Year after year, The Brit Awards is a stand out date in the calendar for any music lover. Its past notable moments have included Geri Halliwell’s iconic union jack dress in 1997, the Arctic Monkeys drunken yet hilarious acceptance speech in 2014, and who can forget Madonna’s unfortunate caped tumble down the stairs in 2015. This year was the 40th anniversary of the Brits and it did not disappoint in terms of entertainment even if it garnered huge criticism in the run up to the event for lack of female nominations in big categories.

This show of female solidarity so early on in the night was a standout moment

The night began with a performance of Mabel’s ‘Don’t Call Me Up’, which was the biggest single to be released by a female in 2019. The performance got off to a shaky start with there being a greater focus on production than on the vocals; however, after a dance interlude, Mabel demonstrated the incredible vocal ability that won her Best British Female later on in the night. The award was presented by two former winners, Jorja Smith and Ellie Goulding, who embraced Mabel as she returned to the stage to collect her accolade. This show of female solidarity so early on in the night was a standout moment for an awards show tainted by its lack of gender equality. Mabel looked visibly shocked to receive the award but was incredibly proud to win on a night exactly thirty years after her mother, Neneh Cherry, took home two awards from the same ceremony.

After Mabel’s opening performance, the host for the evening, Jack Whitehall, began his hosting duties with a poignant tribute to Caroline Flack who very sadly passed away the weekend before the awards show. Flack presented the backstage coverage of the Brit Awards in 2010 which lead to Whitehall referring to her as, “one of the Brits family […] [who] will be sorely missed”. Following this memorial, Lewis Capaldi took to the B Stage, which was surrounded in a red screen to emulate his debut album cover, to perform his heart wrenching ballad, ‘Someone You Loved’. The track took on new meaning in light of Whitehall’s tribute and had many of the audience in the O2, and at home, in tears.

After his stunning performance, Lewis Capaldi collected the award for Best New Artist. Although thoroughly deserved, after becoming the nations sweetheart in less that 12 calendar months, Capaldi’s acceptance speech was quite strange but fitting for the funny personality he has come to be recognised by. Holding a bottle of beer, he made a silent acceptance whilst gesticulating hilariously to thank the audience for the ongoing but thinning applause. When the singer did eventually speak, the whole speech was bleeped due to the overwhelming content of expletives. The award was presented by his close friend, Niall Horan, who could not stop laughing in the background of Capaldi’s acceptance. 

This time Capaldi graced the stage with a bigger bottle of alcohol and gave a longer speech which addressed the meaning behind the song

Not to fear however as this would not be the last time the audience would be hearing from the funny Scotsman. The singer won Best Song of the Year for ‘Someone You Loved’. This time Capaldi graced the stage with a bigger bottle of alcohol and gave a longer speech which addressed the meaning behind the song. After a few jokes aimed at his ex-girlfriend’s appearance on ITV2’s Love Island, he proceeded to credit his Grandmother’s death for the songs success and made the best out of a bad situation. In a very sweet moment, Capaldi embraced BBC Radio 1’s Scott Mills and Chris Stark on his way to collect the award as a nod to the pair’s continued support for the star on their show – a big reason for the song’s success. 

The third performance of the night came from Horan’s One Direction bandmate, Harry Styles. Styles performed the beautiful track, ‘Falling’, from his latest album Fine Line in a deliberate pool of water accompanied by a grand piano and a keyboard. The performance was vocally flawless and a true tear jerker. Although the lyrics may not have originally been penned with Caroline Flack in mind, they gained pertinence in light of the recent tragedy and it truly felt as though Styles was singing with her in mind. He appeared to wipe away tears at the end of the performance which is understandable as everyone watching could see the amount of emotion he poured into his words. Styles demonstrated that he is a force to be reckoned with in the music industry and was perhaps very unlucky to leave the awards without a win after being nominated in two categories.

One of the highlights of the night was the emergence of a new comedy trio – Jack Whitehall, Harry Styles and Lizzo. It was Lizzo who was next up to perform. Jack Whitehall introduced the new queen of pop with a gag about her being able to fill one of the gaps opening up in the Royal Family which went down a storm with the audience. Performing a melange of her greatest hits, Lizzo’s abundance of energy and incredible staging put on quite the show. She did not miss a note in her whole performance but perhaps the most impressive part of her performance was when she passed the mic to a fan in the crowd who finished her line word for word and note for note. 

In a very sweet display of gratitude, the grime star declared, “To be the best male, I have got the most incredible females in my team”

The next award to be presented was Best Male Solo Artist which was delivered by the ‘King of Seshlehem’ Ronnie Wood (as decreed by Mr Whitehall). The award went to Stormzy who seemed very surprised, humbled and incredibly thankful to have won. In a very sweet display of gratitude, the grime star declared, “To be the best male, I have got the most incredible females in my team”, to which the camera panned to his very proud and excited team who were gathered around his table. 

Following on from his triumphant performance at the 2018 awards show, later in the night, Stormzy performed a medley of hits to a very welcoming crowd. Whilst changing from song to song, his musical style also changed drastically. The performance began with a gospel choir for his songs ‘Don’t Forget to Breathe’ and ‘Do Better’ in front of a stunning pyrotechnic display before a gangster choir of back up dancers joined Stormzy on stage for ‘Wiley Flow’ and ‘Own It’. Burna Boy performed ‘Own It’ alongside Stormzy as everyone waited with baited breath to see if Ed Sheeran would arrive to complete the original trio for the track. Alas the moment never came but this took nothing away from the success of the performance. The medley ended with ‘Rainfall’ as all the choirs and dancers came together onto one stage – this must have been close to breaking records for the number of people on one Brit Awards stage! Water began to fall onto the performers at the end of the performance in contrast to the pyro at the start and it was like a big party that everyone in the arena and watching at home wanted to join. Even after such a big performance and collecting a prestigious award such as Best Male Solo Artist, the most meaningful moments of Stormzy’s attendance were apparent in the aftermath of the event. The rapper took the time to speak to so many of his fellow nominees to tell them how much he appreciates and supports their music – it was truly brilliant to see.

The rapper raised concerns such as racism at Number 10, the treatment of Meghan Markle and the lack of support for Grenfell survivors

Viewers and the audience alike were treated to some incredible performances throughout the night and Dave’s performance of ‘Black’ was no different. ‘Black’ is an amazing song that discusses extremely important issues which are not given enough mainstream attention. The rapper raised concerns such as racism at Number 10, the treatment of Meghan Markle and the lack of support for Grenfell survivors. The staging was very thought provoking as Dave performed on a double-sided piano with the two musicians wearing contrasting black and white suits. As well as this impressive aesthetic, the 3D artwork which was presented on the piano was outstanding. The line of the song that stood out the most was, ‘guilty until proven innocent’, which is a very powerful line in relation to the current relationship between law and the media. Towards the end of the song, Dave stood up from the piano as his passion heightened which culminated in a mic drop at the end of the song before leaving the stage. The words of the song encapsulated everything that needed to be said. Dave’s performance will go down as being one of the most important and historical performances in Brit Awards history and if this wasn’t impressive enough, the rapper also won one of the biggest awards of the night: Mastercard Album of the Year for Psychodrama, which he claimed was “one of the biggest honours of [his] entire life”.

The award for International Male Solo Artist went to Tyler the Creator after the success of his album IGOR. The rapper credited “British funk from the 80s that [he] tries to copy” as being part of the key to his success before satirically dedicating his award to his biggest fan Theresa May in another funny jab at UK politicians. The former Prime Minister banned the rapper from entering the UK in 2015.

The band seemed very shocked to have won and praised their record label for giving them the freedom to do what they want to do

The competition for Best Group of the Year was fierce as it included the likes of Bastille, Bring Me The Horizon and Foals. Foals came out as victors in this battle after releasing two very successful albums in the past year. The band seemed very shocked to have won and praised their record label for giving them the freedom to do what they want to do in the way they want to do it; a freedom that a lot of artists sadly don’t always have. After a very sweet anecdote which thanked their families for their support and Yannis’ dad for allowing them to use his van to tour in (that they still haven’t paid him back for), the band called for there to be more female nominations in this category next year – a call that organisers hopefully listen to.

The next performance of the night came from Billie Eilish who performed her James Bond track, ‘No Time To Die’ which has now entered the charts at Number 1. Jack Whitehall called the performers “the Avengers of music” as the ensemble included: Eilish, her brother Finneas, Johnny Marr, Hans Zimmer and a full orchestra. The performance was simply incredible. Everyone was waiting for that impressive high note and Billie absolutely smashed it. It was nice to see a stripped back performance from the young songstress as it adds another string to her ever-expanding bow. 

The 18-year-old went on to win the award for Best International Female and, as a big Spice Girls fan, she was very excited to be presented the award by Sporty Spice, Mel C herself. Eilish was the victor in a very strong category that included Lizzo and Ariana Grande so it was nice to hear her give a shout out to all the other nominees as she said they are the main reason she can do what she does. The singer began to get emotional at the outpouring of love and support she was getting from the audience as they smiled at her during her performance as well as her acceptance because she said she has had to endure a lot of hate recently. This was a heart-breaking scene to witness but also beautiful to see that music is a way to spread kindness and bring people together.

Her sound is ethereal and gives people goose bumps in the best way

The penultimate performance of the evening went to Celeste who performed her powerful song ‘Strange’. The singer’s vocals were incredibly flawless and based on vocal ability, I would award her with best performance of the night. The staging was simplistic which really allowed her voice to stand out. Her sound is ethereal and gives people goose bumps in the best way. Celeste won the award for Rising Star and I am very excited to see what is to come next for the promising star. 

To round off the Brit Awards’ 40th Birthday, the final performance of the evening was from one of the biggest selling British artists of the last four decades, Sir Rod Stewart. Stewart performed with the surviving members of Faces – Ronnie Wood, Kenny Jones and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to lead the audience in a grand sing-a-long to classics, ‘I Don’t Wanna Talk About It’ and ‘Stay With Me’. It was a very wholesome watch to end a very good awards show evening as they were three friends enjoying what they do best on the stage. Stewart and Wood shared the microphone for every chorus of ‘Stay With Me’ and I think I speak for everyone when I say I was just so glad they remembered the lyrics!

Have a look at some of our other event features:
Reading and Leeds Festival: The Lack of Female Artists
The Grammys 2020: Winners, Losers and Bias Within the Academy