When Dua Lipa won best female at last year’s BRIT Awards she said, “Here’s to more women winning awards, and more women taking over the world.” And one year later, with this year’s nominations announced, her words seem to ring true as a slew of female talent dominate the shortlist.
With Dua, Anne-Marie and Jess Glynne leading the race with four nominations each at this years BRIT Awards, other nominees in the female-driven list include Janelle Monae, Ariana Grande, Cardi B, Christine + The Queens, Jorja Smith and Little Mix.
For only the second time in Brits history, more women are up for the night’s biggest prize-Album of the Year- than men; and this is an indication of times moving forward, of women standing as strong as, or even stronger than, men in a showcase of their talent.
However, in spite of this welcome domination by women, there are still a couple of acts that have been left out- who a lot of people feel deserved to be on the list.
Speaking of powerhouse women, Rita Ora – despite getting nods in the Best Video category- missed out on a Best Female nomination, a surprise considering the release of her 6-year in the making sophomore album ‘Phoenix’.
The snubs, however, weren’t just limited to home. While many international artists have appeared to make an impact, Kylie Minogue receives no love on the International Female shortlist.
Kylie isn’t the only international artist left out. When talking international music, no conversation is complete without the mention of K-pop. The genre, which took over the world last year, seems to have been left out entirely by the Brits, as record-breaking girl group Blackpink makes no appearance in the list.
Those were the women that didn’t make the list, but that isn’t to say the male artists weren’t snubbed themselves. While George Ezra and Sam Smith earning well-deserved spots, others like Post Malone and Clean Bandit are surprisingly missing.
Other undeserved snubs include Troye Sivan, whose collection of songs in ‘Bloom’ celebrating queer love and intimacy, as well as K-pop phenomena BTS.
The Brits appear to have taken a step forward by acknowledging the hard work and talent of many young, inspiring women, and yet they’ve taken two steps back by choosing to ignore the entire record-breaking genre of K-pop as well as recognising the homophobic slap-bang that is Eminem’s ‘Kamikaze’ in place of Sivan’s brilliant work.
The awards seasons always bring with it an amount of recognition and an equal amount of rejection, and we are forced to wonder if awards are really a fair representation of talent and impact or just a random collection of names assigned to an artfully constructed piece of metal.
You can watch the BRIT Awards on Wednesday February 20 at 8pm on ITV1.
By Malvika Padin