ADELE had an incredible evening at last night’s Brit Awards, winning three of the four biggest prizes – best artist, best album for 30, and best song of the year for Easy on Me.
The 33-year-old singer led the charge in a female-dominated ceremony and performed a rousing rendition of her track I Drink Wine at London’s O2 Arena, as stars took to the red carpet in a fabulous evening for British music.
“I can’t believe that a piano ballad won against that many bangers,” she said when collecting the award for best song. Adele now has 12 Brits and is one behind Robbie Williams, the most decorated act in Brit Awards history.
30 was the biggest-seller of 2021, shifting more than 600,000 copies in just six weeks, and the star dedicated her award for it to her son and ex-husband who inevitably played a huge role in how the record turned out.
Holding back the tears, Adele told the audience: “This album was all of our journey, not just mine. I’m very proud of myself for sticking to my guns and putting out an album that was about something so personal to me.”
Elsewhere, Dua Lipa was voted best pop/R&B act in the night’s other big prize, accepting her award via video link while the star prepares for a show in Miami.
International acts were also recognised as Billie Eilish won best international artist and Olivia Rodrigo won best international song with good 4 u.
Ed Sheeran was crowned songwriter of the year and performed his hit song Bad Habits alongside Bring Me the Horizon, while Little Simz won the award for best new artist and brought her mum on stage for the most heart-warming acceptance speech of the evening.
South London rapper Dave took home the award for best hip-hop/grime/rap act and gave one of the standout performances of the night with his song In The Fire, with a brilliant gospel choir and some of UK rap’s biggest names – Fredo, Meekz, Ghetts and Giggs – creating an electric atmosphere in the arena.
Following his performance of Black at the 2020 Brits, Dave once again displayed his multi-instrumental talent as he began the song on acoustic guitar, then moved to the piano, then took to the mic, then back to guitar as the headstock of his instrument spat flames into the air. Is there anything this man can’t do?
Other winners from last night include Wolf Alice who beat Coldplay among other groups to take home the award for best group, while non-binary newcomer Sam Fender won best rock/alternative act. A full list of the night’s winners can be found here.
This year marked the first time the Brit Awards presented a genderless award for overall artist of the year, which had prompted some to voice concerns about fair gender representation.
But it was unequivocally women who triumphed at this year’s ceremony, with more women nominated than at any time in the past decade and female artists or female-fronted bands winning two-thirds of the awards.
The evening was smoothly hosted by Mo Gilligan, who after being handed the torch by fellow comedian Jack Whitehall, curated proceedings with a level of humour and style we now come to expect from the 33-year-old.
A few other interesting, albeit slightly random, names appeared on stage last night, namely Courtney Cox who bestowed Olivia Rodrigo with her award. Doctor Who star Jodie Whittaker also found herself presenting the award for best international act.
One slip-up during the ceremony came from Anne-Marie who took a short tumble down some stairs at the beginning of her performance of Don’t Play with YouTuber-turned-rapper KSI and Digital Farm Animals.
But the singer shook off the embarrassment admirably and continued to perform as if nothing happened, later taking to Twitter to address the incident in a comical fashion.
All in all, it was a superb night for everyone involved, but it will be Adele who makes all the headlines today, and that’s without taking into account what looked like a huge diamond engagement ring on her finger.
After her nightmare in Las Vegas last month, the singer from Tottenham reminded everyone that she remains, without doubt, the reigning queen of pop music, and it will take some doing to knock her off her perch.