What’s the craic? The naked dress is shaking, the pantless trend just gulped, and the visible thong is feeling faint, because a fabulous new way to seek fashion attention has dropped. The Irish singer-songwriter CMAT flashed the screen all night, helping to solidify the brand spanking new-again “bumster” trend as, maybe, a real thing. Her cheeky red carpet appearance, and every time she’d flash the live screen, got people talking on Twitter/X. At one point she barged into host Clara Amfo as she was introducing Rema, prompting Clara to tell the entire O2 Arena that “this woman needs to ‘Calm Down!’” While CMAT lost the International Artist of the Year award to her rival all-capped musician, SZA, she might just have won something even more valuable: our hearts.
On Saturdays, we wear black
From Dua Lipa’s custom Versace and Chrome Hearts looks, to Tate McRae and Raye in jet-black sequin gowns, it seemed like everyone got the memo to wear black at the Brits.
The soapbox was put to good use
Five minutes into the show, sub-postmaster Jo Hamilton appeared on stage to help present an award—and to call out the British government for failing to pay victims of the Horizon post office scandal fast enough. When she won her Songwriter of the Year award, Raye took the opportunity to call for songwriters to get master royalty points. When it was their turn to present, drag artist Bimini Bon-Boulash gave a shout out to all the trans and non-binary people watching, stating that trans rights are human rights. The trio offered a reminder that, sadly, life right now isn’t all glitz and glamour. So use your platform to do some good!
There were some clunky references
Was it the crowd, or was it the jokes? Many people noticed that the energy in the room felt a bit low. When Jack Saunders asked people to cheer if they’d had a beer tonight, Yinka Bokinni quipped that it was the loudest they’d been all night. Hosts Maya Jama, Clara Amfo, and Ross Kemp did try, with a lot of pre-planned bits. There was the kiss cam, where no one they panned to really kissed. A shoutout to The Traitors, with contestant Diane and her son Ross joining the trio in their green cloaks as they wrote predictions for who would perform next on chalkboards. Kemp took a shot with Kylie Minogue out of her shoe, then later another shot from a bottle labeled “Harry Styles’s bathwater,” calling it the “Saltburn.” All presented without comment.
Rema is still performing “Calm Down”
It’s so good to see Rema on the Brits stage. And this song was an immediate classic that deserved all the nominations and awards… when it came out two years ago. Why is there always such a delay for Afrobeats artists to get their due? In any case, Rema killed his performance, with an Edenic set-up jam-packed with dancers, and the initially stifled arena went absolutely wild for it. Before he left, he made sure to remind us: Africa in the house! We want more, please.
Tate McRae’s hairography saved her
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