The Brits 2023 as it happened: Harry Styles wins coveted Album of the Year
Mo Gilligan hosted the awards ceremony for a second time at the O2 Arena in London
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The biggest night in British music came to a rather predictable end, as Harry Styles won every category he was nominated in.
The “As It Was” singer took home the prizes for Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Pop/R&B, as the 2023 Brit Awards were transformed into “Harry’s House”.
Wet Leg were the other big winners of the night, as the “Chaise Longue” hitmakers were awarded Best British Group and Best New Artist on Saturday (11 February). They lost out, however, to The 1975 in the Alt/Rock category (which is decided by fans) and to Styles in the Album of the Year category.
Read: Biggest talking points from the 2023 Brits
Hosted by Mo Gilligan, the show had a number of standout moments including Sam Smith and Kim Petras’s “Unholy” performance and Styles thanking his former One Direction bandmates during his Artist of the Year acceptance speech.
Elsewhere, Cat Burns performed a stunning rendition of of her 2020 TikTok hit “Go”, and Wet Leg bassist Ellis Durand had some strong words for the Tory party, which ITV rushed to bleep out.
Lizzo’s glittery, show-stopping performance earned praise on Twitter, and David Guetta’s finale act with Becky Hill and Sam Ryder was a surprise triumph.
In the run-up to the ceremony, there was considerable backlash to the all-male contender list for this year’s gender-neutral Artist of the Year prize.
Catch up on everything that happened below...
Stay tuned...
Tonight is the 2023 Brit awards... Stay up to date on all the live updates from the event right here.
Full list of nominees
This year’s nominees were announced in full last month.
Recent Grammy winners Wet Leg emerged as one of the most-nominated acts with four nods, alongside regular Brits attendee and Grammy Album of the Year winner, Harry Styles.
In the international categories, Irish rock group Fontaines DC can be found muscling up against K-pop stars Blackpink and hip-hop artists Drake and 21 Savage.
Read the full list of nominees here:
Brit Awards 2023: Read the full list of nominations
The full list of nominees ahead of Saturday night’s ceremony
How to watch
For those not in attendance at the O2 tonight, you can tune into the awards show on ITV1 and ITV2.
Find out about timings and channels here...
Brits 2023: How to watch the ceremony this Saturday
Everything you need to know ahead of Britain’s biggest music awards
Wet Leg are one of this year’s most-nominated acts
Recent Grammy winners Wet Leg emerged as one of this year’s most-nominated acts, earning four nods.
The Isle of Wight duo picked up two awards at the LA ceremony last week, and will be hoping to replicate their Grammys success tonight. You can read The Independent’s interview with Wet Leg here...
Wet Leg: ‘Chaise Longue was supposed to be just for us’
The alt-rock sensations are about to release their hugely anticipated debut album. Duo Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers speak to Alexandra Pollard about getting hyped by Dave Grohl, the Isle of Wight music scene, and being too raunchy for radio
And...
Here’sThe Independent’s four-star review of Wet Leg’s self-titled debut album here...
The 1975 frontman sparks backlash over podcast interview ahead of Brits appearance
Among this year’s nominees are The 1975, who are up for Album of the Year, British Group, and Alt/Rock (voted for by the public).
Their nomination, however, has been overshadowed by inflammatory remarks made by frontman Matty Healy.
Appearing on an episode of The Adam Friedland Show, Healy – the son of Denise Welch – and the hosts mocked Japanese, Hawaiian and Scottish people.
Matty Healy sparks backlash over podcast interview that mocks Japanese people
The 1975 frontman made a number of inflammatory remarks while being interviewed on US podcast ‘The Adam Friedland Show’
Who will be performing tonight?
Big names performing tonight include Lizzo, Harry Styles, and Stormzy. See the full list here...
Who is performing at the Brits 2023 Awards?
Lizzo, Stormzy and Lewis Capaldi are among the stars set to take to the stage
Who is hosting this year’s Brit awards?
Comedian Mo Gilligan will be hosting the Brit awards for a second time, after having taken over presenting duties from Jack Whitehall.
Who is Mo Gilligan?
The Masked Singer judge recently spoke to The Independent’s Isobel Lewis about hosting the Brits during an in-depth interview.
You can read the full piece – in which he also speaks about gentrification and staying grounded – here...
Mo Gilligan on the cost of living crisis, gentrification and The Brits
The comedian talks to Isobel Lewis about people being priced out of the areas where they grew up
What happened at the Brits 2022?
The Brits took place on 8 February last year, with Adele scooping up the prize for Artist of the Year.
From Anne-Marie’s fall to Ed Sheeran’s unlikely collaboration with Bring Me The Horizon, here’s everything that went down at the Brits last year...
The six biggest talking points from the 2022 Brit Awards
Ceremony attended by stars including Adele, Ed Sheeran, Liam Gallagher and Maya Jama took place at the O2 Arena
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