Ed Sheeran and Adele will perform at the Brit Awards
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Next Tuesday, the Brit Awards, which have existed since 1977, will take place in the 02 Arena in London. The smaller, hipper sister of the Grammys celebrates pop nation Great Britain in particular, with all sorts of explosives in the run-up. Gender is no longer a category here, which doesn’t seem so easy to implement.
The list of top nominations is comparatively conventional. Adele, Ed Sheeran and Little Simz are entering the race with four entries each. Abba will probably win something too, in the wide field of “international”. From a local perspective, it may come as a surprise that the rapper and actor Dave, who won an award in 2019, appears just as often. No stranger anyway, after all his music genre grime continues to be a hot thing in the UK.
Is there equality now?
Adele’s performance and couch talk will, of course, be broadcast superstar-wise. But the announced duet by Ed Sheeran and Liam Gallagher also promises screeches and flashbulbs. Sam Fender, who is also present live and whose album “Seventeen Going Under” is nominated in the category “Rock/Alternative” and “Album of the Year”, has to make a great effort.
It becomes more complicated with the complete dissolution of traditional gender ratings, such as “male” and “female album of the year”. The first signs of the 2020 awards are that there was only one (!) British woman represented in the mixed categories for British music in the segments “Album”, “Band”, “Song” and “New Artist”. Even so, a well-intentioned gender equality shot can backfire.
“I am one of you”
From this practical dilemma, the committee has now introduced a series of new, mixed categories. If only because of the consideration that the abolition of gender-specific ratings would lead to fewer women winning prizes or being nominated.
A special honor goes to Dean Jasiah Cover, better known as Inflo. He is the first non-white producer to be honored since the award’s inception in 1977. The co-founder of the electro soul collective Sault has also worked with Adele, Little Simz and Michael Kiwanuka. He sent a pre-greeting: “Thank you also to all the black producers of mine, I took your work into me with respect. I am one of you”.