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For all of its many (many, many) flaws, 2021 was a pretty good year for music. And to celebrate the absolute best in pop, the Brit Awards are back, with two Time Out 2021 cover stars receiving nods.
The Brits have had a major revamp for 2022 – replacing all gendered categories with new, gender-neutral alternatives including ‘British artist of the year’ and ‘International artist of the year’ – after non-binary artist Sam Smith was frozen out of the awards in 2021. They’ve also added new awards to spotlight specific genres: hip-hop/grime/rap, dance, alternative/rock, and pop/R&B.
There are plenty of familiar faces in the nominations – Adele and Ed Sheeran are in it for album of the year, meanwhile Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift have been given nods for best international artist. Critically acclaimed London rapper Little Simz has been nominated for no less than four awards: Album of the Year for her fourth album, ‘Sometimes I Might Be Introvert’, as well as Artist of the Year, Best New Artist, and best in hip-hop/grime/rap. Simz was Time Out's July cover star, where she spoke to Candice Carty-Williams about her new album, plantain, and being a role model. Read the feature here.
Also nominated in the best hip-hop/grime/rap category is fellow London rapper AJ Tracey, who was snapped in Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for Time Out’s October cover, before speaking to Nana Baah about anime, west London, and video games.
The 2022 Brit Award winners will be announced at the Brits ceremony at the London O2 Arena on 8 February, which will be broadcast on ITV. Find the full list of nominations on the Brits website here.