Key Points
- Last year, the Brit Awards opted to swap their best male and best female categories for gender-neutral awards.
- At the 2023 awards, no women have been nominated in the Artist of the Year category.
- Eligible artists including Charli XCX, Rina Sawayama and Florence + the Machine all missed out.
A year after taking its top category gender-neutral, the Brit Awards have been criticised for the lack of female nominees for the Artist of the Year award.
In 2022, the awards opted to scrap the best male and best female categories, with Adele taking out the inaugural gender-neutral prize.
“I understand why the name of this award has changed but I really love being a woman and being a female artist. I’m really proud of us,” the singer said in her acceptance speech.
Now, as the industry and awards ceremonies strive for improved inclusivity and representation, are women being sidelined?
How are the Brit Award nominations decided?
In order to be eligible for the Best Artist award, a musician must have released at least one top 40 album or two top 20 singles during the one-year eligibility period.
Record labels then put forward artists for nomination, with a voting academy of 1,200 people putting forward their choices for the Best Artist.
Popular British musicians such as Dua Lipa and Adele, who have not released new music in the past year, were not eligible.
Central Cee, Fred Again, George Ezra, Harry Styles and Stormzy all made the Best Artist shortlist, while female artists Charli XCX, Florence + the Machine, and Rina Sawayama missed out despite being eligible.
The move to axe the gendered category came after Sam Smith spoke out about being excluded due to identifying as non-binary.
“Music for me has always been about unification not division,” Smith wrote on Instagram in 2021 in a now-deleted post.
“I look forward to a time where awards shows can be reflective of the society we live in. Let’s celebrate everybody, regardless of gender, race, age, ability, sexuality and class.”
Women and female-fronted bands including Wet Leg, Nova Twins and Mimi Webb are nominated in other categories, while Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Lizzo and Blackpink are all up for the Best International Artist prize.
Adele won Best Artist at last year’s Brit Awards. Source: Getty / CBS Photo Archive
Is this the future of award ceremonies?
The Brits are not the first high-profile awards show to introduce gender-neutral categories.
The Grammys went gender-neutral in 2012, while the MTV Awards followed suit in 2017.
In 2021, the Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards – better known as ARIAs – swapped the Best Female Artist and Best Male Artist categories for one Best Artist award.
In both instances of the ARIAs’ gender-neutral awards, the Best Artist winner has been a man: The Kid Laroi in 2021, and Baker Boy in 2022.
At the 2022 ARIA awards, female artists and groups with a female member accounted for 36 per cent of nominees.
Baker Boy won the 2022 ARIA Awards Best Artist title. Source: Getty / Alex Pantling
Singer Mallrat, whose album Butterfly Blue was not nominated, was critical of the Australian music industry.
“I’m reminded that the Australian music industry, like many industries, is dominated by men,” she said.
“And in this case men who don’t think an artist is credible unless it’s a nonchalant dude playing guitar/rock music.”
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