to their promise of their twelfth album being their last, they will no doubt continue to delight fans around all around the world, break records and continually reinvent themselves.

Artist of the Year: Dua Lipa

Dua Lipa set the bar for success incredibly high with her second album Future Nostalgia in 2020 which was a global smash and hugely acclaimed, and therefore a pretty tough act to follow. Although 2024’s Radical Optimism did not have the same ground-breaking impact, it still topped the UK album charts (it was only held off the top spot in America by the insurmountable Taylor Swift) and featured some of the most enjoyable and polished music she has released. With this in mind alongside a headline performance at Glastonbury, 2024 could be said to have been a great year for the singer by anyone else’s standards. She continually demonstrates an ability to produced extremely high-class pop music and has expanded her talents into podcasting and acting and has launched a successful newsletter and book club, making her an incredible advert for the full breadth of the creative industries. Her worldwide stardom and now influential status in a host of other areas solidifies Dua Lipa’s presence as one of the most successful and significant artists of any kind in Britain and the world.

Album of the Year: BRAT - Charli XCX

Possibly the most obvious choice of all the categories, BRAT’s impact globally has been on a scale which has not been seen often in recent years. Charli XCX seems to have spent her career split between being a mainstream star and an underground favourite but following BRAT there can be no question as to which category she now falls into. The album has elevated her to be one of the most relevant and exciting artists in the world through not only not making any artistic compromise, but by leaning in to the intense and brash side of club culture, with screeching synths, thudding beats and copious amounts of autotune. This extends to its lauded green cover and wider aesthetic which formed the basis of one of the all-time great modern music marketing campaigns with the jarring green hue reflecting the album’s messy and confident ethos that spawned the season of ‘Brat Summer’. BRAT was the definitive pop culture moment of 2024 making it extremely hard to contend with for album of the year.