The Brit Awards 2023: A Review

For the first time ever, The Brit Awards were held on a Saturday night, a welcome surprise I learned about on the Graham Norton Show. I thought to myself how this could be a nice way to spend my evening and maybe even have a glass of wine to watch the performances and critique the style (from my dressing gown). Little did I think I would have needed an entire vineyard to get through this manic, chaotic show. I’m so excited to rant - let’s do it!

First up, the host, Mo Gilligan

I didn’t know much about Mo Gilligan until he came on our screens as a panel judge on “The Masked Singer” and as the host of BBC’s “That’s my Jam”. For those of you wanting a bit of background to his life, he’s a comedian and by co-hosting “The Big Narstie Show” with Big Narstie, the pair have been said to pioneer the genre of grime comedy. He really is a superstar comedian in the making and that is incredible.

But back to The Brits. I understand that hosting duties are meant to be cringe with some pre-conceived jokes that often fall flat in front of an audience the size of the O2 Academy in London. But it seemed that Mo was way out of his depth. There were some blunders such as introducing Lewis Capaldi as Sam Capaldi. I thought this was a joke based on the fact Lewis was singing a song called “Forget Me” but no, he got his name and Sam Smith’s mixed up. Sam performed later in the night. Like the people’s hero he is, Lewis Capaldi took it on the chin.

When Mo was speaking with Little Mix star, Leigh Ann Pollack he asked her what seemed like a hundred times if she was having a good night. After she appeared somewhat disinterested in his questions, she let everyone know she was hoping to release new music this year, but Mo transported us way back to 2005 and asked her, who’s babysitting the twins?

Toward the end of the ceremony, Shania Twain presented Harry Styles with his award and she asked Mo if she was meant to leave the stage. He replies “I have no idea what is happening Shania Twain". And that is the Brits 2023 in a nutshell.

Damp Cloth > Wet Leg

Wet Leg is a British indie rock band from the Isle of Wight led by Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers. Their big song is “Chaise Lounge”, and that’s really all I have to say about them. I caught their red-carpet interview with the true professional Clara Amfo who literally had to drag blood from a stone. The band appeared to be “High AF” and couldn’t even look Clara in the eye, or string a sentence along to appear interested in what she had to say.

Watching through my fingers I thought this was the last time they would appear on my screen for the evening but I was subjected to TWO winning speeches that were so emotionally painful. Rhian seemed to be tasked with acceptance duties and through her nerves and aloofness she managed to say,

“It can feel like such a boys club thing but I just want to thank all of the women who worked on the whole production. It is a team of women so I really want to shout them out. I’m really nervous so I’m going to stop now.”

For the rest of the band, despite not being able to articulate a phrase, sentence, or concept, one of the musicians was able to say with conviction “Fuck the Tories” which ITV censored for viewers at home. Is this cool or is Wet Leg the physical embodiment of why young people need extra guidance on how to behave in social settings?

Ellie Goulding is an icon

To present “New Artist” we welcomed Ellie Goulding and Tom Grennan on stage. No later than five hours before was I praising Tom Grennan for being so cool on the Graham Norton Show and how his music is top drawer. Oh, Tom, why’d you do it? Ellie Goulding, you know the British icon and award-winning musician, was wearing a breastplate top looking incredible. And the first thing Tom said to her was “Are they your real boobs?”

Immediately the Twitter-sphere went into overdrive and the media posted multiple stories on how taken aback Ellie was at this comment and why the f he would even point this out. But, going by Ellie’s Instagram story the pair seem to be on good terms as she posted a photo of them with the caption “Such a great time with this gentleman @tom.grennan - thanks for being a great co-host & congrats to @wetlegband” Was the conversation pre-planned? Was it just the already awkwardness of these events on display? I’d love to find out.

Harry Styles’ sweepstake

I have to mention Harry Styles’ night of wins. He brought home a Brit in each category nominated including Album of the Year, Artist of the Year, Song of the Year, and Pop/R&B Act of the Year. It’s important to note that the Brits are fan-voted awards so it is no surprise Harry swooped each category as you could gauge success from the screaming voices in the audience. The internet has been in meltdown since Harry thanked former One Direction bandmates Niall, Liam, Louis, and Zayn and said he wouldn’t be there without them. Cool.

The biggest takeaway from his “Artist of the Year” speech was when he dedicated the award to female artists overlooked by the Brits in their "gender-neutral” category. He said, "This award is for Rina, Charlie, Mabel, Florence, and Becky.” It’s like the Brit management team took revenge on Adele’s acceptance speech from last year, where she proclaimed that she “loves to be a woman”, and in retaliation didn’t nominate one this year.

Sam Smith & Kim Petras

I was glued to Twitter last night laughing at people’s observations of the madness of the show. But I really can’t get over the backlash and hated Sam Smith receives online. I love the song “Unholy” - it is incredible and the production value is always 10/10. Yes, Sam Smith wore a crazy outfit to the awards, who hasn’t? Artists do this kind of thing all the time but my God, the Twitter people do not hold back. I saw so much hate towards Sam, calling them a “freak”, directly misgendering them, and some lunatic saying Andrew Tate is a better role model for young men than Sam. Where do these people come from? If this is what people are sharing with the general feed, what must Sam be receiving every day via direct messages, tags, etc?

They are a superstar and shouldn’t be villianised for being themselves.

Other chaos & misadventures

There is genuinely so much to unpack from this year’s awards. Something to highlight is the absurd behaviour of the ITV presenters including Keith Lemon (boke) and Joel Dommett. The latter made a joke stating, ‘Tonight I feel like a piano, I’m ready to be fingered by Elton John.’  Maya Jama nearly fell off her seat and by this stage, I was emotionally exhausted. Trying to work through Keith Lemmon rubbing Joel’s ear in an earlier segment, it was really made clear that the more outlandish and inappropriate you are, the more screen time and digital footprint you’re going to receive.

Rant over my friends.

If you were lucky enough not to watch the awards show, I hope you have an incredible Sunday. For those of you like me who were affected deeply by the cringe, embarrassment, and chaos from the night before, I hope you can begin to get ready for work tomorrow knowing that we’re definitely more qualified for our real-life jobs than any of those over-paid “stars”.