Cool Britannia? The Brit Awards are, dare we say it, good again

Breaking rules for 40 years,” is how the Brit Awards chose to herald this year’s awards ceremony. It sounds like an oxymoron, or, at the very least, a rather bold claim from a sponsored-by-Mastercard institution that is about as commercial as they come.

The Brit Awards 2020 got off to a rocky start. After it seemed to make a genuine attempt to address the lack of diversity following a #BritsSoWhite backlash in 2016, the nominations list now showed a glaring underrepresentation of female artists across all of the non-specific gender categories.

This isn’t exactly a new issue – the Brits and the music industry at large have a serious problem with supporting women. For journalists, and I imagine most people who have to sit through the ceremony, the annual recycling of outrage is exhausting. You feel like the old man in The Simpsons, shaking your fist at the weather as though that will make it change.

Not this year, though. While the Brits still needs to look at how it can widen its representation of female artists, organisers clearly went to considerable efforts to make this as inclusive an event as possible. While Lewis Capaldi was the clear frontrunner to sweep the awards, Stormzy, Dave, Mabel, Billie Eilish and Tyler, the Creator all got to accept prizes too. There was a stronger sense of bonhomie at the O2 Arena than there has been in previous years – Eilish sweetly fumbled her words during her acceptance speech and accidentally expressed her love for Lizzo, instead of London, after professing her admiration for the four other women nominated for Best International Female. “I’ve been feeling very hated recently,” she confessed, suddenly sounding tearful. “But you guys down there are making me feel loved.”

Whitehall did his usual tour of the tables, where he blushed at Lizzo’s outrageous flirting and took a light-hearted swipe at Harry Styles’s fashion choices: “I hear there were psychedelics involved in the making of your last album – ITV doesn’t condemn substance abuse, so I won’t ask what your stylist was on.” His tribute to Caroline Flack in the first few moments of the ceremony, delivered before a typically rousing performance of “Someone You Loved” by Capaldi, felt more genuine than Love Island’s own, which came right before they cut to two contestants engaging in a full-blown snog-fest.

Dave, whose debut record Psychodrama won the top prize of the night – Album of the Year – followed his incendiary freestyle performance of “Black” with a speech that urged young people to use him as inspiration: “I’m the same as you. You can do anything you put your mind to.” In everyone’s speeches there were shout-outs to fellow artists – Stormzy’s included a thoughtful acknowledgement of the women on his team.

Each live performance was unique and thrilling. On Twitter, I saw US journalists comparing the Brits to the Grammys, apparently viewing the UK ceremony as superior (at least this year). There was a spontaneous element to the night; as well-choreographed as the dances were, it still felt as though anything could happen.

Things took a turn for the political as Dave performed “Black”, a single from Psychodrama, and freestyled verses to condemn prime minister Boris Johnson as “a real racist” and pay tribute to victims of the London Bridge terror attack. Meawhile Tyler, the Creator accepted Best International Male with a swipe at Theresa May, who banned him from the UK for five years while she was serving as home secretary: “Thank you to Theresa May. I know she’s at home pissed off.” There’s still more to be done, but this was undoubtedly the best Brit Awards in recent memory.

See the full list of Brit Award winners here.