Brit Awards 2009

It's only the most prestigious British Music Award... no biggie.
So, there I was sitting on my chair, pen in hand and brain in full gear- ready for some musical celebration and boy, did they receive. Although it may not always have been in their favour, unfortunately The Ting Tings and Estelle did just not replicate The Klaxons and Rihanna of last year, condolences to fans of both.
U2 started the show with a heavily made up Bono saying it was good to be back, and believe us Bono, you never left. "Get on your Boots," is great promotion for their new LP, "No Line on the Horizon," due next month. After two rather turbulent years of presenting, a somewhat unconventional tradition of the BRIT's, with Russell Brand and the 300 phone complaints plus The Osborunes last year, producers felt they needed to be safe this year, enter James Cordon, Matthew Horne and Kylie. A clearly scripted evening and I take my hat off to all of them, they gave us what we expected, clean cut happiness. Kylie looked dazzling in her many costume changes and the harmless flirting with Matthew, added to the clean family fun!
Duffy left this evening with three awards, Best Female, British Breakthrough and British Album- coming from someone who is just not a fan of her, each of her speeches were dignified and she was clearly happy to win. Other big winners of the evening were Kings of Leon winning International Group and International Album, looking ever so composed for the first thanking but clearly they started drinking too early before the second... Shame The Killers didn't completely beat them!
International Male went to Kanye West, deservidly, unfortunatly he wasn't at the event. So you can complain when you don't win, but when you do, don't come to the event, the thinking someone? Internation Female went to the beautiful Katy Perry who looked as though she was going to throw up on stage (obviously making it clear that she was ill)! Other winners of the evening included the surprising win of Elbow for Best British Group, just weeks after winning Mercury Music Album of the Year (it seems years of hard grafting do the job), Paul Weller for British Male (although his main competition was Will Young, the industry thought they would stay with tradition, shame really) and the other surprise was Iron Maiden for Best Live Act.
Best British Single went to Girls Aloud for The Promise, what were people thinking? Sorry but against the likes of Coldplay??? It was all the more dignifed as Sarah Harding screamed, "I've wet myself on stage."
Now, Coldplay? Nominations 4 Wins 0, this is a catastrophe! I mean had the Brit Academy really thought that others deserved to win over Coldplay? With a release like last years 'Viva La Vida', they deserved to win at least Best Album... (Duffy, tut tut)!
And Outstanding Contribution to Music? No other than Pet Shop Boys, the best British electronic band of the last 20 years. They performed a fantastic medley of their greatest hits including 'West End Girls', 'What Have I Done to Deserve This?' and their new single, 'Love etc.'. Guest vocalists included Lady GaGa and Brandon Flowers of The Killers who did brilliantly with what they were given.
So what have we learnt after this year? Not only are the movie awards becoming more and more obvious, it has finally happened to music. Where was the wins for Adele, The Killers or Coldplay? Surely missed out to winners like Girls Aloud and Duffy? Yes, people are right when they said music is getting stronger and last year was no different, shame the Brit's didn't acknowlege that!

Brit Award 2009 Nominations Announced!

Coldplay and Duffy have bagged four nominations apiece for this year's Brit Awards.

Both acts were shortlisted for the British Single and British Album prizes, with Coldplay also receiving nominations for British Group and British Live Act.

Duffy, meanwhile, picked up further nominations in the British Female and British Breakthrough Act categories.

Adele, Scouting For Girls and Elbow have each been nominated for three awards, while Ting Tings and Estelle have been shortlisted for two.

Girls Aloud also received a pair of nominations - for British Group and British Single - with Leona Lewis, Alexandra Burke and the X Factor finalists among the competition in the British Single category.

In the international categories, five acts picked up a pair of nominations: Kings of Leon, The Killers, AC/DC, MGMT and Fleet Foxes.

Jay-Z and Kanye West will square off for the International Male gong, while Pink, Beyoncé and Katy Perry will compete for the International Female trophy.

Pet Shop Boys will take home the Outstanding Contribution to Music prize at this year's Brit Awards, to be held at London's Earls Court on February 18.

Source: Digital Spy

May Recommends

There has been so much music that I have been listening to recently, new and old, and yes, I hear you cry, shouldn't I have been revising, yes the answer is, I should have been revising but you never know what gems you can find when you shouldn't be!!! Now, first things, first, if any teachers have just read that, sorry, I am sure you understand this time is stressful and so looking at music is just a way to procrastinate and prolong the process!!!

Anyway, music, that is why we are here :D

What a lot to get through, well seen as the sun has been around for the past week, I know, the rain has come back, but there seems to be some good music to wash about the rainy blues and welcome the sun back... First on my list, I have found that over the past month, I have started to like artists and songs that I did not before and did not want to... and here is the first,

1. Madonna ft. Justin Timberlake- 4 Minutes
Despite my prolonging ambivalence towards this generic, Timberlake powered anthem, I was wondering when Madonna would get back on the music horse and realise that although sex sells, although Justin Timberlake sells, although having a good base accompanied by a rap sells, I would rather stand up for the traditional Madonna and hope that this would not sell! After the revelation that we would have at least another year of the reinvented Madonna with the release of 'Hard Candy', and that it would follow with the same old, boring, chart topping hits (as I am sure, by this point, you can guess I would prefer not to follow the trends!), after being fully informed that at the high point of Madonna's career, she was the trend setter, not follower and although, she may never have got back to the heights of 'Papa Don't Preach' and 'Like a Prayer' but even with her 'Confessions of the Dancefloor' she was trying to break into a genre that mainstream pop was being slightly weary off, despite the negative success of her previous outing (whereas, myself really enjoyed the new style), knew like every other Madonna fan, that this was not going to last to long and we would be expecting a new flavour of the Madonna collective.
And to that end, 'Hard Candy' was released, due to mixed reviews and 30 second previews on iTunes, I will probably keep as far as possible from the new sound, the RnB inspired, 'let me use every big star at the moment', top the charts, pay the bills, ignore every old lesson inspired album. Even with the likes of 'American Life' in the back of her wardrobe, lurking like the years she would rather not speak about (personally, an underrated album with great songs) and yet she would rather find what the mainstream enjoy, you would think that Madonna, could afford to keep fans happy instead of making new ones.

With names like Kanye West, Justin Timberlake and Timberland, all producing, rapping, singing, doing what they do, taking part in the collective that is 'Hard Candy', it seems to be that it's just a random collection of B-Sides. If looks could kill, then I am sure most the music-buying world would be having a fit after taking a look at the cover! At the age of 49, she is not a bad looking woman but whoever decided that to have the neon pink cover with the star wearing what she is, was definitely blind... or having a joke!

Back to the song, I was so adamant not to listen to '4 Mins' that when I actually happened to listen to it, last week, after the storm of chart rising had been and gone, I figured that this song was not too bad and since then it has not left my iTunes top played. Unfortunately for me, only a few people at school like this song and if I play it, well you would rather not hear what people say but put it this way, Madonna's latest is a lateral based symphony, a mix for the mainstream ages where the little known can only get so far without the fanship of the biggest stars. With the like of Kanye and Justin joining Madonna, it is obvious why the smaller stars can't have any airtime, all the biggest stars get their songs played and then the next song, same singers, different collaboration.

'4 Mins' starts with Timberland’s 'singing', what's the point to be honest, as a producer, I applaud but to find him appearing, it disturbs me... (OneRepublic blooper!), anyway, moving on, Madonna starts with a moving beat, Justin joins and together they produce a song of stages... despite the pointless lyrics and the tick tock dance, this song goes against the trend and in fact, get's the thumb up from me.

2. Robyn- Who's That Girl
I have not a bad thing to say about Robyn, the Swedish star who shows that despite her poor pop past, the dance industry is a whole new ball game. The new single to join the past three, finds a new level of self wonderment, does Robyn realise that in English, her lyrics are meaningful and actually show the hidden things that people are always thinking, does she believe in what she sings, by the sounds of the passion, one would think so.

3. Skunk Anansie- Hedonism & Weak
For those of us, still living in the 90's, most of us would remember Skunk, as a multicultural band of many means. Their songs cover a variety of topics and after listening to one, you wonder where you were before you first heard it. Hedonism, attacks the materialistic world, our world, the one that you live in, because you are reading this on a blog and the one I am living in... how else would I be writing this? But apart from, Skin's replenishing voice and the rhythmic beats, one can't quite understand how they would end. Weak, follows the same generic similarity but when watching the video, how come someone get away with this? Does the art of the music video have to entertain, provide a medium for the song or does it have to construct something much more- Weak does just this!

4. Alphabeat- 10,000 Nights of Thunder
When someone listens to this and enjoys it, pop music is firmly back in the place that it should be, at the top of the charts! Thinking back to the days when listening to S Club was socially acceptable or wondering when the next Steps single would be out, shows that pop music was the prime example of the 90's and despite what critics say, everyone loved it!

Well, Alphabeat, bring the old beat back in a new style, from Denmark, they have already made a mark in the UK chart with 'Fascination' (seen ages ago on this blog!), being in the charts for almost ten weeks and not leaving the top 20, one must realise that pop music is starting to make it's mark... (Britney Spears, Blackout, not as bad as I would have thought!) But here we have the cheesy, happy go lucky fun that we all craved! After music becoming too serious for a while, it seems that we need music this is just going to make you smile and love it or hate it, you will want to dance!
'10,000 Nights' is just another song to add to the profile and what a great single, this was the deciding factor as to pre ordering the album!

5. Sigur Ros- Hoppipolla
What's not to love about this song? Simple and great, powerful and beautiful, balanced and perfect, Ros finds that perfection is easy and music comes naturally and brilliantly... Simple as, listen, relax and fall into a new world!

6. (Here's a bonus!) Maroon 5 & Rihanna- If I Never See Your Face Again
A remix of a great song from M5's latest, see's the addition of synths but the similar formula that made them great. America's biggest success story of last year, Rihanna, keeps churning out the hits and with the release of her new single, 'Take a Bow', she does not rest and why not release a duet of an old song with an award winning band in a totally different genre!

The result, the same we know from M5, nothing life changing but nice to see Rihanna adding to her long list of things she has done... she looks great in the video and is a great asset to what could have been, just another M5 release.