The Brits is the biggest British music industry awards ceremony on the calendar; it’s the one that everybody loves to absolutely hate. Always full of controversy, from the nominations to the winners and the winners speeches, from the dress choices to the… firstly lets just get one thing straight, somebody somewhere will always have a contentious opinion. Now, I don’t usually finish watching the Brits with a throbbing headache – but on Wednesday I did. Maybe this was due to my incessant tweeting throughout the awards and the continuous update of controversial comments that proceeded to refresh on my twitter feed, but in hindsight it did seem to make my evening feel more eventful.
For instance, the second that the Arctic Monkeys picked up their first Brit awards of the night, the ferocious fiends of tweeting mastery began mocking Alex Turners “egotistical”, “Elvis wannabe ways”. It was a clear insight into the feelings and thoughts of the tweeting public and what was in store for the next few hours. To be honest, I know that I shouldn’t have but I couldn’t help join in a little when Lorde won her category for Best International Female Artist. She actually said, “what a priceless surprise”… sorry, but did she get paid to say that? After all, the Brits 2014 was of course sponsored by Mastercard, which was shoved in your face every fifteen minutes before and after the ad breaks.
Therefore, most acts did in-fact receive a good internet thrashing. However, fortunately for me (and many others) a break of wonder occurred as Beyoncé appeared on stage for her live performance, dripping in diamonds and fashioning what can only be described as a glittering galactic gown. This calmed and cooled down the tweeting crowd – maybe it was because she looked like a shimmering angel…or maybe it was because the masses mostly enjoy a bit of Queen B. I have to say in terms of international performances B really was a cut above the rest.
At this point I wondered what else the Brits of 2014 might throw into the public eye, then the British Male Solo Artist category was announced. Noel Gallagher announced it, David Bowie won it but he wasn’t there. So instead, Kate Moss collected the Brit award for him and voiced his speech which ended in “Scotland, stay with us.” This currently hot debated topic prompted Ziggy Stardust to broadcast (through Moss) live on a music awards show..? Thanks, but no thanks, I would have preferred it if Bowie had kept his political plea outside of the pop-rock musical sphere. There is a time and a place and that was neither. It worked though, everything became circulated around that comment which did provide a backlash of twitter British banter, which I did thoroughly enjoy scrolling through… at the time.
All in all, this made me question what is the Brits really about? Did the comment Bowie made create a bigger stamp on the Brits of 2014? Was that planned? I wonder if my experience of watching the Brits would have been as comical or controversial without twitter? Probably not. Why did Pharrell wear that hat? Who takes a selfie with Prince on stage? All these questions are important but only one holds any real importance when it comes to the Brits: was the Brits 2014 any better than 2013?
Yes. Emili Sande only presented an award and she didn’t actually win them all this time. Score form music. Score for Britain.
Rianne Thompson
Rianne Thompson is a student at the university of Edinburgh. She’s also the Head of Design at FreshAir.org.uk. She’s from Scarborough in North Yorkshire and sites Daughter as one of her favourite bands. Like many people, Rianne is of the opinion that, whilst Emeli Sande is indeed a talented woman, the U.K. unnecessarily overdosed on her in 2012.
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(Image sourced from: www.thebritawards.co.uk)