Harry Styles addressed the lack of female representation in this year’s Artist Of The Year category at the Brit Awards after picking up the award on Saturday night.
The As It Was singer paid tribute to female artists who were not nominated during his acceptance speech, as he said he was “very aware of my privilege” to receive the award.
The Brit Awards were met with a widespread criticism after failing to recognise any women in the prestigious category when the nominations were announced last month.
After beating Central Cee, Fred Again.., George Ezra and Stormzy to the gong during the ceremony, Harry name checked Rina Sawayama, Charli XCX, Florence Welch, Mabel and Becky Hill, who did not receive a nod in the category.
Harry began his acceptance speech by thanking his family “for being the most supportive, understanding, patient, loving family I could have asked for”.
“I want to thank my mum for signing me up for X Factor without telling me – I literally would not be here without you,” he said.
Paying tribute to his former One Direction bandmates, who were put together on the ITV talent show in 2010, he continued: “I want to thank Niall, Louis, Liam and Zayn, because I wouldn’t be here without you either.”
Harry then went on to say: “I’m very grateful and I’m very aware of my privilege up here tonight. So this is for Rina, Charli, Florence, Mabel and Becky. Thank you so much.”
Best British Artist replaced the previous “male” and “female” categories in 2022, in what was described at the time as a way for the awards show to be “as inclusive as possible”.
After only male artists were recognised in this year’s shortlist, organisers said that while it was “disappointing”, they claimed 2022 saw “fewer high profile women artists in cycle with major releases”.
To be considered eligible for British Artist Of The Year, an artist must have acquired either a top 40 album or two top 20 singles in the past 12 months.
In the lead up to this year’s event, the chairs of the 2023 Brits Committee and British Phonographic Industry also released a joint statement saying they “share in the disappointment” of the lack of female representation.
They said: “We recognise this points to wider issues around the representation of women in music that must also be addressed.
“We believe that any changes made to Award categories should be carefully evaluated over time,” they continued, pointing out that Adele won the inaugural Artist Of The Year award in 2022, and that women had “triumphed in 10 out of the 15 categories” that year.