In the 2024 Brit Awards, Raye has received a record-breaking seven nominations.

Raye, a popular singer, has achieved a significant milestone at the Brit awards by receiving seven nominations in one year. This marks a major comeback in her career after being stuck at a major record label for several years.

The number of female nominees in solo or all-female groups exceeded half of the total nominations, showcasing strong female representation. Raye received two nominations for song of the year, as well as nominations in the artist, pop, and R&B categories. Despite her debut release being 10 years ago, she also received a nomination in the new artist category.

She is among five contenders for the highly coveted album of the year award for her debut album, My 21st Century Blues. This ambitious album incorporates elements of pop, deep house, hip-hop, funk, R&B, and power ballads, with candid lyrics that touch on sensitive topics like her experience with sexual harassment in the music industry. The album’s success was bolstered by its chart-topping single “Escapism,” which also gained popularity in the US. It peaked at No 2 on the UK charts and was later re-recorded with a symphony orchestra at the iconic Royal Albert Hall.

Rachel Keen, also known as Raye, gained recognition for her captivating guest vocals on dance tracks like Jax Jones’s You Don’t Know Me, which reached the Top 3 in 2016. However, her solo songs, which crossed genres, only achieved moderate success on the charts. In 2021, she expressed frustration with her label Polydor on her song X, stating that she had been under a 4-album record deal since 2014 and had not been able to release any albums. She emphasized her love for music and her disappointment with being overlooked and causing her distress. After breaking free from the contract, she independently released My 21st Century Blues, which received both critical acclaim and commercial success. It was even nominated for the prestigious Mercury prize.

Raye expressed her surprise and gratitude for her seven Brit nominations, stating that she was “completely floored” by the recognition. She also admitted to feeling overwhelmed and confused by the unexpected achievement. This breaks the previous record of six nominations held by Robbie Williams, Craig David, and Gorillaz in one year.

Central Cee and J Hus, each four-time nominees.

British rap is making a big impression at the Brit awards this year, thanks to the success of Central Cee and Dave’s popular tracks like “Sprinter.” Both artists received four nominations, while Little Simz and J Hus each received three. Little Simz and J Hus are also up against Raye for the album category, along with Blur’s reflective “The Ballad of Darren” and the bold “Heavy Heavy” by Scottish trio Young Fathers, who are also nominated in the British group and rock/alternative categories.

Scottish artist Calvin Harris has received a total of 14 nominations at the Brit Awards, with two wins under his belt. This year, he has added three more nominations in the categories of dance, pop, and song for his hit song “Miracle” featuring vocals from Ellie Goulding. Rising pop-soul singer Olivia Dean has also earned three nominations after a successful year, including a Top 5 debut album and over three million monthly listeners on Spotify. Dua Lipa, known for her hit song “Dance the Night” from the Barbie soundtrack, has also received three nominations and has been announced as the first performer for the ceremony on March 2nd at London’s O2 Arena.

However, there were some notable omissions for popular artists like the Rolling Stones, Ed Sheeran, Stormzy, and Lewis Capaldi. Despite their successful album releases, they only received one nomination each. Even previous Brit Award favorites, Sam Smith and Gorillaz, did not receive any nominations this year.

Along with Dean and Young Fathers, there are also new nominees such as rappers K-Trap and Casisdead (who has been active in the music industry since 2005), alternative pop artists CMAT and Caroline Polachek, dance producer Barry Can’t Swim, Afrobeats singer Asake, neo-soul performer Cleo Sol, and more.

In previous years, there has been backlash about the awards being biased towards male nominees. For instance, in 2020, out of 25 nominations in categories that included both genders, only one woman was nominated. In 2022, organizers removed gendered categories completely, but in 2023, all of the nominated artists for artist of the year were male. To address this issue, the category has been expanded to include 10 artists in order to promote diversity.

This year, the nominations show an encouraging increase in the representation of women, with a total of 57% if mixed-gender groups are considered. Among the top 10 British artists of the year, six are women, while in the international category, this number rises to eight out of 10. Additionally, four out of five of the best new British artists are women, including Raye, Dean, PinkPantheress (nominated for song of the year with “Boy’s a Liar”), Mahalia (also nominated in the newly split off R&B category), and Yussef Dayes (a rare jazz nominee who also receives a nod in the rock/alternative category).

Olivia Dean, who is up for three awards after releasing her debut album.

Last month, the Rising Star award was given to a group that consists entirely of female or non-binary artists, specifically the Last Dinner Party who play art-pop music. This follows a trend of three consecutive British group award wins by all-female or female-fronted bands (namely Little Mix, Wolf Alice, and Wet Leg). However, the group categories have since returned to their usual makeup with only two out of 10 nominees having women as their front members: Boygenius and Paramore.

The winners for songwriter and producer of the year will be revealed leading up to the awards ceremony.

The Brit Awards Voting Academy, which consists of musicians, industry professionals, and media personalities, is responsible for voting on the awards. However, the British public will have the final say on the winners of the five genre categories by voting through Instagram.

The 2024 Brit award nominations in full

Album of the year from Britain.

Blur – The Ballad of Darren
J Hus – Beautiful and Brutal Yard

Simz – Thank You Not Accepted

Raye sings about her struggles in the modern era in her song “My 21st Century Blues.”
Young Fathers – Heavy Heavy

The recipient of the British Artist of the Year award.

Arlo Parks
Central Cee
Dave
Dua Lipa
Fred Again
J Hus
Jessie Ware
Little Simz
Olivia Dean
Raye

British group

Blur
Chase and Status
Headie One & K-Trap
Jungle
Young Fathers

New artist

Mahalia
Olivia Dean
PinkPantheress
Raye
Yussef Dayes

Top song of the year

The song “Miracle” is a collaboration between Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding.
Cassö, Raye and D-Block Europe – Prada

Central Cee’s song “Let Go”

Central Cee and Dave are sprinters.
Dua Lipa – Dance the Night
Ed Sheeran – Eyes Closed
J Hus – Who Told You
Kenya Grace – Strangers
Lewis Capaldi – Wish You the Best

The boy is dishonest – PinkPantheress
Raye – Escapism

Dancing Is Healing by Rudimental, Charlotte Plank, and Vibe Chemistry.
Stormzy and Debbie – Firebabe

React – Swap Disco and Ella Henderson

Venbee and Goddard were causing chaos in Heaven.