Brat awards! Charli xcx wins five Brits for zeitgeist-conquering album

The Guardian

01-03-2025

Charli xcx has won five Brit awards, including album of the year for her summer-defining, green-hued, magnificently debauched album Brat.
At the ceremony in London's O2 Arena, she was also awarded British artist of the year, song of the year for Guess (featuring Billie Eilish), and one of the five genre awards, for dance act. Earlier in the week she was named songwriter of the year.
The wins cap a zeitgeist-surfing year for the singer, whose knowingly trashy sound and look was so distinctive it gave rise to a whole cultural phenomenon: 'Brat summer', plus various things being declared 'brat'. It was nebulously defined – Charli asserted that the seemingly un-brat Kamala Harris was, in fact, brat – but centred around untrammelled raving, unclean living and unbothered cool.
Brat topped the UK chart and has spent 38 weeks in the Top 20, and was critically acclaimed for its range: between the club bangers lay a series of thoughtful, romantic and emotionally raw tracks that laid bare Charli's anxieties about fame and potential motherhood. It was also a success in the US, reaching No 3 and winning three Grammys.
She thanked some of her dance music heroes – resulting in probably the first mention of Autechre at the Brit awards – as well as Eilish for turning her contribution to Guess around in a handful of days, saying: 'Not all artists are [as] spontaneous, despite claiming that they are.' On winning album of the year, she said: 'I've always felt like an outsider ... particularly in the British music industry. So it feels really nice to be recognised on this album, when I haven't made any sacrifices.' She told her fellow artists: 'You don't need to compromise your vision.'
The chief architect of Brat's dance-pop sound, AG Cook, won the Brit award for producer of the year. He also released a solo album during the awards' eligibility period, entitled Britpop.
Charli – real name Charlotte Aitchison, 32 – first released music back in 2008, but these are her first Brit award wins following four previous nominations. Only one artist has ever won more Brits in a single year: Raye, who set the record last year with six, and who has now added to her overall haul by winning R&B act for the second year in a row.
Another act adding to a 2024 win was the Last Dinner Party. The flamboyant five-piece were given the rising star award last year, and have now picked up best new artist. Playing an expansive style of classic rock and alt-pop, their debut album Prelude to Ecstasy went to No 1 in February 2024, and they have become regarded as one of the UK's best live acts.
Bassist Georgia Davies said they 'wouldn't be a band without the UK's incredible independent venues – they are the lifebood of the industry, and they are dying'. She called on arena operators to financially support grassroots venues, and told artists who play the latter to 'keep going, because that's the best kind of art there is'.
The Last Dinner Party lost out in the British group category, though, to a giantkilling underdog: jazz quintet Ezra Collective, who also beat Coldplay, the Cure and Bring Me the Horizon.
Playing propulsive instrumentals influenced by Fela Kuti as well as hip-hop, funk and spiritual jazz, they are the leading light in London's recently resurgent jazz scene. Like the Last Dinner Party, their live show is hugely acclaimed, and in November they became the first British jazz act to play London's 12,500-capacity Wembley Arena. They're also the first jazz group to win a Brit award, and in 2023 they became the first jazz act to win the Mercury prize.
After picking up the award, bandleader Femi Koleoso appealed for support for youth clubs and music education, saying: 'So many of the problems that face greater society in the UK, we're unsure of how to fix, but the solution likes with giving a young person a trumpet, a saxophone – because when you do that you give them an aspiration, a goal.'
In the genre categories – which were voted for by the public – Sam Fender picked up the rock/alternative act prize for the second time, in the week he hit No 1 with his third album People Watching: the fastest-selling vinyl album by a British artist this century, and the biggest opening week for a British artist since Harry Styles in 2022.
Waggishly introduced by host Jack Whitehall as 'a man who has put more smiles on Geordie faces than a Turkish dentist', Fender also performed his new album's title track.
Former Little Mix member Jade beat Charli xcx to best pop act, having transitioned into a successful solo career with the hit single Angel of My Dreams. She adds to her three wins with Little Mix, including in 2021 when they became the first female act to win British group. She also beat Dua Lipa, who had a night to forget, not winning any of her four nominated categories.
He may have won three Brits in the past and remains a commercial heavyweight, but Stormzy was something of a surprise winner in the hip-hop/grime/rap category. Central Cee had been the favourite, having become the country's most globally popular rapper in recent years (though, like Fender, his recent No 1 album Can't Rush Greatness isn't eligible until next year's Brits).
As well as quoting a Bible psalm and saying he had bruised his cornea playing Padel, Stormzy namechecked Central Cee in his acceptance speech, saying that while he was grateful for the win, 'I don't entirely think this award should be fan-voted … sometimes I think it doesn't let people have their moments. Cench was the rap artist of the year.'
The public vote was between mid-January and mid-February, meaning that the outcry at Stormzy's recent McDonald's campaign did not affect his votes.
This year's rising star award was given in December to singer-songwriter Myles Smith, who was nominated for three further awards, including song of the year for his huge hit Stargazing, which he performed at the ceremony along with Nice to Meet You.
Picking up the award, the working-class Luton musician addressed the British government: 'If British music is one of the most powerful cultural exports we have, why have you treated it like an afterthought for so many years?'
'We have to protect the foundations that make it,' he added. Like the Last Dinner Party, he appealed to arena operators to support British grassroots venues, and asked the music industry: 'Are we building careers, or are we just chasing moments … please stick with artists past a viral hit.'
It was a sentiment shared by Chappell Roan, who called for artists to 'not be pressured into making music based off what is trending' as she picked up the international song award for Good Luck, Babe! The US pop singer-songwriter also won the award for international artist, which she dedicated to 'trans artists, drag queens, fashion students, sex workers and Sinéad O'Connor.'
Irish rockers Fontaines DC picked up international group, their second win in that category.
Introduced by Diana Ross and Millie Bobby Brown, Sabrina Carpenter was given the reactivated global success award, following a year in which she had three UK No 1 singles plus a No 1 album. She thanked her British fans, saying: 'In a primarily tea-drinking country, you've streamed the shit out of Espresso … cheerio!'
Carpenter opened the live show to the strains of Rule, Britannia! with dancers dressed as Buckingham Palace guards, segueing into a performance of the chart-topping Espresso and then a watershed testing, raunchy rendition of Bed Chem. The show also featured performances from Jade, the Last Dinner Party, British singer Lola Young, US singer Teddy Swims, and Ezra Collective, who performed alongside London youth group Kinetika Bloco and two-time Brit winner Jorja Smith.
Whitehall, who previously hosted the show between 2018 and 2021, returned with a hail of good-natured jibes targeting the likes of Simon Cowell, KSI, Coldplay ('the public school Nickelback') and even the previous day's 'cringe' Zelenskyy-Trump meeting. He skirted the boundaries of good taste with one comment about Jade's live performance, saying: 'I really thought Diddy might have done it for the white party theme', and later referenced sex toys and an adult film actor – all of it casting the Brits as the award season's bawdiest, booziest event. But he also led a heartfelt in memoriam segment to Liam Payne, calling him an 'incredibly kind soul'.
Aside from the publicly voted genre categories, the Brits are voted for by the 1,338-strong Brits Academy, populated by musicians as well as industry and media figures.
Album of the year: Charli xcx – BratArtist of the year: Charli xcxBritish group: Ezra CollectiveBest new artist: The Last Dinner PartySong of the year: Charli xcx – Guess (ft Billie Eilish)International artist: Chappell RoanInternational group: Fontaines DCInternational song: Chappell Roan – Good Luck, Babe!Alternative/rock act: Sam FenderHip-hop/grime/rap act: StormzyDance act: Charli xcxPop act: JadeR&B act: RayeProducer of the year: AG CookSongwriter of the year: Charli xcxGlobal success: Sabrina CarpenterRising star: Myles Smith