The BRIT Awards, a night of celebrating the best in British music and handing out awards to deserving souls whose talent has shone though over the previous year. It should be a joyous occasion and make for great television, but sadly something has gone seriously wrong with this awards ceremony. Although having flashes of great moments, this year’s BRIT Awards were almost completely unbearable to watch. Want to know why?
Having James Corden back as host was a step too far. Presenting for the fifth time, he has now become predictable and relied on the same ‘jokes’ he has been using for a number of years. The faux arse kissing and idolisation of music stars, the gaying off with Nick Grimshaw, the Bieber piss taking… We’ve seen and heard it all before. Also, we know that he’s mates with One Direction and have heard the jokes about Harry Styles liking older women far too many times.
Speaking of One Direction, I don’t hide that I’m not a fan of them. Admittedly I do like the blonde one. It annoys me that there seems to have been an award specially created for them to win. Much like Steps were given a BRIT award back in the day for Best Selling Live Act, the global sales award appears to have been created especially for 1D. Their record sales have been so phenomenal that nobody else really comes close. If they had to give that award to someone maybe it should have been One Direction’s marketing team rather than the puppets themselves.
Now, we need to talk about Beyoncé. Having been elevated to Goddess status over the past couple of years, it seems that everybody is in love with her and her performance certainly seemed to be the most anticipated of the night. The reality is that Beyoncé’s performance was underwhelming. It’s not her best song and there wasn’t any dancing. I will say that I’m a fan of Beyoncé, but this particular performance just didn’t live up to the hype.
Katy Perry’s live vocals. Enough said.
Then there were the awards themselves. Most of the awards given were predictable, starting with Ellie Goulding winning Best British Female. I know that she has been doing well recently, but should commercial success result in getting an award? She has suddenly sexed up and starting wearing more skimpy outfits. Could it be that it’s a marketing ploy to sell more records? I’m not sold on it. The winner in that category should have been Laura Mvula, whose album ‘Sing to the Moon’ is a joy to listen to.
Best British Male was always going to be won by David Bowie. If you forget about the hype and how iconic he is, I must admit that his comeback album is good. However I think it’s clear that he only did so because he is David Bowie. I’d have gone for Tom Odell, but would have also included Calvin Harris and Olly Murs in the category. Olly Murs deserves more recognition and respect than he gets, but I guess that’s the curse of coming from the X Factor. Mind you it hasn’t stopped Wand Erection from winning some awards, albeit made up ones and those voted for by rabid teenage girls on Twitter.
It wasn’t all bad though and I should probably balance my moan fest with some of the positive moments of the ceremony. Because like I said there were flashes of great moments.
First of all, Lorde winning Best International Female. This was a surprise as I thought Katy Perry was going to win. Lorde is a breath of fresh air and clearly very talented. It was nice to see someone quite individual winning an award rather than the usual predictable commercial pop princesses.
Another surprise award result was Rudimental winning Best Single for Waiting All Night. Rudimental are one of the best British acts around at the moment and that song is just brilliant. While I’m on Rudimental, their performance with Bastille and Ella Eyre was by far the best of the night. I felt the energy and passion put into it and frankly they showed everyone else how it’s done.
Rita Ora running off when James Corden was interviewing people on her table. Enough said.
And now on to the polarising Alex Turner. I’ve been seeing so many tweets about his acceptance speeches, with many saying he’s an arrogant prick who has disappeared up his own backside. While I am inclined to agree with such an opinion I also think he was a breath of fresh air. This is how we should expect rock stars to behave. In the past the Arctic Monkeys have refused to go to the Brit Awards because they don’t like being on television, but I hope that they’ll be back and that they win more awards, because Alex Turner’s speeches were a highlight and he actually made some valid points.
I hope that those in charge have a serious think about how to shake things up and make it better for those watching at home on television. There needs to be more bad behaviour, British acts performing, and awards given to people who actually deserve them.
Also, we need another Sam Fox and Mick Fleetwood please.
Now that would be great television.
