It was Harry Styles’ night at the Brit Awards. Harry won four prizes, including Album of the Year, at the UK’s leading music awards held on Saturday, while female-led indie rock band Wet Leg took trophies for Group of the Year and Best New Artiste.
Harry took the Album of the Year trophy for Harry’s House, less than a week after winning the same category at the Grammy Awards. He also won for Pop/R&B Act, Song of the Year for As It Was, and Artiste of the Year.
Accepting the Best Artiste trophy, the global pop heartthrob thanked “my mum for signing me up for X Factor,” the talent show that brought him to fame with boy-band One Direction. "This night has been really, really special to me and I will never forget it. I’m so so proud to be a British artiste in the world out there,” he went on.
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“I am very aware of my privilege up here tonight,” said Harry, who drew criticism earlier for saying at the Grammys that “this doesn’t happen to people like me very often.”
Harry also gave shoutouts to Charli XCX, Rina Sawayama, Mabel, Florence + The Machine, and Becky Hill — performers who did not make the Brits’ all-male artiste of the year shortlist.
Beyoncé added two Brits to her crowded shelf of awards — International Artiste of the Year and International Song of the Year, for Break My Soul.
Two years, ago the Brits replaced separate male and female performer categories with gender-neutral awards in a bid to become more inclusive. But the change drew some criticism this year when the Brits announced a Best Artiste shortlist with no female acts.
The move to gender-neutral prizes was among changes made in response to longstanding criticism that the Brits failed to reflect the diversity of British music. In 2017, the academy of more than 1,000 music industry professionals, which chooses Brits winners was expanded in an attempt to make it more gender-balanced and diverse.
Some musicians said more needs to be done. “There is a lot of diversity in artists but there is not enough diversity in record labels,” said Rina Sawayama, a nominee for newcomer of the year.