Brit Awards 2021, the 41st edition of the annual Brit Awards, was the UK's first major indoor live music event in more than a year. It was held on 11 May 2021 and celebrated the best in British and international music. Usually held in February, the ceremony was delayed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The ceremony was hosted by comedian

Jack Whitehall Jack Peter Benedict Whitehall (born 7 July 1988) is an English comedian, actor, writer and television personality. He is known for his roles as JP in the Channel 4 comedy-drama series '' Fresh Meat'' (2011–2016) and as Alfie Wickers in the BBC ...

for the fourth year in a row. It was held at

The O2 The O2 (formerly known as the Millennium Dome) is a large entertainment district on the Greenwich peninsula in South East London, England, including an indoor arena, a music club, a Cineworld cinema, an exhibition space, Town square, piazzas, ...

Greenwich Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, east-south-east of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime hi ...

Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...

for the 11th successive year.

Performers

Pre-show

Main show

Background

Following the

where close contact with others was greatly curtailed, the 2021 Brits were held with a limited live audience as part of a test by the UK government to trial the idea of crowds with no

social distancing In public health, social distancing, also called physical distancing, (NB. Regula Venske is president of the PEN Centre Germany.) is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures intended to prevent the spread of a contagious dise ...

Oliver Dowden Sir Oliver James Dowden, (born 1 August 1978) is a British politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2023 to 2024. A member of the Conservative Party, he previously held various ministerial positions under Prime ...

, Secretary of State for the

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It holds the responsibility for culture and sport, and some aspects of the media throughout the UK, such as broadcasting. I ...

, announced that the Brits will join the

FA Cup Final The FA Cup Final is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football events in the world, with an official attendance of 89,472 ...

and

World Snooker Championship The World Snooker Championship, or simply known as the World Championship, is the longest-running and most prestigious tournament in professional snooker. It is also the richest event to date with a total prize money of £2,395,000, including ...

final as events that would feature larger crowds than allowed by law at the time. Dowden stated that "these test events will be crucial in finding ways to get fans and audiences back in safely without social distancing. We will be guided by the science and medical experts, but will work flat out to make that happen. We want to get the people back to enjoying what they love and ensure some of our most important growth industries get back on their feet. These are important steps towards the safe and special summer we all crave, and that I’m fully focused on delivering". On 22 April 2021, it was announced that the ceremony would have a live audience of 4,000

key worker A key worker is a worker in an occupation given preferential treatment by government policy. They may be exempted from rules which apply to the general population or prioritized for the receipt of benefits. Reasons for preferential treatment ...

s from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. As part of the pilot programme, everyone who attended would have to return a negative COVID PCR test before and after the ceremony. However, the crowd didn't need to be socially distanced or have to wear face masks once inside

. The other events that were part of the pilot scheme are: an event at a

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

Nightclub A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...

on 30 April and 1 May which hosted 3,000 people per night, a 5,000-capacity gig in Liverpool on 2 May, the

Emirates Emirates may refer to: * United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective ...

between Chelsea and

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

on 15 May which had 21,000 spectators just four days after The Brits and the

Carabao Carabaos () are a genetically distinct population of swamp-type water buffaloes ('' Bubalus bubalis kerabau'') from the Philippines.FAO 2013''Philippine Carabao/Philippines''In: Domestic Animal Diversity Information System. Food and Agriculture ...

Cup Final between

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

and

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

on 25 April which had 4,000 spectators.

Winners and nominees

Nominees for the Rising Star Award were announced on 11 March 2021 and the winner was announced on 19 March 2021. The nominees for the other categories were announced on 31 March 2021 by

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

's DJ

Nick Grimshaw Nicholas Peter Andrew Grimshaw (born 14 August 1984), nicknamed "Grimmy", is an English broadcaster and author. He became known for having hosted a variety of shows on BBC Radio 1. He is also known as a television presenter for his Channel 4 rol ...

and 2021 Rising Star Award winner

Griff Griff may refer to: People * Griff (name), a list of people with the given name or surname * Griff (singer), stage name of English singer and songwriter Sarah Faith Griffiths (born 2001) * Nickname of Guy Griffiths (1915–1999), British Secon ...

. On 9 May 2021, it was announced that

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Known for her autobiographical songwriting, artistic versatility, and Cultural impact of Taylor Swift, cultural impact, Swift is one of the Best selling artists, w ...

would be awarded the Brits Icon Award (renamed the Global Icon for 2021) at the 2021 Brit Awards making her the first female artist and non-British artist to receive the award "in recognition of her immense impact on music across the world and incredible repertoire and achievements to date". Girl group

Little Mix Little Mix are an English girl group that formed on the eighth series of ''The X Factor (British TV series), The X Factor.'' They are the first group and the only girl group to win the original UK series. The lineup consisted of Leigh-Anne Pin ...

made history at the 2021 Brit Awards, when they became the first female group to receive the award for Best Group at the ceremony after 43 years since it was first introduced.

Controversies

For the 2021 ceremony, the British Phonographic Industry amended the rules regarding eligible of artists for the BRIT Awards, as well as the

Mercury Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual Music award, music prize awarded for the best album released by a musical act from the Music of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom or Music of Ireland, Ireland. It was cre ...

which the BPI also run. The updated rules state that an artist and their music are eligible for nominations if they were born in the UK, are a UK passport holder (including individuals who hold more than one passport) or have lived in the UK for more than five years. The change was brought about by singer-songwriter

Rina Sawayama is a Japanese and British singer-songwriter, actress and model. Born in Niigata (city), Niigata, Japan, she immigrated to London with her parents at the age of five. In 2017, she Self-publishing, self-released her debut extended play, ''Rina ...

who, despite living in the UK for twenty-six years was informed that she could not be nominated for either the Brits or the Mercury Prize because she was not a British citizen. Sawayama currently holds a Japanese passport in order to maintain ties with her family who still live there and, as per Japan's rules, is not allowed to hold dual-citizenship, leading fans to post "#SawayamaIsBritish" in protest. Sawayama met with representatives at the BPI to discuss the eligibility criteria and convinced them to expand it so that she and other artists like her could be nominated for the awards. On 12 March 2021, three-time Brit Award-winning artist

Sam Smith Samuel Frederick Smith (born 19 May 1992) is an English singer and songwriter. In 2012, they rose to prominence when they featured on Disclosure (band), Disclosure's breakthrough single "Latch (song), Latch", which peaked at number eleven on ...

criticized the ceremony for continuing to use the gendered categories of British Male and British Female Solo Artist because they exclude those who do not fit into either of those categories. Smith, who came out as

non-binary Non-binary or genderqueer Gender identity, gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gende ...

in 2019, called for change, stating that "the BRITs have been an important part of my career. Music for me has always been about unification not division. I look forward to a time where awards shows can be reflective of the society we live in. Let’s celebrate everybody, regardless of gender, race, age, ability, sexuality and class". In response, a spokesperson from the awards explained "Sam is an extraordinary British artist and we agree with what they have said today. The Brits are committed to evolving the show and the gendered categories are very much under review. But any changes made to be more inclusive need to be just that - if a change unintentionally leads to less inclusion then it risks being counterproductive to diversity and equality. We need to consult more widely before changes are made to make sure we get it right". On 22 November 2021, it was ultimately announced that gendered categories would no longer be used at the Brit Awards beginning in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

References

External links

Brit Awards official website
{{Brit Awards 2021 in British music Brit Awards

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Music events postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on television Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the music industry Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom 2021 awards in the United Kingdom