Los Angeles: Singer Harry Styles dominated The BRIT Awards 2023 with a haul of all four gongs he was up for including the controversial Artist of the Year prize.
The former One Direction singer, 29, also scooped Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop/R+B Act, and is making headlines for dedicating his Artist of the Year trophy to a string of female artistes who weren’t nominated, after the BRITs was slammed for the all-male nominees line-up for the trophy after the category went gender-neutral, reports aceshowbiz.com.
Beyonce Knowles and Wet Leg were the next biggest winners at the ceremony on Saturday, February 11 night in London’s O2 Arena, picking up two gongs apiece.
Harry’s haul came after he opened proceedings with a rendition of ‘As It Was’ while wearing a sparkly red matador-style jacket. His trophies take his BRIT Awards total from over the years to eight, and his latest wins followed his hit album ‘Harry’s House’ being named Best Album at last week’s Grammys.
Harry said as he picked up the Song of the Year award for ‘As It Was’: “This album, and this song was the most fun I’ve ever had making music. Thank you to everyone who listened.”
He beat Aitch featuring Ashanti for ‘Baby’, Cat Burns with ‘Go’, Dave for ‘Starlight’, Ed Sheeran and Elton John for their festive tune ‘Merry Christmas’, Eliza Rose and Interplanetary Criminal for ‘B.O.T.A. (Baddest of Them All)’, George Ezra for ‘Green Green Grass’, Lewis Capaldi for ‘Forget Me’, LF SYSTEM for ‘Afraid to Feel’, and Sam Smith and Kim Petras with ‘Unholy’ in the category.
He was presented with Album of the Year by actor Stanley Tucci, 62, with Harry saying on stage as he picked up his fourth award of the night: “There is literally no-one in the world I love more than Stanley Tucci, so this means so much.”
The singer added he would “never forget” the night and declared: “There’s no place like home – I’m so, so proud to be a British artist out there, and I’m so proud to be here celebrating British artists.”
Earlier in the night, Harry said he was aware of his privilege as he dedicated his Artist of the Year gong to female musicians. He said: “I’m really, really grateful for this, and I’m very aware of my privilege up here tonight, so this award is for Reyna, Florence (Welch), Mabel and Becky (Hill).” Harry then did a shot on stage with BRITs host Mo Gilligan, 34, who said, “Clink, clink,” before they downed their drinks.
The Best Male and Best Female awards were scrapped in 2021 in a bid to include non-binary artists, but it led to a male-dominated winners list this year, with only six of the 15 awards collected by female artists.
International Song of the Year went to Beyonce for “Break My Soul” – her second gong of the night. She wasn’t at the ceremony and in her second video message of thanks she said, “Thank you, thank you so much for loving ‘Break My Soul’. The only intention for this song was to dance, so thank you for joining this dance of freedom and individuality… I hope you’re all having a beautiful night. Thank you and see you soon.”
Beyonce, 41, also thanked fans via video for always supporting her as she was named International Artist of the Year – beating Lizzo, Burna Boy, Taylor Swift, and Kendrick Lamar in the category.
Best Group went to Wet Leg, who beat The 1975, Arctic Monkeys, Bad Boy Chiller Crew, and Nova Twins to the gong. The band also picked up Best New Artist. Fontaines D.C. took Best International Group and sent a thank you video from tour on Australia. They were up against BLACKPINK, Drake and 21 Savage, First Aid Kit, and Gabriels in the category.
Best Alternative/Rock act was won by The 1975, who beat Arctic Monkeys, Nova Twins, Tom Grennan, and Wet Leg. Fatboy Slim, 59, also took to the stage near the end of the event to present David Guetta, 55, with Producer of the Year – who said as he picked up the trophy, “I love this party.”
–IANS
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