Raye failed to take away eleven of this year’s BRIT Awards on Saturday evening. Sure, she was only eligible for one of those eleven awards, but it still means that nearly two thirds of all the prizes available went to other artists. It’s no wonder she was in tears by the time she took to the stage to accept what was only her sixth prize of the night.
Anyone from Polydor reading, I don’t know if that paragraph made you feel any better about what unfolded on Saturday. Eighteen months after being released from her record contract with the Universal Music label, the now independent artist broke the record for the most BRITs won by a female act in a single ceremony. She also equals the overall record already held jointly by David Bowie, Michael Jackson and Oasis.
The only prize for which she was nominated that she didn’t take home was Best Pop Act - one of five public voted genre categories. She did win Best R&B Act though, so she still had that section of the prize list sewn up.
As well as that, she walked away with Song Of The Year for ‘Escapism’, Best New Artist, Songwriter Of The Year, Artist Of The Year, and Album Of The Year for her debut LP ‘My 21st Century Blues’.
"You just don't understand what this means to me”, she said, accepting her last prize of the night - the Album Of The Year trophy - in tears.
Indeed, back in 2021, she posted a video on social media, exasperated that - after five years signed to Polydor - she had still not been allowed to release an album, despite being contracted to deliver four for the label.
"I've done everything [Polydor] asked me, I switched genres, I worked seven days a week", she said. "They either listen to me now or we part ways and they can save themselves this headache. Because I'm about to make it a headache”.
Within weeks she had been released from her deal and allowed to take her songs with her, and three months later she announced that she would be forging ahead as an independent artist, using Sony Music’s The Orchard for distribution. Before 2022 was out, she’d scored her first UK number one single with ‘Escapism’, one of the songs she had said six months earlier was "sat in folders collecting dust" because of her former label.
She released ‘My 21st Century Blues’ in February 2023, which peaked at number two in the UK albums chart and later scored a Mercury Prize nomination. Her BRITs triumph is not only a vindication but a pretty incredible conclusion to this phase of her story.
Anyway, that’s all nice, but it’s not really the big story of the night from this year’s BRITs bash. That accolade goes to Kylie Minogue. Not for her closing performance to mark winning the Global Icon Award though. Or even winning that award itself. No, we’re of course talking about the ‘shoey’ she partook in with presenter Roman Kemp.
A shoey - for the four people who don’t know at this stage - is drinking out of a shoe. It’s an Australian thing, apparently. And Kylie is Australian, so when asked if she’d do it by Kemp, she kind of had to. I mean, she didn’t. No one has to do a shoey. And no one should. But she did.
This has raised two big questions that are now burning through the internet: Did she know that Kemp was going to ask her to drink from a shoe? And was there actually anything in the shoe she apparently drank from?
It seems unlikely that Minogue wasn’t in on it, given that it mainly seems to have been an opportunity for a bit of product placement for her own wine brand.
And yeah, it also seems unlikely that she actually drank anything from that shoe. Or that the shoes she and Kemp at the very least held against their faces were the pair she’d been wearing all night.
Still, for those who think Kemp was out of line, this has become just another criticism of his presenting on the night. But I think everyone’s forgetting that when Green Day appeared on stage to present the Best Group award, he introduced them as “the American Busted”. That’s one for the ages and he should be asked back again next year for that alone.
Anyway, if you want to know who the winners were who weren’t Raye, here’s a nice list for you…
Rising Star: The Last Dinner Party
Best New Artist: Raye
Artist Of The Year: Raye
Group Of The Year: Jungle
Song Of The Year: Raye feat 0207 Shake - Escapism
Album Of The Year: Raye - My 21st Century Blues
International Artist Of The Year: SZA
International Group Of The Year: Boygenius
International Song Of The Year: Miley Cyrus - Flowers
R&B Act: Raye
Alternative/Rock Act: Bring Me The Horizon
Dance Act: Calvin Harris
Hip Hop/Grime/Rap Act: CASISDEAD
Pop Act: Dua Lipa
Songwriter Of The Year: Raye
Producer Of The Year: Chase & Status
Global Icon: Kylie Minogue