A “privileged” Harry Styles crowned artist of the year at the Brit Awards

Although gender-neutral since 2022, in an effort to reward contestants “solely for their work and their music”, the artist of the year category this time saw only men compete, after the victory of Adele during the last edition.

“I am very aware of my privilege here this evening”, explained Harry Styles, who dedicated this award to his sisters approached in the final list, but who did not were ultimately not nominated for the ceremony's flagship award.

Earlier this month, Brit Awards chairman Damian Christian said it was “disappointing to see this lack of female representation”, while justifying it with a lack of major musical releases from female artists in foreground.

On social networks, the announcement of a selection of five male candidates had caused an uproar. “One step forward, three steps back”, had for example lamented on Twitter Tim Burgess, singer of the Charlatans.

On the other hand, it was a woman who won the prizes for international artist and best song of the year: the American star Beyoncé, however absent from the evening.

Become, there is a week, in Los Angeles, the most crowned artist of all time at the Grammy Awards, she notably overtook Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar in the first of the two categories.

The ceremony also allowed to young talents to take the spotlight, such as the indie rock formation Wet Leg, crowned group of the year and in the category of best emerging artist.

One of its members launched a “J' f*** the Tories,” which received applause from the audience, but was “beeped” on TV. The program was also broadcast by the ITV channel.