Photo Credit: Charli XCX for Condé Nast (VOGUE Taiwan) / CC by 3.0
Charli XCX swept up at this year’s Brit Awards, with five major wins including best artist, album, and song of the year.
It’s official: Charli XCX is a bona fide pop star. After starting out as a hero of the underground UK music scene, the “Brat” star is now a household name. Perhaps best illustrating this transformation is her incredible slate of wins at this year’s Brit Awards. She took home five awards, including Best Artist, Best Album, and Song of the Year.
Other significant British winners of the night included Stormzy, Sam Fender, Ezra Collective, and Best New Artist, The Last Dinner Party. Meanwhile, Chappell Roan and Fontaines DC took home the international prizes. US pop princess Sabrina Carpenter, who took home the Global Success Award, also gave a memorable performance. Finally, the show included a moving video tribute to Liam Payne, who died in October.
But Charli XCX stole the show with the biggest wins of the night. “This is cool — I’m really happy that a song about underwear now has a Brit award, very important stuff,” said Charli after collecting her award for Song of the Year for the track “Guess.”
“I’m sure that proves something about songwriting, but I’m not sure what,” she added.
In addition to the major awards for song of the year, best artist, and best album, Charli also snagged wins for Best Dance Act and Songwriter of the Year.
“I feel like dance music, electronic music, gets a really bad rep, because everyone is like, ‘It’s not that deep, is it?’ And I kind of feel it is,” she added. “This genre of music for me is euphoric; it allows me to escape, it allows me to feel on such a deep level.”
In collecting her fifth award of the night, Charli explained to the crowd that she had always felt like an outsider until then. “Culture caught up with us and wanted to be on the journey with us — I am living proof that it takes a long time, but you don’t need to compromise your vision.”
Charli XCX’s phenomenal success at this year’s Brit Awards may have sparked some controversy among her naysayers, but the labels are celebrating.
Ed Howard, Co-President of Atlantic Records UK, shared: “I’m absolutely delighted for Charli. Coming off the back of such a stellar year — one where she flew the flag for British music globally — it feels right that she has been recognized so fully by the Brits. She’s an inspiration and a pioneer; with Brat, she turned her music into a movement, and she’s far from done. Congratulations to Charli and her team.”
“I want to wish a massive congratulations to Charli and the Atlantic team for these fantastic wins,” added Tony Harlow, CEO of Warner Music UK. “Charli is a real one-of-a-kind, and has always done things on her own terms. Her international success over the last 18 months has shown that British artists can still resonate with a worldwide audience. I’m so happy she is getting the recognition she deserves.”
Content shared from www.digitalmusicnews.com.