Harry Styles achieved a clean sweep at the 2023 Brit Awards, which were held at the O2 Arena in London on Saturday (Feb. 11). Styles won all four awards for which he was nominated — artist of the year, Mastercard album of the year, song of the year and the fan-voted pop/R&B act. This is even better than Adele’s strong showing last year. She won three of those awards, but lost pop/R&B act to Dua Lipa.
Harry’s House is the fourth album to win the top album award at both the Brits and the Grammys since 1985, when the Brits began presenting an award in that category on a consistent basis. It follows Phil Collins’ No Jacket Required and a pair of Adele albums, 21 and 25.
This is Styles’ second win in three years for song of the year at the Brits. “Watermelon Sugar” took the award two years ago. Styles first won in the category 11 years ago as a member of One Direction for the fizzy “What Makes You Beautiful.”
Styles opened this year’s telecast with a terrific performance of his global smash “As It Was.” This made up for a performance of the song on the Grammys that was hindered by technical issues. “This night has been really special to me and I’ll never forget it,” he said on winning Mastercard album of the year. “I’m so proud to be a British artist out in the world.”
Wet Leg and Beyoncé each won two awards on the night. Wet Leg became the third female-fronted group in a row to take group of the year. Wolf Alice won last year. Two years ago, the award went to an all-female group, Little Mix, for the first time. Wet Leg also won best new artist. The five-member band is the first group to win in that category since Catfish and the Bottlemen seven years ago.
Beyoncé won international artist of the year, beating three other American acts (Kendrick Lamar, Lizzo and Taylor Swift) and Nigerian superstar Burna Boy. Beyoncé had previously won female international artist of the year twice, back when the Brits had gendered categories. Beyoncé also won international song of the year for “Break My Soul,” beating Lizzo’s “About Damn Time” and Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero,” among other songs.
Styles, Wet Leg and Beyoncé all won in multiple categories at the Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 5. Styles took album of the year and best pop vocal album for Harry’s House. Wet Leg won best alternative music album for their eponymous debut album and best alternative music performance for “Chaise Longue.” Bey won four Grammys, enabling her to set a new record as the most awarded artist in the show’s history.
Fontaines D.C. became the third Irish group to win international group of the year. They follow U2, which won in that category a record five times between 1988 and 2001, and The Corrs (1999).
Kid Harpoon, who co-wrote all but one song on Harry’s House, won the 2023 songwriter of the year award.
David Guetta won as producer of the year. This marks the first time someone from continental Europe (Guetta is French) has won the award. Accepting the award, Guetta said, “I’ve been making records for 22 years. To have longevity is such a miracle in what we do.” Guetta has yet to receive a Grammy nomination for producer of the year, non-classical.
Becky Hill won the fan-voted award for dance act for the second year in a row. She was the only one of the 2022 winners in the four fan-voted genre award categories to win again this year.
The 1975 won the fan-voted award for alternative/rock act, beating Wet Leg, among others.
Aitch won the fan-voted award for hip hop, grime, rap act. He beat last year’s winner in the category, Dave, among others.
The awards were hosted by British comedian Mo Gilligan for the second year in a row. Styles, Wet Leg and Smith & Petras performed on the show, as did Cat Burns, Lewis Capaldi, Lizzo, Stormzy and the team of David Guetta & Becky Hill & Ella Henderson. The show also included an encore airing of an Adele performance clip, “I Drink Wine,” from last year’s show. Since Adele didn’t perform on this year’s Grammy telecast, it was good to see her in action again.
The show was not glitch-free. Gilligan introduced Lewis Capaldi as “Sam Capaldi.” The Scottish singer didn’t let it throw his performance of his hit “Forget Me.” Gilligan later apologized for his gaffe on-air, adding: “It just goes to show how strong the drinks are at the Brits.”
