Charli XCX expressed her disappointment with the BRITs after their all-male shortlist for Artist of the Year. 

Despite the awards abandoning gendered categories in favour of gender-neutral ones, the male-dominated Artist of the Year category quickly sparked criticism.

As per NME, Charli XCX was asked on the red carpet why she wasn’t nominated for Artist of the Year, despite being nominated in the Best Pop/R&B category. She expressed her surprise, noting that she had a number one album during the awards cycle.

“Great question,” she said. “I’ve heard a lot of chat about the fact there weren’t enough females in album cycle and that’s why no one was nominated. But, I was in album cycle and I had a number one album (Crash).

“There’s many of us, so I don’t know. You should ask them. We’re doing everything right. I don’t think it’s our fault. I think it might be theirs.”

Back in January, the nominees for Artist of the Year were revealed to be Central Cee, Fred again.., George Ezra, Harry Styles and Stormzy.

Styles eventually won the award and acknowledged his privilege during his acceptance speech, dedicating the award to several female artists, including Charli XCX. It was a far cry from his much more controversial Grammy Awards speech last weekend.

A BRITs spokesperson responded to the backlash, stating that the lack of women in the category was “disappointing” and putting it down to the supposed fact that fewer high-profile women artists had major releases in 2022.

However, this statement did little to assuage the concerns of those who believe that the awards should accurately reflect the contributions of all artists, regardless of gender.

This year’s BRITs also drew criticism for on-stage comments made about Ellie Goulding’s breasts by Tom Grennan.

The writer used AI tools to publish part of this article. The Brag Media relies on journalists to fact check & edit all articles regardless of any AI tools used.

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