Following her inclusion on the Mercury Prize shortlist among other artists such as Ghetts, Barry Can’t Swim, and Nia Archives, Charli XCX has publicly announced that she will be bringing “brat summer” to the competition.
With her smash sixth album, Brat, the acclaimed singer-songwriter has made it onto the 12-strong shortlist for the second time. Brat is the driving force behind the viral craze that has even become a part of the presidential contest.
Following the publication of the album in June, the trend has been extremely popular on social media. The celebrity, whose real name is Charlotte Emma Aitchison, has described the trend as being reflective of a “girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things sometimes.”
The shortlist for the Mercury Prize this year also contains seven debut albums. These albums include Early Twenties by Cat Burns, Silence Is Loud by Nia Archives, When Will We Land? by Barry Can’t Swim, Prelude to Ecstasy by Last Dinner Party, Bad With Names by Corto.alto, and This Could Be Texas by English Teacher.
And Beth Gibbons, the singer of Portishead, is now being nominated for the first time in her own name for her debut solo album, Lives Outgrown. Gibbons was a previous winner of the award, having won it with the trip-hop act’s debut album Dummy in 1994.
For the first time, the Irish singer-songwriter CMAT is included on the list. Her second album, Crazymad, For Me, is the reason for its inclusion.
Both Ghetts, who is known for his fourth album, On Purpose, With Purpose, and Corinne Bailey Rae, who is known for her fourth album, Black Rainbows, are participating in this event for the second time. Charli XCX is also featured in this event.
The final member of the list is the rapper Berwyn, who was initially included on the shortlist with a mixtape in the year 2021 and is now back with his debut full-length album of the same name.
Following in the footsteps of artists such as Ezra Collective, Little Simz, Arlo Parks, Michael Kiwanuka, Dave, and Wolf Alice, the winner of this year’s competition will be revealed in September.
The event, which is considered to be one of the most prestigious awards in the music industry, was established in 1992, and the first award was given to Primal Scream’s Screamadelica. Since then, a variety of works have won it, including the songs “Different Class” by Pulp, “Boy in the Corner” by Dizzee Rascal, and “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not” by Arctic Monkeys.
Radiohead and Arctic Monkeys are the acts who have been recognized the most times, with each receiving five nominations. However, only Arctic monkeys have made it to the final round of voting. It is interesting to note that both of the band’s frontmen have been nominated for awards on one other occasion. Alex Turner, together with The Last Shadow Puppets, and Thom Yorke, for his solo debut, have both received nominations.
As of this moment, PJ Harvey is the only artist to have won two awards out of a total of four nominations.
The purpose of this event is to honor the twelve albums that were deemed to be the best albums of the year by an independent judging panel. This year’s panel of judges includes Danielle Perry, a writer and broadcaster; Jamie Cullum, a musician and broadcaster for Radio 2; Jamz Supernova, a DJ and broadcaster for 6 Music; Mistajam, a DJ and broadcaster; and Will Hodgkinson, a rock and pop critic for The Times.
This year, albums by British and Irish musicians that were scheduled to be released in the United Kingdom between the 15th of July 2023 and the 12th of July 2024 were eligible for consideration.