Singer Charli XCX wins top prizes at Brit Awards with album Brat
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Charli XCX on stage after winning Artist of the Year during the 2025 Brit Awards ceremony on March 1.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
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LONDON – British pop sensation Charli XCX turned the Brit Awards into the brat awards on March 1 as she claimed five gongs at the annual celebration of music from the United Kingdom.
Fresh from winning three Grammys, the 32-year-old behind the cultural movement “brat summer” won Album of the Year – the evening’s most coveted gong – at the 45th annual awards ceremony in London’s O2 Arena.
Brat, the artiste’s sixth album and released in June with its lime-green cover and celebration of a relaxed, partying lifestyle, transformed her into one of the top music stars in 2024.
It redefined the word “brat”, which even became associated with American Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris when fans began applying the coloured “brat” filter to the nominee’s images.
“I’ve always felt like an outsider in the industry, but particularly in the British music industry, and so it feels really nice to be recognised on this album,” she said as she received the top accolade.
“I would just like to share this with all artistes who have ever felt that they need to compromise to be recognised and to have their moment in the sun because I think I’m living proof that maybe it takes a long time, but... you don’t need to compromise your vision.”
Charli XCX released her debut studio album True Romance in 2013, and would “probably never make a record like (Brat) again”.
“It’s so in my instinct to just like not do the same thing twice... I will probably reject it completely and do something completely different,” she said.
The album beat competition from veteran band The Cure, seven-time Brit Awards winner Dua Lipa, jazz group Ezra Collective and indie rockers The Last Dinner Party.
Charli XCX – whose full name is Charlotte Aitchison – also won Song of the Year for Guess, featuring Billie Eilish, and thanked the American singer for the collaboration.
“I’m really happy a song about underwear now has a Brit Award,” she joked.
Her other two awards were for Artist of the Year and Best Dance Act, adding to the Songwriter of the Year prize she was earlier awarded on Feb 26.
However, she asked not to perform as she did not want the “added pressure”, but laughed at her table when host Jack Whitehall suggested it was because she wanted to get drunk.
American pop star Sabrina Carpenter kicked off the show, which also featured a tribute to late One Direction star Liam Payne, with a performance of her global hit Espresso, flanked by dancers dressed as British soldiers in bearskin-style hats.
Carpenter was presented with the Global Success Award, following an introduction by Motown legend Diana Ross, in recognition of her mammoth sales in 2024.
Sabrina Carpenter receives the Global Success Award during the Brit Awards on March 1.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Other acts to play live included American rapper Teddy Swims and indie singer Sam Fender, who won the Best Alternative/Rock Act award.
Ezra Collective claimed the British Group award, while The Last Dinner Party won Best New Artist.
Carpenter lost out on International Artist of the Year, which boasted a shortlist including Taylor Swift, Eilish, Beyonce and Kendrick Lamar, to American singer-songwriter Chappell Roan, who also won Best International Song for Good Luck, Babe!.
The Brit Awards has recognised the cream of British pop music since it was first held in 1977, but has often been peppered with scandal and farce.
And after years of chart success by stars such as Ed Sheeran and Adele, British music artistes failed to make it into the worldwide annual charts of the year’s top 10 best-selling singles and albums in 2024 – the first time this has happened in more than 20 years. AFP, REUTERS
