Lana Del Rey took out a surprise win over awards season favourite Taylor Swift at the Brit Awards, the British music industry’s answer to the Grammys.
By Chloe Schneider
It all happened at London’s 02 Arena where US and UK singers gathered to celebrate some of the songs and albums that helped define 2012 in the UK.
The biggest winner on the night wasn’t a name we’ve become accustomed to seeing at award ceremonies…
Emeli Sande (who performed during the London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony) picked up both the highly-coveted British Album title for her debut ‘Our Version of Events’ and the Best British Female Artist award. On acceptance for the former, she said, “Wow, I think I’m a very unlikely pop star. You know this is an album I wrote because I didn’t have the confidence to say these things in person… So thank you everybody who bought this record. You make me feel as though I’m part of something much bigger. This is a dream really.”
It seems that Emeli might just be the new brIT girl in music!
There was nothing ‘international’ about the category nominations for the Best International Female Solo Artist award at all – the all-American cast of nominees consisted of Lana Del Rey, Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Alicia Keys and Cat Power. Indie queen Lana Del Rey took it across the line for the second year running despite Swift being the favourite.
Frank Ocean and Adele continued their winning streaks on the night with Ocean walking away with the Best International Male Award and Adele with the Best British Single Award. Oceans well-deserved win was, albeit, a little disappointing for the Aussie’s who had their fingers crossed for Gotye to win.
All the winners on the night took home Damien Hirst-designed statuettes that, we have to say, are some of the coolest we’ve seen this awards season. We’re tempted to start up a Rescu. band just on the off-chance we might get one next year (yeah, right).
Justin Timberlake may not be up for any awards this season, but his performances are on a winning streak of their own. The star, who is in the middle of a serious revival, performed his new single ‘Mirrors’ and absolutely wowed the audience.
And finally, Taylor Swift may missed out on the International award but we think she can still declare the night a success thanks to a hot-as-hell performance of ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’ which started out in a Victorian style wedding dress and ended in a black lace top, tiny hot pants and black boots. We’re sure having ex-boyfriend One Direction’s Harry Styles in the audience was a major motivation for what was undeniably Swift’s sexiest performance to date. After all, success really is the best revenge…
