It’s almost time for this year’s Brit Awards, but which acts actually deserve a win at Wednesday night’s bash?
Now that we’ve had to mull over the nominations, here are our predictions for the 2019 Brits, as well as the artists we think should be taking home an award on the night...
British Male
Nominees: Aphex Twin, Craig David, George Ezra, Giggs, Sam Smith
Who will win? We’d say the odds were strongly in George’s favour here. He’s one of the few acts who actually managed to briefly dethrone The Greatest Showman in 2018, he’s performing on the night and has been recognised in all the major categories.
Who should win? We appreciate he’s a bit of a safe choice, but there was no arguing with George Ezra’s success in 2018. We’d probably say Sam Smith was in with a shot, too, if it weren’t for the fact it’s been so long since his most recent album was actually released.
British Female
Nominees: Anne-Marie, Florence and the Machine, Jess Glynne, Jorja Smith and Lily Allen
Who will win? In the past, history has shown us that the Brits are quite big on giving their Critics’ Choice recipients awards the year after their win, so Jorja Smith stands a strong chance here, as does Jess Glynne.
Incidentally, of the five nominees, only Lily Allen has won in the past, but almost a decade on, we wouldn’t go as far as saying that means this will be her year again.
Who should win? There’s actually a case for all five of these potential nominees. Anne-Marie and Jess Glynne have both enjoyed huge chart success in the last year, while Jorja, Florence and Lily’s albums were all nominated for the Mercury Prize for their latest albums last year.
On a personal note, we’re big fans of Anne-Marie, and it’d be great to see someone we’ve championed in the past take the award, but we have to hand it to the Brits, they’ve picked well with the British Female category, and they’re all deserving in their own way.
British Group
Nominees: Arctic Monkeys, Gorillaz, Little Mix, The 1975, Years & Years
Who will win? This one is a two-horse race between Little Mix and The 1975. The 1975 have beaten Little Mix in the past, so we’d probably lean towards them, but it could easily go either way.
Who should win? We’ve made no secret of our love for Little Mix, and seeing them win their first ever Best British Group award would really put a smile on our face (sidenote: where were Clean Bandit this year?).
British Breakthrough Act
Nominees: Ella Mae, Mabel, Idles, Jorja Smith, Tom Walker
Who will win? As we mentioned, we’re a year on from Jorja Smith’s Critics’ Choice win, an award she beat Mabel to last year, so it’s hard to imagine the Brits not patting themselves on the back with a British Breakthrough win for the singer.
Who should win? As cynical as we made it sound a second ago, Jorja has probably been the British act to break through the most in the last 12 months, as evidenced by her Grammy and Mercury Prize nominations.
That being said, Mabel’s music has brought us a lot of joy this past year, so we’d be very much up for her taking it home (especially as she missed out in 2018).
International Female
Nominees: Ariana Grande, Camila Cabello, Cardi B, Christine And The Queens, Janelle Monáe
Who will win? Surely, surely it has to be Ariana Grande, right?
Who should win? Without question, this is the tightest category of this year’s nominations. While our heart is always going to go with Ariana Grande (as is the case in most situations), there’s no ignoring what a massive year Cardi B and Janelle Monáe have had, while Christine And The Queens’ second album was one of our favourites of last year, and what a moment it would be if she ended up beating her mainstream competition.
International Male
Nominees: Drake, Eminem, Kamasi Washington, Shawn Mendes, Travis Scott
Who will win? It’s been a huge year for previous winner Drake and first-time nominee Travis Scott, but due to the former’s album making slightly more of an impact here in the UK, he’s the one we’d be betting on.
Who should win? Part of us would love to see Shawn Mendes land his first Brit, but Drake has probably done more to deserve it.
International Group
Nominees: Brockhampton, First Aid Kit, Nile Rodgers and Chic, The Carters, Twenty One Pilots
Who will win? With star power like Beyoncé and Jay-Z, The Carters are going to be the ones to beat in this category.
Who should win? Listen, you love Beyoncé. We love Beyoncé. Everyone loves Beyoncé. So we’re going to say The Carters would be very deserving winners. But. BUT! An exciting group on the come-up like Brockhampton winning a Brit Award would just be amazing. And we’d love to see them interact with Jack Whitehall, if nothing else.
British Single
Nominees: Stick with us here, Anne-Marie - 2002, Calvin Harris - One Kiss, Clean Bandit - Solo, Dua Lipa - IDGAF, George Ezra - Shotgun, Jess Glynne - I’ll Be There, Ramz - Barking, Rudimental - These Days, Sigala - Lullaby, Tom Walker - Leave A Light On
Who will win? There are a couple we could see this one going to, but with eight weeks at number one last year, we think it’s fair to say Dua Lipa will be following up her two wins last year with at least one more in 2019 for the Calvin Harris collaboration One Kiss.
Who should win? To be honest, One Kiss sounds as fresh now as it did the first time we heard it, and how often can you say that about a song that we’ve essentially been bombarded with for more than half a year? If Calvin and Dua don’t get the win, then we’d love to see British Single go to Clean Bandit and Demi Lovato for their quirky (and rude!) bop Solo.
British Album Of The Year
Nominees: Anne-Marie - Speak Your Mind, Florence And The Machine - High As Hope, George Ezra - Staying At Tamara’s, Jorja Smith - Lost & Found, The 1975 - A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships
Who will win? We can honestly see George Ezra walking this one after the year’s had.
Who should win? Nothing against George, of course, and we know they’re a divisive group (even on the HuffPost Entertainment team!), but it was clear The 1975 really put their all into their latest album, stepping out of their comfort zone, experimenting with different genres and really trying to say something.
It is probably going to go to George though. Staying At Tamara’s was a huge album that a lot of people really loved, but we’d be even happier to see a slightly less safe choice take home British Album Of The Year, especially a year on from Stormzy’s win.
British Video
Nominees: Yep it’s another epic one, Anne-Marie - 2002, Calvin Harris - One Kiss, Clean Bandit - Solo, Dua Lipa - IDGAF, Jax Jones - Breathe, Jonas Blue - Rise, Liam Payne and Rita Ora - For You, Little Mix - Woman Like Me, Rita Ora - Let You Love Me, Rudimental - These Days
Who will win? This one is voted for by fans, so essentially it’s “who has the fanbase with the most time on their hands?”. We’d say this was a three-way split between Liam Payne, Dua Lipa and Little Mix.
All three of these artists lost out to Harry Styles last year, and since it seems the Directioners are holding the power, we’d imagine it’s going to go to Liam and Rita Ora for their Fifty Shades duet For You this year.
Who should win? We would love this to go to Little Mix, not just because we love them, but because of the 10 videos nominated, theirs is the best of the bunch.
We’d potentially even go as far as saying that Woman Like Me is their best video to date, and if that doesn’t warrant a Brit Award then what does?
The 2019 Brit Awards will take place on Wednesday 20 February, airing live on ITV from 8pm.