The Brit Awards, which is considered Britain’s equivalent of the Grammys, combined its separate categories for best male and best female artist of the year into one gender-neutral "Artist of the Year" award in 2022, but the slate of nominees for this year's prize ended up all being men.
Harry Styles took home the night's highest honor at the awards ceremony Saturday night and alluded to recent conversation about the implications of the merged category for women.
"I’m very aware of my privilege up here tonight, so this award is for Rina, Charli, Florence, Mabel and Becky," Styles said as he accepted the award, naming five female British stars, Rina Sawayama, Charli XCX, Florence Welch, Mabel and Becky Hill, who were not nominated for the award.
The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the organizer of the Brit Awards and has indicated that they have taken efforts to make the event more inclusive.
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In 2022, Adele won the award the first year it was gender-neutral, but she declared her love of being a woman while she accepted the honor.
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"I understand why the name of this award has changed, but I really love being a woman and being a female artist," she said at last year's ceremony.
In 2019, Sam Smith challenged the status quo and announced that he was non-binary, changing his pronouns to they/them. In 2021, he claimed his self-declared gender identity made him ineligible for both the "best male" and "best female" categories at the Brit Awards.
He was nominated for two awards at Saturday’s event, but was critical of the fact that no women were nominated for the gender-neutral category in an interview with The Sunday Times last month.
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"It is a shame," the artist said in the interview. "Things are moving forward, but it’s obvious it’s not there yet. From seeing that [best artist] list, there is still a long way to go."
"There’s so much incredible female talent in the U.K. — they should be on that list," Smith said.
Last week, the Women and Equalities Committee in Britain’s parliament even held an inquiry into misogyny in music. Following the hearing, Committee Chair, Caroline Nokes, said she thought that the Brit Awards had acted "too soon" in removing gendered categories because she believes there are so many barriers to women in music.
