Fans have reacted poorly to the revelation that all those nominated in the Brit Award Artist of The Year 2023 category are all male. It is the second year that the category has been gender-neutral, yet this has not been reflected in the nominations.
Yesterday evening, (Thursday, January 12), Vick Saunders and Jack Hope hosted The Brit Award nominations for 2023. The live stream revealed that Harry Styles and newcomers Wet Leg led the nominations with four nods each. Other first-time nominees include the duo Nova Twins, Eliza Rose, Kim Petras, BLACKPINK and Sam Ryder, who becomes the first Eurovision competitor to be nominated.
Whilst all these achievements and commendable and more, it was, unfortunately, something a little more negative that caught everyone’s attention.
The Brit Awards Artist Of The Year 2023 Nominees Are All Male
One of the most highly anticipated awards of the night will be for Artist of the Year. International artists are in a separate category, Best International Artist, so this category is only for UK artists. However, it also seems that for 2023, it is also only for males.
Those nominated for Artist of The Year 2023 are Harry Styles, Stormzy, George Ezra, Fred Again and Central Cee. Quite noticeably, there is an absence of any woman or anyone who is not a male.
Changes to the Brit Award Artist of the Year award came after criticism that Sam Smith, who is non-binary, would not be eligible for either the male or female category. So, from 2022 onwards the category has been gender-neutral. 2 years into this change, it appears the Brit Awards have fallen at the first hurdle.
Fans React To The All Male Artist Of The Year 2023 Nominations
Fans immediately took to Twitter to air their annoyance at the category. Many appreciated the hard work of those in the category and did not dismiss their place. However, the idea that there were no female or non-binary artists who could have been considered baffled even more.
There is massive confusion about the decision and it is a massive slap in the face for progress within the industry.
Although some offered suggestions for how it could be rectified, the likeliness of it happening is disheartening.
Others are suggesting the public holds their own female artist of the year in retaliation.
There were plenty of female artists that could have made the shortlist, so it’s really disappointing that none were nominated.
A Brit Awards representative The Huffington Post “while it’s disappointing there are no [female] nominations in the Artist of the Year category, we also have to recognise that 2022 saw fewer high profile women artists in cycle with major releases as was the case in 2021.”
However, Twitter ridiculed the statement, who could not understand how no women came to mind.
The decision to have all male Artist of the Year 2023 nominations is definitely a controversial one. It’s disappointing to see when so many talented British female artists exist.
You can see the rest of the Brit Award 2023 nominations on Twitter.