The Brit Awards have been many things over their 46-year history, but they have never been Saturday night entertainment. Until now.
The 2023 edition moved to Saturday night in search of a ratings boost (the slot traditionally attracts the biggest audience of the U.K. TV week, while last year the ceremony pulled in just 2.7 million midweek viewers), although it seems likely most of the target demographic would be out on the town, dancing to these songs in less glitzy surroundings than London’s O2 Arena.
The rumor all week was that broadcasters wanted a safe, conservative show to keep the family audience at home happy.
Did they get it? Well, yes and no.
Harry Styles certainly stuck to the script. He has previous experience as Mr. Saturday Night, of course, first coming to public attention as a member of One Direction in this very slot as a contestant on “The X Factor.” 1D actually finished third in that contest, but Styles was tonight’s undisputed winner; opening the show with an exuberant, if straightforward, run through “As It Was” and going on to win four gongs.
Pop/R&B act, song of the year, artist of the year and album of the year, all for his Grammy-winning “Harry’s House” album, brought him back to the stage for speeches laced with rather more gratitude than attitude, although he did at least address the big pre-show controversy over the all-male shortlist for artist of the year, after gendered categories were scrapped last year (not to mention his baffling, much-criticized comment when accepting the Grammy for album of the year just six days ago, “This doesn’thappento peoplelikeme very often”).
“I’m very aware of my privilege up here tonight,” he said, referencing just some of the female artists overlooked by Academy voters to warm applause. “So this is for Rina [Sawayama], Charli [XCX], Florence [+ the Machine], Mabel and Becky [Hill].”
