2024-07-25 15:33:12
Singer Charli XCX, rapper Ghetts and indie-rock band The Last Dinner Party were nominated for this year’s Mercury Prize. The organizers of this prestigious British award announced this on Thursday afternoon. More than half of the selected albums are debuts.
Single 360 from the album Brat by singer Charli XCX. Photo: Reuters | Video: Atlantic Records
First won by rockers Primal Scream in 1992, the award is considered less mainstream than the Brit Awards. Unlike them, the Mercury Prize is more often achieved by artists from more marginal genres. The winner will receive 25 thousand pounds, converted to about 750 thousand crowns. Also this year, one of the 12 Britons or Irishmen nominated for albums released in the last year can win.
Singer Charli XCX may succeed with Brat, whose lime-green cover these days quotes the fledgling campaign of US presidential candidate Kamala Harris. The connection was sparked by the British pop star when she mentioned the American politician on Monday on the X social network, formerly known as Twitter. A well-intentioned post calling Kamala Harris a “brat” or “a little messy girl” has garnered over 50 million views.
“A brat is a girl who carries a pack of cigarettes, a Bic lighter and walks around in a white top without a bra. Just someone who is a little less combed, likes to have fun, maybe says a little silly sometimes. A girl who can be herself, even though she’s falling apart. But despite all this, she’s honest. She’s just being a brat,” the singer explained in the British podcast.
According to her, the term is partly defined against the image of orderly or “decent” girls. It indicates someone who is a bit more of a rebel or hedonist.
Another nominee for the Mercury Prize is the 39-year-old rapper Ghetts. He can succeed with his fourth studio album called On Purpose, with Purpose. The all-girl indie-rock band The Last Dinner Party, heard by visitors to Prague’s Metronome festival this year, was proposed for the debut of Prelude to Ecstasy.
A picture from The Last Dinner Party concert at the Metronome festival. | Photo: Martin Šimral
Among the first nominees, the twenty-four-year-old singer and producer of electronic music Nia Archives with the album Silence Is Loud, the equally old English singer of Liberian origin Cat Burns with the album Early Twenties, the Scottish DJ who calls himself Barry Can’t Swim and called his recording a question When Will We Land?, or the rapper with Trinidadian blood Berwyn for the debut of Who Am I.
Another chance to succeed is Beth Gibbons, former lead singer of the Mercury Prize-winning band Portishead 29 years ago. The jury nominated her for her first solo album Lives Outgrown.
Also nominated were musician Corto.alto for Bad With Names, English Teacher with This Could Be Texas, singer Corinne Bailey Rae for Black Rainbows and Irish country singer CMAT. The author of the Crazymad, for Me album was also hosted by Prague’s Metronome this year.
The organizers will announce the winners in September. Last year the Mercury Prize was won by the jazz band Ezra Collective for the recording Where I’m Meant to Be.
Nominated for the 2024 Mercury Prize
Barry Can’t Swim – When Will We Land?
Berwyn – Who Am I
Beth Gibbons – Lives Outgrown
Cat Burns – Early Twenties
Charli xcx – Brat
CMAT – Crazymad, for Me
Corinne Bailey Rae – Black Rainbows
Corto.alto – Bad with Names
English Teacher – This Could Be Texas
Ghetts – On Purpose, With Purpose
Nia Archives – Silence Is Loud
The Last Dinner Party – Prelude to Ecstasy