Love them or hate them, last Wednesday saw the night that we’ve been building up to for weeks, complete with Adele swearing, Rihanna twerking and an opening sequence that was described by hosts Ant and Dec as being ‘visually spectacular,’ but nobody really had any idea what was going on.
The 2016 BRIT Awards saw 11 awards handed out on the night, each award with its own individual trophy as designed by Pam Hogg, in a star-studded show at London’s O2 Arena. So who won what award, and who was there to see it all happen?
Coldplay had the honour of opening the show with a spectacular performance of ‘Hymn For The Weekend,’ as well as picking up Best British Group on the night. Wednesday night saw their fourth win of the same award, and their ninth Brit Award win ever.
Adele picked up an astonishing four awards on Wednesday night, including Mastercard British Album Of The Year for her album, 25. It has shattered records around the world, including becoming the biggest selling album in America (ironically beating Adele’s last album 21) and in the UK, as well as having sold 19 million copies worldwide as of February 2016. Adele also won Global Success Award, preceded by an announcement from Tim Peake that Adele believed would make her son “think I am so cool,” as well as Best British Single and Best British Female Solo Artist, before ending the show with a performance of ‘When We Were Young.’
Last year’s Critics’ Choice Award winner James Bay also returned to pick up Best Male Solo Artist, as well as giving a performance himself of ‘Hold Back The River’. Bay’s album, Chaos and the Calm, was the eighth best selling album of 2015 here in the UK, and James beat competitors Aphex Twin, Calvin Harris, Jamie xx and Mark Ronson for the award this year.
Australian rock band Tame Impala won International Group, whose debut album, Innerspeaker, was certified gold in Australia and whose second album, Lonerism, was certified platinum in Australia and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Alternative Album in 2014. Their new album, Currents, was again nominated for the same Grammy in 2016.
Image courtesy of the BPI Media Centre
International Male Solo Artist was picked up by Justin Bieber, who likewise performed on the night as well, whereas the International Female Solo Artist award was won by Icelandic singer Bjork, who wasn’t present but accepted her award via a video link on the night.
This year’s British Video winner was selected by Twitter poll, and saw One Direction win the award for the video to ‘Drag Me Down’. British Breakthrough Act went to indie band Catfish and The Bottlemen, whose album The Balcony was certified Gold in the UK, and previously won the BBC Introducing Award at the first BBC Music Awards in 2014.
And let’s not forget about Jack Garratt, who was announced back in January as this year’s Critics’ Choice winner, and Charlie Andrew who was awarded Best British Producer. Charlie Andrew has worked with artists including alt-J and Nick Mulvey, whilst Jack Garratt’s debut album Phase was released on the 19th February 2016 and debuted at number 3 on the UK albums chart.
The evening also saw performances from Justin Bieber, Rihanna, Drake, The Weeknd, Jess Glynne, Adele, James Bay, Little Mix and Catfish and the Bottlemen, along with the BRITs tribute to David Bowie, which saw Annie Lennox and Gary Oldman deliver a moving tribute to the singer, who tragically passed away in January 2016, followed by a musical tribute by his band and Lorde, the singer who Bowie himself described as “the future of music.”
But the BRITs didn’t go down without any mishaps. Nobody fell over as a result of any capes this year, but reportedly Ofcom are assessing whether or not to investigate ITV after an unplanned stunt by model Sadie Pinn saw her stand between Ant and Dec during a live link, wearing a revealing mesh costume, and also where Adele swore in her acceptance speech for Global Success Award. Ofcom received more than 50 complaints about Sadie Pinn’s stunt, according a report by The Huffington Post.
However, other than these two incidents, the BRITs 2016 went largely to plan, enjoyed by many here in the UK and abroad. I for one am looking forward to the BRITs 2017, and look forward to seeing what those who won and those who were nominated this year go on to do next year!
Performances from the BRITs are available to download or stream for free for a short time exclusively on Google Play. For each download or stream, Google Play will donate to the BRIT Trust and music therapy charity Nordoff Robbins.
Did you watch the BRITs? What did you think? Let us know in the comments below!
