Before I’d even seen The Brit awards, I knew who had won as it was all over the newspapers. But as it’s The Brits, like Eurovision, you’ve gotta watch it.
But where was the energy of The Brits this year? I felt like I was watching the Royal Variety performance, without the variety. There was little mention of any garage, dance and R&B artists. It seemed like a two hour showreel of only our best exports where only the volume of sales and number of platinum discs counted for anything. It was just another excuse for the industry bigwigs to come out.
Don’t get me wrong. I love a good music award show. And the Americans really know how to do it, especially when they bring in slightly funny and controversial comedians and film stars. But when they bring in B-list celebrities it’s pap. Cue the 2006 Brit Awards; Enter the guy from “IT Crowd”. Come on! Where were the big stars of the UK representing the best of what we’ve got to offer? What about the guy who played Harry Potter, couldn’t you even get him?
Seeing American stars like Kanye West and Kelly Clarkson’s performance just drew attention to the lack of quality British acts doing anything impressive. But it wasn’t all bad; there was the Gorillaz five minute £700,000 animated performance and KT Tunstall’s black and white themed catwalk show. I must admit, I started to wish I’d been there, but then James Blunt came on. Again…
2005 was a great year for British music. For the first time British artists like Coldplay broke into the US music scene. And here home grown newcomers in the garage, dance and r&b scene shook the foundations of the British pop world. So why weren’t these represented at The Brits? But not only were some big British names missing, some American ones were too. Where were the real artists of 2005 - Gwen Stefani, Beyonce, The Pussycat Dolls, Lethal Bizzle, Goldfrapp, Black Eyed Peas, 50 Cent and Mike Skinner?
And don’t get me started on those appalling acceptance speeches either. When Madonna, the “queen of pop” did hers she spoke more like the Queen! So why did a woman who acts like a Brit, lives in Britain and is married to a Brit win the Best International Female award? How many more books about the English Rose does the lady have to write to be considered British?
In Chris Evans’ opening speech to the awards he said we should brace ourselves for a Brits which might be controversial. Oh wait. Is Lemar really “urban”? Isn’t he pop now? Was that the controversy Chris was talking about? If it wasn’t then I missed it. And in case you were wondering what my ultimate moment at The Brits was? It was definitely the end credits. The Brits were definitely the pits.
About the team
This story was written and edited by Annabel McLeod, 19. It was published by Reach for the Sky website.
