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The bland Brits should thank their lucky stars for Lily Allen

Neil McCormick
21/01/2026 17:55:00

This year’s Brit Awards nominations have been announced, and all I can say is thank the Lord for Lily Allen. The 40-year-old single mother has elbowed her way into contention with three nominations, including the all-important Artist of the Year and Album of the Year, injecting a bit of welcome blood and guts into increasingly bland and predictable proceedings.

The full list of nominees is pretty much what you would expect from another year in which British pop musicians had to content themselves with parochial UK success while American artists dominated global charts. Head of the pack are the beautiful couple of Sam Fender and Olivia Dean, who have four and five nominations respectively (including in the aforementioned Artist and Album categories).

To be clear, Sam and Olivia are not really a couple, but they might as well be: both are photogenic and talented young singer-songwriters (Fender is 31, Dean is 26) who trade in sincere, straightforward and perhaps-surprisingly old-fashioned songcraft.

I find Fender fascinating, mainly because he has risen to stadium-rocking status (in Britain at least) while being one of the few contemporary stars to grapple lyrically with socio-political subject matters. He won the Mercury Prize last year for his album People Watching, and could easily do the double at the Brits. Yet for all his worthiness, there is a suspicion Fender lacks a crucial spark of originality to strike further afield. I fear he has little chance of conquering the US, where they already have one Bruce Springsteen and hundreds more soundalikes.

Dean supported Fender on his stadium tour last year, and her second album, The Art of Loving, has actually made inroads into the US, cracking the Billboard top 10 (she is also nominated for Best New Artist at next week’s Grammys). She has much going for her, exuding an air of bright charm around thoughtful, open-hearted songs of love (including the nominated Man I Need, which spent 10 weeks at UK number one) that touch on R&B and jazz with a melodious, easy listening soul voice. I struggle to identify her USP, though. She’s like Amy Winehouse without the angst, or Adele without the heartbreak.

More interesting, at least, is Lola Young, who also has five nominations (though not in the crucial Album category). She is a witty, messy and occasionally obnoxious performer who owes a clear debt (and musical DNA) to Allen.

Allen practically kicked off a whole genre of sparky, social-media-savvy female pop with her debut Alright, Still in 2006, though she hasn’t won a Brit since 2010 and had rather faded from the limelight. Last November, Allen’s bitterly witty divorce album, West End Girl, took everyone by surprise (including, I suspect, Allen herself) by reaching number one and launching her back into front-line stardom.

Now she has a chance to make Brits history. If she was to win Artist of the Year, Allen would be the oldest woman ever to achieve such a feat – albeit a couple of old blokes have previously managed it (Paul Weller aged 51 in 2019, and David Bowie posthumously at 69 in 2017). She might be a better bet for Album of the Year, though, where the triumph of Blur in 2024 suggests age is not so much of a barrier to acclaim.

There are other nominations of note. I am surprised returning Britpop heroes Pulp did not warrant inclusion among the Albums of the Year for More, but they have got their first Brits nomination since 1996 in the Group category (a strong list, which also includes Wet Leg, the Last Dinner Party and the excellent Wolf Alice). The Hip Hop, Grime and Rap section is strong, featuring the swaggering Central Cee, inventive Jim Legaxxy and deeply thoughtful Dave (who is also nominated in Albums).

Britain’s only real contemporary pop heavyweight, Harry Styles, must be watching all of this and rubbing his hands with glee. This year’s Brits is unlikely to go down in history. But with a new album on the way, next year is already his for the taking.

The Brit Awards nominations in full

Artist of the Year

Group of the Year

Mastercard Album of the Year

Breakthrough Artist

International Artist of the Year

International Group

Song of the Year

International Song of the Year

Alternative Rock

Pop

Hip Hop, Grime and Rap

R&B

Dance

Critics’ Choice

by The Telegraph
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