Brit Awards 2019: Round-Up, Highlights, Full List of Winners

It was a night of spectacular performances, shock appearances and plenty of important social/political comments, as the annual Brit Awards took place last night at London’s O2 Arena.

The 1975 came away as the big winners on the night, scooping the awards for ‘British Group’ and ‘MasterCard British Album of the Year’ – for the brilliant ‘A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships’. During their acceptance speech frontman Matt Healy took the opportunity to speak out against male misogynistic acts, quoting from an article written in 2015 by journalist Laura Snapes, he read “male misogynist acts are examined for nuance and defended as traits of ‘difficult’ artists, while women and those who call them out are treated as hysterics who don’t understand art.” The article from 2015 has recently resurfaced after Laura Snapes used her quote in a new post about the allegations of abuse against Ryan Adams.

 

.@The1975 collect the BRIT Award for British Group with an important message. #BRITs

Watch The #BRITs 2019 live here: https://t.co/qj4KiENtGs pic.twitter.com/z0wntv09jB

— BRIT Awards (@BRITs) February 20, 2019

This wasn’t the only social and political message conveyed on the night, as The Carters featured a shock appearance of Meghan Markle whilst accepting the award for ‘International Group’. Beyonce and Jay-Z, who form The Carters, posed in front of a portrait of the Duchess of Sussex wearing a crown, with Beyonce later explaining on her Instagram account, “In honour of Black History Month, we bow down to one of our Melanated Monas. Congrats on your pregnancy! We wish you so much joy.” It was reference to their video for Ape**** in which they stood in front of the Mona Lisa at the Louvre in Paris. The decision to accept the award in front of a portrait of Meghan has been seen as a message to the media, who have been criticised for a lot of negative headlines about the Duchess since marrying Prince Harry last year, and a show of support to her.

 

Well played @Beyonce & @S_C_ 😂

Watch The #BRITs 2019 live here: https://t.co/qj4KiENtGs pic.twitter.com/rGnmq0RUlr

— BRIT Awards (@BRITs) February 20, 2019

Onto the performances, my personal favourites were Jorja Smith‘s flawless execution of her single ‘Don’t Watch Me Cry’, Jess Glynne and H.E.R‘s very powerful performance of ‘Thursday’ – see below, and P!nk‘s show-stopping medley to close the ceremony. Unfortunately, none of the nominated international acts were there to perform, which was a bit of a shame. Although that didn’t detract from the great array of artists who were there and put on a fantastic show, with Jack Whitehall once again being a brilliant host.

 

Here’s the full list of winners:

British Male Solo Artist –

• Aphex Twin
• Craig David
• Winner: George Ezra
• Giggs
• Sam Smith

British Female Solo Artist –

• Anne-Marie
• Florence + The Machine
• Jess Glynne
• Winner: Jorja Smith
• Lily Allen

British Group –

• Winner: The 1975
• Arctic Monkeys
• Gorillaz
• Little Mix
• Years & Years

British Breakthrough Act –

• Ella Mai
• IDLES
• Jorja Smith
• Mabel
• Winner: Tom Walker

International Group –

• Brockhampton
• Winners: The Carters
• First Aid Kit
• Nile Rodgers & Chic
• Twenty One Pilots

International Male Solo Artist –

• Winner: Drake
• Eminem
• Kamasi Washington
• Shawn Mendes
• Travis Scott

International Female Solo Artist –

• Winner: Ariana Grande
• Camila Cabello
• Cardi B
• Christine and the Queens
• Janelle Monáe

Global Success –

• Winner: Ed Sheeran

British Artist Video of the Year –

• Anne-Marie – ‘2002’
• Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa – ‘One Kiss’
• Clean Bandit feat. Demi Lovato – ‘Solo’
• Dua Lipa – ‘IDGAF’
• Jax Jones feat. Ina Wroldsen – ‘Breathe’
• Jonas Blue feat. Jack & Jack – ‘Rise’
• Liam Payne & Rita Ora – ‘For You’ (Fifty Shades Freed)
• Winner: Little Mix feat. Nicki Minaj – ‘Woman Like Me’
• Rita Ora – ‘Let You Love Me’
• Rudimental feat. Jess Glynne, Macklemore, Dan Caplen – ‘These Days’

Producer of the Year –

• Winner: Calvin Harris

British Single –

• Anne-Marie – ‘2002’
• Winner: Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa – ‘One Kiss’
• Clean Bandit feat. Demi Lovato – ‘Solo’
• Dua Lipa – ‘IDGAF’
• George Ezra – ‘Shotgun’
• Jess Glynne – ‘I’ll Be There’
• Ramz – ‘Barking’
• Rudimental feat. Jess Glynne, Macklemore, Dan Caplen – ‘These Days’
• Sigala & Paloma Faith – ‘Lullaby’
• Tom Walker – ‘Leave A Light On

MasterCard British Album of the Year –

• Winner: The 1975 – ‘A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships’
• Anne-Marie – ‘Speak Your Mind’
• Florence + The Machine – ‘High As Hope’
• George Ezra – ‘Staying At Tamara’s’
• Jorja Smith – ‘Lost & Found’

Outstanding Contribution –

• Winner: P!nk

Critics’ Choice –

• Lewis Capaldi
• Mahalia
• Winner: Sam Fender 

Check out the highlights of the ceremony below, and you can watch each individual artist performance on the Brits YouTube channel here.

 

 

And that’s a wrap! Another year of the Brit Awards is over, I wonder what next year will bring? Don’t forget to like and follow the blog if you’ve enjoyed this post (you can even get e-mail updates when a new post is published… If you want)

Thanks for reading.

Featured image credit: Sky News