FEATURE:
The Digital Mixtape
IN THIS PHOTO: Florence Welch (Florence + The Machine)
The Ivor Novello Awards 2023 Nominees Playlist
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ONE of the most prestigious…
IN THIS PHOTO: Harry Styles/PHOTO CREDIT: Amanda Fordyce for Rolling Stone
events in the music calendar, the Ivor Novello Awards happens on 18th May. Selected by the Ivors Academy, this honours the best songwriters from Britain and Ireland. To win an Ivor is a real privilege! Because the nominees have been announced, I wanted to put together a playlist of songs from those featured. Before I go on, The Guardian reported when the nominees were announced (18th April). There are some wonderful composers and artists in the pack:
“Harry Styles, Little Simz, and Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner are among the 72 nominees for this year’s Ivor Novello awards, which honour the best in British and Irish songwriting.
At three apiece, the most nominations are given to Harry Styles and his co-writer Kid Harpoon after the huge success of Styles’ third studio album Harry’s House; and to Cleo Sol and Dean “Inflo” Josiah Cover, for their work with rapper Little Simz and soul collective Sault.
In 2021, Styles won his first Ivor Novello for most performed song, eight years after Noel Gallagher praised the awards “because clowns like One Direction aren’t invited”.
Styles is nominated for the same award this year, for his track As It Was, alongside Ed Sheeran who makes history for being the first artist to have a song nominated two years in a row, for Bad Habits, which won the category in 2022. Sheeran’s track Shivers is also nominated, alongside Glass Animals’ Heat Waves.
Rounding out the category is Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill, 37 years after it was nominated for best contemporary song. The 1985 hit had a remarkable resurgence after being featured in Netflix show Stranger Things, and reached No 1 in the UK charts – something that Kate Bush called “extraordinary”.
Nominated alongside Styles and Kid Harpoon for songwriter of the year are Florence + the Machine, Wet Leg, The 1975, and Central Cee (plus the rapper’s producer Young Chencs).
Styles is also nominated for best song musically and lyrically, for As It Was, alongside singer Tom Odell’s Best Day of My Life, Scottish musician Katie Gregson-Macleod’s Complex, Sault’s Stronger and Florence + the Machine’s King.
In the running for best contemporary song are Stormzy, Knucks, Raye, Kojey Radical and Wesley Joseph. London rapper Knucks, who released his debut album Alpha Place in May 2022, has two songs listed in the category, one for his track Leon the Professional and another for his feature on Kojey Radical’s Payback.
Best album nominations are earned by Little Simz, Fontaines DC, Sault, Obongjayar and Arctic Monkeys, who released their seventh studio album The Car last year.
This is the second year in a row that Dean “Inflo” Josiah Cover has dominated the listings for his songwriting and production. Last year he was nominated for four awards for working with Little Simz on her album Sometimes I Might Be Introvert and Adele on 30.
54% of the 72 nominees are receiving their nomination for the first time. They include the nominees for the Rising Star award: Cat Burns, who rose to prominence with her multimillion-streaming single Go, plus pop songwriter Ines Dunn, R&B singer Tendai, drum’n’bass hitmaker Venbee and pop balladeer Victoria Canal.
The awards also honour film, TV, and video game scores, with the likes of Avatar: The Way of Water, Don’t Worry Darling and Gotham Knights all being nominated.
Tom Gray, chair of the Ivors Academy, heralded “the power and range of British and Irish songwriting and screen composing.” The awards take place on Thursday 18 May at London’s Grosvenor House”.
To celebrate those nominated for an Ivor, I have compiled a playlist of songs from artists in the running. These are some of the greatest artists in the world right now. I am glad that Kate Bush is nominated, as she has won her first in 1979 for Outstanding British Lyric of The Man With the Child in His Eyes. She became a Fellow of the Ivors Academy in 2020. It will be excited who walks away with the awards…
ON 18th May.