Brit Awards 2011 – Who should win…

Who'll win big at this year's Brits?

Tonight all eyes in the music industry will be turned towards the o2 Arena as it hosts the Brit Awards for the very first time. Artists will congregate together to celebrate the previous year of music, where success ranged from the music underground scene with Plan B and Tinie Tempah, to industry manufactured acts such as Matt Cardle and bands like The Wanted.

2011 Host James Corden with the new style Brit Award

However, free bars and musicians don’t always work well together. Throughout the years there have been several amusing moments as drunken stars find themselves in front of the camera to accept awards and often make complete fools of themselves! Last year, Liam Gallagher, while accepting an award for Best Brits album of the last 30 years, took the opportunity to insult his brother (By thanking every member of his band bar Noel) before hurling the microphone into the crowd. In turn, host Peter Kay labelled him a knobhead!

This year it looks like the awards ceremony will cap off an amazing year for Tinie Tempah. Nominated for four awards after a year that saw singles ‘Pass Out’ and ‘Written in the Stars’ make it to #1, as well as his album ‘Disc-overy’ going straight in at the top of the album charts, it is clear that he has had a fantastic year breaking into the mainstream music scene.

The nominations…

British Male Solo Artist

Plan B (aka Strickland Banks) has had a brilliant year

Nominees:

• Mark Ronson
• Paul Weller
• Plan B
• Robert Plant
• Tinie Tempah

Probable Winner:

• Plan B

With Mark Ronson thought to be American by many, Paul Weller unknown by most below the age of forty and Robert Plant successful but mostly overlooked now in the popular music, it looks set to be between Plan B and Tinie Tempah. Previously known as an underground rapper, Plan B this year invented a persona known as ‘Strickland Banks,’ a rapping soul singer. Transcending the music boundary between generations he has been extremely successful and should squeeze past Tinie to the award.

British Female Solo Artist

Ellie Goulding used her Sound of 2010 recommendation to fly to great heights last year

Nominees:

• Cheryl Cole
• Ellie Goulding
• Laura Marling
• Paloma Faith
• Rumer

Probable Winner:

• Ellie Goulding

Cheryl Cole is possibly too popular in showbiz circles and some issues last year, concerning an off key Radio 1 ‘Live Lounge’ performance, as well as debate over her alleged miming, may cause the judging panel to decide against her. The fact that Rumer and Laura Marling aren’t as well known as Ellie Goulding or Paloma Faith may count against them when the judges look at the artists’ ability to engage with the public whilst generating money for the industry. However, these points were proved by Ellie Goulding when she covered Elton John’s ‘Your Song’ for John Lewis over Christmas.

British Breakthrough Act

Nominees:

Is this Tinie's year to win a lot of awards?

• Ellie Goulding
• Mumford & Sons
• Rumer
• Tinie Tempah
• The XX

Probable Winner:

• Tinie Tempah

As this category is decided by the votes of Radio 1 listeners it means that Rumer will struggle due to limited airplay. The strong support of Tinie Tempah by both the daytime and evening DJ’s means that it looks likely the support will swing in his favour after being broken onto the mainstream by DJ Zane Lowe as a ‘Hottest Record in the World’ early in 2010.

British Group

Take That's reunion has taken the UK by storm

Nominees:

• Biffy Clyro
• Gorillaz
• Mumford & Sons
• Take That
• The XX

Probable Winner:

• Take That

Although the other nominees were all extremely successful last year, with Biffy Clyro storming the festival scene and Gorrilaz bringing a fantastic live show to headline both Glastonbury and several nights at the O2, the re-union of Barlow and Williams, followed by the fastest selling tour and album of this century means that it will be hard for the judges to overlook them.

British Single

Tempah's 'Pass Out' was one of the biggest singles of 2010

Nominees:

• Cheryl Cole ’Parachute’,
• Alexandra Burke ft Pitbull ’All Night Long’,
• Florence & the Machine ’You’ve Got The Love’,
• Matt Cardle ’When We Collide’,
• Olly Murs ’Please Don’t Let Me Go’,
• Plan B ’She Said’,
• Scouting For Girls ’This Ain’t A Love Song’,
• Taio Cruz ’Dynamite’,
• Tinie Tempah ’Pass Out’,
• The Wanted ’All Time Low’

Probable Winner:

• Tinie Tempah – ‘Pass Out’

Voted for by members of the public this award can go any way, dependant on which artist has the biggest backing from their fans and contemporaries on social media sites such as ‘Twitter.’ Although great songs like Tinie’s ‘Pass Out’ could win due to their huge popularity through radio play and night club play, songs such as ‘When We Collide’ could steal the title due to its unprecedented sales figures whilst hordes of teenage fans for groups such as The Wanted could sway the result in an unseen direction…

British Album of the Year

Could the reunion of Take That see them take the award for 'Best British Album?'

Nominees:

• Mumford & Sons ’Sigh No More’,
• Plan B ’The Defamation of Strickland Banks’,
• Take That ’Progress’,
• Tinie Tempah ’Disc-overy’,
• The XX ’XX’

Probable Winner:

• Take That – ‘Progress’

All the nominated albums in this category are fantastic examples of the strength in British music at the moment.  Any of these winners would be well deserved. However the immense sales of Take That’s album will probably sway the panel in that direction.

The Brits also celebrate international artists that have had an impact onto the UK music scene.

International Male Solo Artist

Both Eminem and Rihanna have been strong in the UK this year

Nominees:

• Bruce Springsteen,
• Cee-Lo Green,
• David Guetta,
• Eminem,
• Kanye West

Probable Winner:

• Eminem

With Cee-Lo Green making huge controversial waves this year with ‘F**k You’ the first single from his solo album, and DJ David Guetta having success with almost every single he releases, they would seem like good options. However Eminem’s resurgence with huge singles like ‘Love The Way You Lie’ means he is likely to win the award this year!

International Female Solo Artist

Rihanna has recently seen success at the Grammys

Nominees:

• Alicia Keys,
• Katy Perry,
• Kylie Minogue,
• Rihanna,
• Robyn

Probable winner:

• Rihanna

All nominees are hugely popular in the UK, with hugely successful singles. However, due to Rihanna having a period with several highly charting singles, including a week with three tracks in the top ten at the same time, she is a safe bet to win the award this year.

International Breakthrough Act

Justin Bieber is followed fanatically by teenage girls around the world.

Nominees:

• Bruno Mars,
• Glee Cast,
• Justin Bieber,
• The National,
• Temper Trap

Probable Winner:

• Justin Bieber

The initial shock of seeing the cast of a TV programme being nominated for a music award is offset by the fact that they have had high charting singles weekly while the programme was running, and have sold over 21million singles worldwide. However, as the voting for this award is by MTV voters, it is likely that Justin Bieber’s army of teenage fans will gift him this award with a ridiculously high margin of votes.

International Group

The Black Eyed Peas have been setting the world alight with their new electronic sound

Nominees:

• Arcade Fire,
• Black Eyed Peas,
• Kings of Leon,
• The Script,
• Vampire Weekend

Probable Winner:

• Black Eyed Peas

Kings of Leon have failed to meet the expectation of their 2009 album, but still achieved success in 2010 with their last LP. However the prevalence of will-i-am in collaborations and productions in the chart in 2010, as well as the latest BEP album means they are likely to overcome Irish boy band The Script and indie band Arcade Fire.

International Album

Eminem provided one of the biggest albums of 2010

Nominees:

• Arcade Fire ‘The Suburbs’
• Cee-Lo Green ‘The Lady Killer’
• Eminem ‘The Recovery’
• Katy Perry ‘Teenage Dream’
• Kings Of Leon ‘Come around Sundown’

Probable Winner:

• Eminem – ‘The Recovery’

With several fantastic albums on the nominations list it would take something special to win, and something special is what the judges get with Eminem’s ‘The Recovery,’ which was the 2^nd bestselling album in the world of 2010.

With performances on the night from the likes of Rihanna, Tinie Tempah and Take That and the inimitable hosting style of James Corden, it looks like it’s going to be a fantastic evening of entertainment.