- Charli XCX enjoyed a clean sweep for her iconic album Brat
- Several artists drew attention to the plight of independent music venues
- There was also a tribute to Liam Payne
The UK’s biggest night for music took place last night, with trophies aplenty for the best and biggest in pop from the last year.
Read more: Everything we know about the BRITs 2025
While historically known as an outrageous, often boozy event, the ceremony isn’t quite as hedonistic as it once was. Nonetheless, there’s never a year at the BRITs without some big moments.
As ever, it took place at The O2 Arena. Comedian Jack Whitehall returned to host for the first time since 2021.
So what went down?
Charli xcx makes the Brit Awards into the Brat Awards
Brat wasn’t just a success, but a cultural phenomenon – and it made lime green the colour of summer 2024. As such, it was no surprise that Charli had a very good night last night.
Charli picked up five BRIT Awards, only just behind Raye’s record six wins in a night last year. Even though she’s been making music since 2008 and had received four nominations previously, these were her first ever BRIT wins.
Artists call for the industry to save grassroots music venues
It’s hardly unusual for artists to make a stand about issues they care about when they win awards. This year, however, a few winners struck a different tone, talking less about politics but about the music industry itself.
The Last Dinner Party bassist Georgia Davies said they “wouldn’t be a band without the UK’s incredible independent venues – they are the lifebood of the industry, and they are dying”. She called for the companies who run arenas to support these venues.
Rising Star winner Myles Smith called for the government to better support the music industry. He pointed out that as a child from a single parent household who was on free school meals, engaging in music was only possible for him because of government-backed schemes bringing instruments into schools.
He posed three questions in his speech. “My first is to the government – if British music is one of the most powerful cultural exports we have, why have we treated it like an afterthought for so many years?”
“How many more venues need to close, how many music programs need to be cut before we realise that we can’t just celebrate success, we have to protect the foundations that make it.”
“My second is to the biggest venues and arenas around the world – if artists selling out your arenas and your stadiums started in grassroots venues, what are you doing to keep them alive?”
“And my third, to the industry, to the execs in the room and to the people behind the scenes – are we building careers or are we just chasing moments? Because moments fade and careers take time. So please stick with artists past their first viral hit, past their first tour, because it really matters to us. Moments, they fade, but careers last forever.”
The BRITs pays tribute to Liam Payne
It had already been confirmed that there’d be a tribute to the late Liam Payne, who died in October aged 31.
The surviving members of One Direction weren’t present. Instead, there was a video montage of footage of Payne on tour with One Direction and his family then played, soundtracked to the band’s ‘Little Things’.
Before the montage played, Whitehall said: “He achieved so much in the short time that he was on this earth, and was not only a supremely gifted musician, but an incredibly kind soul who touched the lives of everyone he came into contact with. We have so many amazing memories of Liam here at the Brits, so tonight we celebrate his legacy, look back and remember the remarkable Liam Payne.”
Sabrina Carpenter’s showstopping performance
Carpenter opened the ceremony with a British twist on her cheeky, sexy style of shows. She performed medley of Espresso and Bed Chem, dressed as one of the King’s Guards.
She later won the Global Success Award. Accepting the award, she said: “In a primarily tea-drinking country, you’ve streamed the s**t out of Espresso … cheerio!”
