The pop singer Raye has made Brit awards history by becoming the first artist to score seven nominations in a single year, crowning a remarkable career turnaround after spending years in limbo at a major record label.
Topping strong female representation with solo women or all-female groups making up more than half of the overall nominees, Raye scored two nominations for song of the year, plus nods in the artist, pop and R&B categories, and – despite her debut release coming out 10 years ago – in the new artist category.
She is also one of five nominees in the top category of album of the year, for My 21st Century Blues, a hugely ambitious debut album that straddles pop, deep house, hip-hop, funk, R&B and power balladry, with frank lyrics that address topics such as the sexual harassment she faced in the music industry. Buoyed up by its No 1 single Escapism – also a hit in the US – the album reached No 2 in the UK, and was followed by a live version recorded with a symphony orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall.
Raye – AKA 26-year-old Rachel Keen – was first known for a series of charismatic and irrepressible guest vocals on dance tracks such as Jax Jones’s You Don’t Know Me (a Top 3 hit in 2016), while fitfully releasing genre-hopping solo songs with only moderate chart success. In 2021 she vented frustrations with her label Polydor on X, writing: “I have been on a 4 album record deal since 2014 !!! And haven’t been allowed to put out one album. All I care about is the music. I’m sick of being slept on and I’m sick of being in pain about it.” After extricating herself from the deal, she released My 21st Century Blues independently and it became her most critically acclaimed and commercially successful work yet, also earning a nomination for the Mercury prize.
Raye said she was “completely floored” by her Brit nominations, adding: “I am currently a mess of overwhelming emotions and confusion as to how this even happened to be honest.” Raye’s seven nominations break a record held jointly by Robbie Williams, Craig David and Gorillaz who have previously each earned six nominations in one year.
Thanks to globally successful tracks such as Central Cee and Dave’s sprightly, summer-dominating Sprinter, British rap is also well represented at this year’s Brit awards, with Central Cee and J Hus earning four nominations each, plus three each for Little Simz and Dave. Little Simz and J Hus compete with Raye in the album category, alongside Blur for their rumination on middle age, The Ballad of Darren, and the bracing Heavy Heavy by genre-resistant Scottish trio Young Fathers – those two bands are also nominated in the British group and rock/alternative categories.
Another Scot, Calvin Harris, adds to his 14 nominations (including two wins) at the Brits over the years, with three more in the dance, pop and song categories after one of the biggest hits of 2023, the 90s trance throwback Miracle with Ellie Goulding on vocals. Strident pop-soul singer Olivia Dean caps her breakthrough year with three nominations, after earning a Top 5 debut album and more than three million monthly listeners on Spotify. Dua Lipa also earns three nominations thanks to her Barbie soundtrack hit Dance the Night, and is the first artist to be announced to perform at the ceremony on 2 March at London’s O2 Arena.
But there were snubs for some big stars such as the Rolling Stones, Ed Sheeran, Stormzy and Lewis Capaldi, who despite releasing chart-topping albums were only given one nomination each. Sam Smith and Gorillaz, each Brit awards darlings in previous years, received none at all.
In addition to Dean and Young Fathers, first-time nominees include the rappers K-Trap and Casisdead (the latter’s music career dates back to 2005), alt-pop singers CMAT and Caroline Polachek, dance producer Barry Can’t Swim, Afrobeats vocalist Asake, neo-soul singer Cleo Sol and others.
The awards have been criticised in the past for a heavy male bias to the nominees, as in 2020, when only one woman was nominated out of 25 slots in mixed-gender categories. In 2022 organisers did away with gendered categories altogether, but ended up with an all-male artist of the year cohort in 2023. That category has now been expanded to 10 artists to help encompass greater diversity.
As well as being racially diverse, this year, representation for women rises to a heartening 57% of the overall nominations if mixed-gender groups are included. Six out of 10 of the British artists of the year are women, rising to eight out of 10 in the equivalent international category, and four out of five of the best new British artists, with Raye and Dean joined there by PinkPantheress, whose Boy’s a Liar is up for song of the year; Mahalia, also a nominee in the R&B category, newly split off this year from pop; and Yussef Dayes, a rare jazz nominee, who also picks up a nod in the rock/alternative category.
The Rising Star award for artists tipped for future success, announced last month, is an all-female or non-binary group – art-pop quintet the Last Dinner Party – but after three all-female or female-fronted bands won the British group award in a row (namely Little Mix, Wolf Alice and Wet Leg) the group categories somewhat reverted to type with only Boygenius and Paramore fronted by women among the 10 nominees.
Awards for songwriter and producer of the year will be announced in the run-up to the awards.
The awards are voted for by the Brit Awards Voting Academy, its membership made up of musicians, industry staff and media figures, but the British public will decide on the winners of the five genre categories, with voting taking place via Instagram.
The 2024 Brit award nominations in full
British album of the year
Blur – The Ballad of Darren
J Hus – Beautiful and Brutal Yard
Little Simz – No Thank You
Raye – My 21st Century Blues
Young Fathers – Heavy Heavy
British artist of the year
Arlo Parks
Central Cee
Dave
Dua Lipa
Fred Again
J Hus
Jessie Ware
Little Simz
Olivia Dean
Raye
British group
Blur
Chase and Status
Headie One & K-Trap
Jungle
Young Fathers
New artist
Mahalia
Olivia Dean
PinkPantheress
Raye
Yussef Dayes
Song of the year
Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding – Miracle
Cassö, Raye and D-Block Europe – Prada
Central Cee – Let Go
Central Cee and Dave – Sprinter
Dua Lipa – Dance the Night
Ed Sheeran – Eyes Closed
J Hus – Who Told You
Kenya Grace – Strangers
Lewis Capaldi – Wish You the Best
PinkPantheress – Boy’s a Liar
Raye – Escapism
Rudimental, Charlotte Plank and Vibe Chemistry – Dancing Is Healing
Stormzy and Debbie – Firebabe
Switch Disco and Ella Henderson – React
Venbee and Goddard – Messy in Heaven
International artist
Asake
Burna Boy
Caroline Polachek
CMAT
Kylie Minogue
Lana Del Rey
Miley Cyrus
Olivia Rodrigo
SZA
Taylor Swift
International group
Blink-182
Boygenius
Foo Fighters
Gabriels
Paramore
International song
Billie Eilish – What Was I Made For
David Kushner – Daylight
Doja Cat – Paint the Town Red
Jazzy – Giving Me
Libianca – People
Meghan Trainor – Made You Look
Miley Cyrus – Flowers
Noah Kahan – Stick Season
Robin Schulz and Oliver Tree – Miss You
Olivia Rodrigo – Vampire
Peggy Gou – (It Goes Like) Nanana
Rema – Calm Down
SZA – Kill Bill
Tate McRae – Greedy
Tyla – Water
Rock/alternative act
Blur
Bring Me the Horizon
The Rolling Stones
Young Fathers
Yussef Dayes
Hip-hop/grime/rap act
Casisdead
Central Cee
Dave
J Hus
Little Simz
Dance act
Barry Can’t Swim
Becky Hill
Calvin Harris
Fred Again
Romy
Pop act
Calvin Harris
Charli XCX
Dua Lipa
Olivia Dean
Raye
R&B act
Cleo Sol
Jorja Smith
Mahalia
Raye
Sault
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