Mercury Prize Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Kojey Radical has spoken to NME about his recent Mercury Prize nomination, and flying the flag for UK hip-hop. Watch our video interview with the rapper above.The Hoxton rapper was speaking to NME from the London launch event for the prize yesterday (Wednesday July 27), where his acclaimed debut album ‘Reason To Smile‘ was named as one of the Albums Of The Year alongside records by the likes of Sam Fender, Self Esteem, Nova Twins, Harry Styles, Little Simz and more.Before we started talking about music, we put it to the rapper in his mint green suit that he might well have been the best-dressed person at the launch.“That’s a fact,” he replied.

Jessie Buckley & Bernard Butler have spoken to NME about being nominated for the Mercury Prize 2022 – and the secret to good songwriting and a magic collaboration. Watch our video interview with the pair above.The Irish actor/singer-songwriter and the former Suede guitarist turned solo star and record producer were speaking to NME from the London launch event for the prize yesterday (Wednesday July 27), where their collaborative album ‘For All Our Days That Tear That Tear The Heart’ was named as one of the Albums Of The Year alongside albums by the likes of Sam Fender, Self Esteem, Nova Twins, Harry Styles, Little Simz and more.Asked what spirit of the times the shortlist captured, Butler replied: “I don’t think it says anything about music in 2022.

Nova Twins have spoken to NME about representing rock on this year’s Mercury Prize shortlist – as well as their recent praise from Elton John and what the future might hold. Watch our interview with the band aboveThe rock duo were speaking to NME from the London launch event for the prize yesterday (Wednesday July 27), where their acclaimed second album ‘Supernova’ was named as one of the Albums Of The Year alongside records by the likes of Sam Fender, Yard Act, Harry Styles, Little Simz, Self Esteem and more – an honour they described as “crazy!”“We are so happy,” said singer and guitarist Amy Love. “It’s a bucket list moment, for us.

Yard Act have spoken to NME about what this year’s shortlist for the Mercury Prize 2022 says about guitar music – as well as plans for their next album and working with Elton John.The Yorkshire band were speaking to NME from the London launch event for the prize yesterday (Wednesday July 27), where their acclaimed debut album ‘The Overload‘ was named as one of the Albums Of The Year alongside albums by the likes of Sam Fender, Nova Twins, Harry Styles, Little Simz, Self Esteem and more.They were in attendance without frontman James Smith, “because of the trains,” said guitarist Sam Shjipstone, adding: “support the strikes.”Asked what the Mercury Prize shortlist says about music in 2022, Shjipstone replied: “There’s quite a lot of guitar music on it, which is quite weird. People are finally realising that the guitar is the greatest instrument ever made!”Bassist Ryan Needham added: “There’s quite a lot of rage and unrest lyrically across the whole thing, which is nice to see.

Self Esteem has spoken to NME about being nominated for the Mercury Prize 2022 – as well as plans for her next album and quest to be a judge on Drag Race UK. Watch our video interview with Rebecca Lucy Taylor above.Taylor was speaking to NME from the London launch event for the prize yesterday (Wednesday July 27), where the Sheffield star’s second solo record ‘Prioritise Pleasure‘ was named as one of the Albums Of The Year alongside albums by the likes of Sam Fender, Nova Twins, Harry Styles, Little Simz and more.“I’m not being coy, but I can’t believe what’s happened,” Taylor told NME. ‘I’d really made my peace with being consistently underground and under-dogged.

The list of nominees for the 2022 Mercury Prize has been revealed with Harry Styles, Little Simz, and Wet Leg set to compete for this year's title. The annual prize rewards one outstanding British album.

Mercury Prize have been sharing their excitement over being shortlisted for the prestigious award.This morning (July 26), the Mercury Prize – in partnership with mobility app FREE NOW – confirmed that Harry Styles‘ ‘Harry’s House’, Little Simz‘ ‘Sometimes I Might be Introvert’, Sam Fender‘s ‘Seventeen Going Under’, Wet Leg‘s self-titled LP and Yard Act‘s ‘The Overload’ are among the 12 records in the running for the annual Album Of The Year statue.The rest of the list is made up of Self Esteem (‘Prioritise Pleasure’), Joy Crookes (‘Skin’), Kojey Radical (‘Reason To Smile’), Nova Twins (‘Supernova’), Fergus McCreadie (‘Forest Floor’), Gwenno (‘Tresor’) and Jessie Buckley & Bernard Butler (‘For All Our Days That Tear The Heart’).The winner will be announced during an event at London’s Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith on September 8.Reacting to the nod on Twitter, Wet Leg – aka Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers – wrote: “We’re so freakin lucky that we got to make the album that we made. These past couple of years have been full of surprises and unexpected adventures.“Here’s perhaps one of our fave surprises so far…Our debut album has been shortlisted for a @MercuryPrize!?”Elsewhere, Sam Fender said he was “so chuffed” that ‘Seventeen Going Under’ (NME‘s album of the year 2021) had made the Mercurys list.

Mercury Prize shortlist for 2022 Album Of The Year has been revealed.At 11am today (July 26), the Mercury Prize – in partnership with mobility app FREE NOW – confirmed that the 12 albums that have been shortlisted for the Album Of The Year award include Harry Styles’ ‘Harry’s House’, Little Simz’s ‘Sometimes I Might be Introvert’, Sam Fender’s ‘Seventeen Going Under’, Wet Leg’s self-titled album and Yard Act’s ‘The Overload’.You can find the entire list of albums shortlisted for the coveted award below.The awards show for the event will take place on September 8 at London’s Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith. Tickets for the event are now available for purchase here.It was announced yesterday (July 25) that a handful of musicians including Anna Calvi, Lanterns On The Lake’s Hazel Wilde, Loyle Carner and Jamie Cullum helped judge this year’s prize, alongside a range of broadcasters and critics.The Mercury’s official website has also noted that the 12 nominated artists will “receive a specially commissioned ‘Album Of The Year’ trophy, with the overall winner also receiving a winner trophy and a cash prize of £25,000”.This year’s Mercury Prize has also announced that it’s new headline sponsor is the FREE NOW mobility app as part of a “multi-year commitment from FREE NOW to support British music”.Last year, Arlo Parks walked away with the 2021 Mercury Prize for her album ‘Collapsed In Sunbeams’.

The Mercury Prize is set to unveil the 2022 Album Of The Year shortlist this week.According to a press release, the shortlist of 12 will be unveiled tomorrow (July 26) in London at 11am. The list will be announced live by Nemone on BBC Radio 6 Music as part of a Mercury Prize 2022 special, and at a launch event hosted by BBC Music’s Huw Stephens.The awards show for the event will take place on September 8 at London’s Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith.

The Music Venue Trust has announced a new partnership with transport app Free Now, which is also the new headline sponsor of the Mercury Prize. It will see Free Now underwrite the costs of 120 shows by independent artists in 60 venues across the UK.As part of the initiative, Public Service Broadcasting will play Peckham Audio next month.

Naman Ramachandran British music exports soared 13.7% to a high of £590.8 million ($709 million) in 2021, the highest total on record, per the latest analysis from British Phonographic Industry (BPI), the trade body for independent and major record labels in the U.K.The 2021 total is the highest since the BPI began its annual survey of record label overseas income in 2000 and was driven by a record number of U.K. artists, nearly 400, each achieving 100 million-plus global streams. These include superstars like Adele, Dua Lipa, Dave and Ed Sheeran, and several emerging artists, including Glass Animals, PinkPantheress and Rex Orange County.

A new report by BPI has revealed that nearly two-thirds of the biggest releases by domestic UK artists in 2021 came from acts born outside of London. 

A new report by BPI has revealed that nearly 2/3s of the biggest releases by domestic UK artists in 2021 came from acts born outside of London. 

Rina Sawayama has announced that she will release her second album, ‘Hold The Girl’, later this year.The announcement comes after the musician began sharing imagery proclaiming that “Rina Is Going To Hell”, while also wiping her Instagram account, in recent days. Now she’s announced that the album will be out on 2 Sep, sharing a 40 second trailer with some snippets of the new music.‘Hold The Girl’ follows her acclaimed 2020 debut album ‘Sawayama’, which sparked controversy around the eligibility rules for the Mercury Prize, after it was not – as had been widely expected – included in the shortlist for that year’s edition of the award.

Hard-Fi‘s upcoming London reunion show sold out in just 10 minutes after tickets went on sale this morning (April 29).As announced last weekend, the Staines band will perform their first gig since 2014 at the O2 Forum Kentish Town on October 1, 2022. It’ll mark the belated 15th anniversary of their 2005 debut album, ‘Stars Of CCTV’.Tickets for the performance went live at 10am BST following an O2 pre-sale on Wednesday (April 27).

Hard-Fi have revealed that they will be making an announcement later today (April 24).In a clip shared on social media, Hard-Fi confirm that they will be going live here at 6:30pm tonight with a “big announcement”.The video also displays the cover art for their 2005 debut album ‘Stars of CCTV’ alongside a date – 1st October 2022. Check it out below.A post shared by Hard-Fi (@hardfiofficial) It comes as a few weeks ago, a series of posters appeared over London with the same information, with fans jumping to the conclusion that Hard-Fi were teasing an anniversary gig.Those posters appeared after a series of not-so-cryptic Instagram posts.

RELEASESWill Young has released new single ‘Why Does It Hurt’, which is set to feature on his new greatest hits compilation marking 20 years since he won ‘Pop Idol’. He will also be touring to mark the anniversary in October and November.Belle And Sebastian have released new single ‘Young And Stupid’. Their new album, ‘A Bit Of Previous’, is out on 6 May.Pussy Riot and Slayyyter have teamed up for new single ‘Hatefuck’.

Alt J have today (April 14) unveiled details of a one-off anniversary show at Brixton Academy.The gig will be a special one-off live performance of their 2012 debut album, ‘An Awesome Wave’, which went on to win the Mercury Prize.The band will be playing the album in full along with some “bonus tracks” at London’s O2 Brixton Academy on May 17. Tickets are on sale here next Friday (April 22) at 10am.The show is to take place during the band’s run at O2 Brixton Academy in support of their fourth and most recent album, ‘The Dream’.Speaking about the special gig, the band said: “To celebrate the ten year anniversary of the album that changed our lives, we are thrilled to announce an extra show at Brixton Academy where we will play An Awesome Wave in full.“We know how much this record means to our fans and can’t wait to turn back the clock to 2012 with them in London’s best venue.” Speaking to NME recently, frontman Joe Newman said that Alt-J have “never stopped celebrating our debut album”.“We’ve never stopped playing those songs live,” he added about the continued inclusion of tracks from ‘An Awesome Wave’ in their setlist.

Hard-Fi appear to be teasing a live return to celebrate the 15th anniversary of their debut studio album, ‘Stars Of CCTV’.The band released the Number One record back in 2005, and it went on to be nominated for that year’s Mercury Prize. It contains the singles ‘Hard To Beat’, ‘Cash Machine’ and ‘Living For The Weekend’.Hard-Fi released two more albums – ‘Once Upon A Time In The West’ (2007) and ‘Killer Sounds’ (2011) – before going on hiatus in 2014.

Mercury Prize has announced the date for this year’s ceremony.The annual event is due to return in 2022 to hand out the prestigious Album Of The Year award, which will be chosen from a shortlist of 12 nominated records from across British and Irish music.Today (April 14) it’s been confirmed that the Mercury Prize show will take place at the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith, London on Thursday, September 8. The live event is set to feature special performances from the nominated acts.BBC Music will be providing television and radio coverage of the ceremony.This year’s Mercury Prize shortlist will be revealed on Thursday, July 28.

BPI All About The Music 2022 yearbook today (April 13). The publication is distributed free to BPI members but can also be purchased and viewed here.Figures reveal that the collective share of music consumption from independent labels including Dirty Hit, Partisan and PIAS was now at 26.9 per cent, up from 25.9 per cent in 2020 and 22.1 per cent in 2017.Indie label shares of artist album sales also grew in two years across every format, from 30.4 per cent in 2019 to 34.2 per cent in 2021.

Glass Animals have equalled a long-held US chart record with their mega-hit Heat Waves. 

Glass Animals have reached Number 1 in the US with their viral track Heat Waves, and broken an American chart record in the process. 

Clean-cut Streatham rapper who has won awards galore (the Mercury Prize, the BRITs) for his two brilliant number one albums, Psychodrama and We're All Alone in This Together. The talented musician boosts his income with a jewellery business, acting (Top Boy) and scoring music for Sir David Attenborough's Planet Earth.

Black Country, New Road have covered The Beatles classic ‘Hey Jude’ at a London gig – watch footage of the performance below.The cover came during the seven-piece band’s set as part of the Climate Music Blowout event in London last week (October 17), which included a full evening of live music, following a conference where leading UK music industry figures and artists discussed how music can play a leading role in the response to the climate emergency.At the event, the band played a completely

Hannah Peel has spoken out about the importance of inspiring more female artists to make electronic music – as well as the urgency of the music industry needing to act on climate change.

BERWYN has revealed that he’s currently “sitting on hundreds of new songs” and also has some “high-profile features” in the bag. Watch our video interview the rapper above.The Trinidad-born, Romford-raised rapper, producer, and songwriter was speaking to NME on the red carpet ahead of last week’s Mercury Prize – which he described as “one of the best days of my life”.“I don’t really know it feels,” he told NME.

NME on the red carpet of the Mercury Prize 2021, Laura Mvula told us about the rich variety of her pool of inspiration, as well as sharing advice for artists who might be up against adversity.

NME on the red carpet of the Mercury Prize 2021, Celeste revealed what fans can expect of her next album. Watch our video interview wit the singer-songwriter above.Celeste was in attendance at the London ceremony where she was nominated for her acclaimed 2021 album ‘Not Your Muse‘ – which saw her become the first British female artist in five years to score a Number One debut.

NME on the red carpet of the Mercury Prize last night (Thursday September 9), Mogwai told us about the secret to their song titles and advice to new and emerging artists.