POP CULTURE

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Female Dominance at the BRITs 2021

Female artists dominated the BRIT Awards 2021. They didn’t just make history in terms of winning awards, they used the platform to make memorable speeches in honour of those who are suffering around the world. In the past year, we have seen female music artists advocate politically, for mental health, #MeToo and Black Lives Matter.

Little Mix made history by becoming the first girl band to win Best British Group. They were nominated alongside Bicep, Biffy Clyro, The 1975 and Young T & Bugsey. Their win was days after two group members, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Perrie Edwards, both announced they were expecting a baby.

The band showed up on the red carpet in white fitting dresses that showed off their baby bumps. During their winning speech, Perrie referred to her and Leigh-Anne’s pregnancy: “In the hopes that we would win the award we’ve wrote a little speech, two of us have baby brains so we had to write it down”.

The band has been together 10 years and thanked their former band member, Jesy Nelson, in their speech. In December 2020, Jesy announced that she was leaving the band after the constant pressures of being in a girl band took it’s toll on her mental health.

In their speech, they addressed the hard work it takes to be a female in the pop industry. “We have seen the white male dominance, misogyny, sexism and lack of diversity. We are proud with how we stuck together, stood our ground, surrounded ourselves with strong women and are using our voices more than ever”.

Little Mix won their first BRIT award in 2017, having been voted Best British Single for Shout out to My Ex. Little did they know, four years later they would be making history at the very same awards show.

They accepted their award in honour of women who were in the music industry before them. Jade said on stage: “This award isn’t just for us it’sfor the Spice Girls, Sugar Babes, All Saints, Girls Aloud, all the incredible, incredible female bands, this one’s for you”.

Dua Lipa mentioned in her winning speech for Best British Female solo artist, “Last time I was up here accepting this award in 2018 I said that I wanted to see more women on these stages, and I feel so proud that three years later we are seeing that happen.”

Lipa also used her platform to speak about contemporary political issues, one of these being the NHS 1% pay rise. She took the opportunity to be the voice of frontline workers in the audience. This was after she paid tribute to Dame Elizabeth who has “spent her stella nursing career fighting racial injustice” and is also a strong advocate for frontline workers.

Lipa went on to say “It’s very good to clap for them, but we need to pay them. We should all give a massive, massive round of applause and give Boris a message that we all support a fair pay rise for our frontline [workers]”.

The award-winning singer, who also picked up an award for Album of the Year, shone a light on the heroism of Folajimi Olubunmi-Adewole, known as Jimi, and Joaquin Carcia, both of whom jumped off of London Bridge in April to save a women who had fallen.

In her speech, Dua said “It’d be really fitting if their actions were recognised with a bravery award and I hope this can happen to give Jimi’s family some comfort. This award is for Jimi and Joaquin. Jimi, you have touched the hearts of a whole nation and we will never forget you”.

With the rising number of female artists entering the music industry, we can be confident that we will see many more female artists dominate the stage at, not just next year’s BRIT Awards, but all future award shows around the world.