Okay, here we have the Brit Awards 2023 and this is every year one of the biggest awards shows from the UK and maybe from Europe you could say even, worldwide I am not too sure. I will just do some brainstorming now from the beginning to the end of my review and elaborate a bit on the aspects that stayed in the mind for me, no matter if it was for positive or negative reasons. More was negative for me as you can see from my rating, but it was not all bad I guess. The show ran for slightly under two hours, but this is without commercials, so it was relatively long, but luckily not Gramm dimensions or so. The host is Mo Gilligan and I must say I had no idea who he was before the show and I also don't have any idea now after seeing this event. He was utterly bland and mostly on the forgettable side, almost so forgettable that one did not even realize that he was barely in it anymore in the second half of the evening. Anyway, today is the 18th February 2023 and this means that the event took place exactly a week ago and as I learnt during the show it was fairly unusual to have the Brit Awards take place during the weekend. Okay. I did not know that, but I have not followed this show for that many years and given the quality of the 2023 edition, it was surely not my loss unless the quality before that was drastically improved, but I doubt it. I watched the 2022 edition and that one was really poor. I see that Adele won really big there and seems like they enjoy having a dominator there because with the 2023 edition it was all about Harry Styles.
Well, not absolutely everything and he did not sweep the awards or so, but he was at the center of the event from beginning to end. I must say I do not like him much, even if the tune we heard in the background was not terrible, just overly melodramatic perhaps. I have heard worse numbers from him and his boy group past is of course also not working much in his favor, especially if we look at the usual phrases from acts like this like they will never break up, they will always stay friends etc. This is of course as usual only true until fame gets in the way and one or more members feel like they are held back by others. This was the same already decades ago with Mercury and Queen and it is nothing different with One Direction and Styles, even if I am getting cold shivers down my spine when I mention a musical icon here and somebody with fairly limited talent in terms of these two individual artists. You know who is who. Still interesting to see that it all began for Styles by auditioning for a television music casting show and also that he did not win or even make the final ten or so, but that he had to go much earlier. Does not happen too often that they then still have big careers afterwards and even bigger careers than the ones who actual won some of the seasons. Styles is a bit of an icon right now, also in America. But as I said, he was not the only winner that night. Speaking of America and American artists, Beyoncé just broke the Grammy record not too long ago and she was also featured during the Brit Awards here, won (at least) twice and they gave her the awards before that already, so she could record acceptance speeches in her corner of the planet. Which was good for the audience, but also takes out some of the thrill and excitement somehow.
Another solid winner was the band Wet Leg. They could have been worse too admittedly from what I heard, even if I would by no means say I am a fan or anything now. I was not familiar with them before the show. Aside from them, David Guetta is still racking up awards and somehow dominating the music production business while trying to look like 25, but being way into his 50s now. Good for him, but says nothing too positive about the industry, especially because a lot of his (recent) music is fairly generic and not memorable at all. Same can be said about Beyoncé though and they still keep throwing all these awards her way. With her, I find it especially sad because I feel like she was downright talented when with Destiny's Child back in the day and when she turned into a solo artist, it all went south and stayed there for decades now pretty much. Sigh. As for other negative aspects, we can mention Lewis Capaldi whose songs still all sound the same, but I never saw (or heard) much musical talent in him. He is only appreciated because he is oh so "normal". Not gonna go into detail on that, just like I won't go into detail about what the most probably reason is why Mo Gilligan was hosting the show. Another singer I quite liked in the past was Oscar winner Sam Smith, but ugh has he gone south too. He has a good voice, but is now also stuck with pointless mainstream music like the song he performed live on stage. And boy has he gotten meaty by now. Speaking of the stage performances, this is always a big issue for me at awards shows that they just include so many music numbers that you almost forget that this is at its core an awards show. Admittedly, I have seen it worse at other (music) awards shows (hi America) than they handled it at the 2023 Brit Awards, but that does not mean that it was good here. Kinda sad though I have to even mention this as criterion as it should be a given that an awards show stays an awards show. Oh well.
Stanley Tucci was there, pretty cool I like the guy, but I was still wondering why. I mean he is neither British nor does he have a great connection with music, so it felt strange that he presented one of the biggest awards even. Maybe because of his name. Styles' sucking up to him was still cringeworthy to watch there when he got the award. Salma Hayek was there too and while I agree she looks pretty good for her age, I have no idea what she was doing there. No connection with this event either. All she did was promote her new Magic Mike movie. And don't even get me started on the uproar in the media if they put a male on stage and some random females or female strippers next to him that wear almost nothing. The Brit Awards would drown in misogyny and sexism accusations. The other way around absolutely nobody cares. So much for equality I guess. But right and wrong has its very own perspective anyway in the entertainment industry, no matter if we are looking at Britain or America. I guess these days we have to be happy if these shows do not include live streams with the Ukrainian war monger president asking for ammunition and worse. I guess he could not be part of the Brit Awards because he had to prepare for his session at the Berlin Film Festival. God knows why they included him there, but that is another story. I guess this is pretty much it then for the Brit Awards. I am always tempted to write BAFTAs, but these will of course also take place soon. That is pretty much it then. It was good that they kept politics pretty much out of the ceremony for the most part and also nice they brought in some people who were British, but not connected to music and film like football players, even if I was not really familiar with that soccer player there.
Oh yeah, on a really negative side note, Lizzo was also part of this ceremony and giving us her usual shtick. You are fine and perfect the way you are. Takes a special kind of ruthlessness for an artist to tell her fans that they should stay this way instead of maybe lose weight and drastically increase their life expectancy because if they do not change anything, then their heart will one day no longer be able to deal with all this. Honestly, the only ones worse than Lizzo from this perspective was that guy, not sure who it was exactly, that called Lizzo the biggest inspiration and it was not an issue that she is not British. Oh boy, on this occasion the show really could not have stumbled any lower. At least, Adele cannot make the same ridiculous statements anymore with her weight loss. Good for her. The bad thing with her though is that the song about wine she sang this time was absolutely forgettable and uninspired. If these people are the ones dominating western award shows these days, then I can only say that you should not let the people who make these shows trick you into thinking what you see there is actual talent and genuine. Keep looking for really gifted artists instead, the ones you will not find in the limelight. Back to the show for one last time: Of course, the advertising and mentioning of certain brands as part of the awards categories are as despicable as it gets. Powerful companies from the finance industry you find there. Oh well, at least Pfizer was not a part of this like with the Grammys. All you can do here is hope for the lesser evil. Not the good. In other words, I have to be generous here to call this a weak show and not a terrible one. Maybe it is somewhere between these two attributes. The one thing that is safe though s that it gets what it deserves: a thumbs-down and negative recommendation. Skip the watch.
Well, not absolutely everything and he did not sweep the awards or so, but he was at the center of the event from beginning to end. I must say I do not like him much, even if the tune we heard in the background was not terrible, just overly melodramatic perhaps. I have heard worse numbers from him and his boy group past is of course also not working much in his favor, especially if we look at the usual phrases from acts like this like they will never break up, they will always stay friends etc. This is of course as usual only true until fame gets in the way and one or more members feel like they are held back by others. This was the same already decades ago with Mercury and Queen and it is nothing different with One Direction and Styles, even if I am getting cold shivers down my spine when I mention a musical icon here and somebody with fairly limited talent in terms of these two individual artists. You know who is who. Still interesting to see that it all began for Styles by auditioning for a television music casting show and also that he did not win or even make the final ten or so, but that he had to go much earlier. Does not happen too often that they then still have big careers afterwards and even bigger careers than the ones who actual won some of the seasons. Styles is a bit of an icon right now, also in America. But as I said, he was not the only winner that night. Speaking of America and American artists, Beyoncé just broke the Grammy record not too long ago and she was also featured during the Brit Awards here, won (at least) twice and they gave her the awards before that already, so she could record acceptance speeches in her corner of the planet. Which was good for the audience, but also takes out some of the thrill and excitement somehow.
Another solid winner was the band Wet Leg. They could have been worse too admittedly from what I heard, even if I would by no means say I am a fan or anything now. I was not familiar with them before the show. Aside from them, David Guetta is still racking up awards and somehow dominating the music production business while trying to look like 25, but being way into his 50s now. Good for him, but says nothing too positive about the industry, especially because a lot of his (recent) music is fairly generic and not memorable at all. Same can be said about Beyoncé though and they still keep throwing all these awards her way. With her, I find it especially sad because I feel like she was downright talented when with Destiny's Child back in the day and when she turned into a solo artist, it all went south and stayed there for decades now pretty much. Sigh. As for other negative aspects, we can mention Lewis Capaldi whose songs still all sound the same, but I never saw (or heard) much musical talent in him. He is only appreciated because he is oh so "normal". Not gonna go into detail on that, just like I won't go into detail about what the most probably reason is why Mo Gilligan was hosting the show. Another singer I quite liked in the past was Oscar winner Sam Smith, but ugh has he gone south too. He has a good voice, but is now also stuck with pointless mainstream music like the song he performed live on stage. And boy has he gotten meaty by now. Speaking of the stage performances, this is always a big issue for me at awards shows that they just include so many music numbers that you almost forget that this is at its core an awards show. Admittedly, I have seen it worse at other (music) awards shows (hi America) than they handled it at the 2023 Brit Awards, but that does not mean that it was good here. Kinda sad though I have to even mention this as criterion as it should be a given that an awards show stays an awards show. Oh well.
Stanley Tucci was there, pretty cool I like the guy, but I was still wondering why. I mean he is neither British nor does he have a great connection with music, so it felt strange that he presented one of the biggest awards even. Maybe because of his name. Styles' sucking up to him was still cringeworthy to watch there when he got the award. Salma Hayek was there too and while I agree she looks pretty good for her age, I have no idea what she was doing there. No connection with this event either. All she did was promote her new Magic Mike movie. And don't even get me started on the uproar in the media if they put a male on stage and some random females or female strippers next to him that wear almost nothing. The Brit Awards would drown in misogyny and sexism accusations. The other way around absolutely nobody cares. So much for equality I guess. But right and wrong has its very own perspective anyway in the entertainment industry, no matter if we are looking at Britain or America. I guess these days we have to be happy if these shows do not include live streams with the Ukrainian war monger president asking for ammunition and worse. I guess he could not be part of the Brit Awards because he had to prepare for his session at the Berlin Film Festival. God knows why they included him there, but that is another story. I guess this is pretty much it then for the Brit Awards. I am always tempted to write BAFTAs, but these will of course also take place soon. That is pretty much it then. It was good that they kept politics pretty much out of the ceremony for the most part and also nice they brought in some people who were British, but not connected to music and film like football players, even if I was not really familiar with that soccer player there.
Oh yeah, on a really negative side note, Lizzo was also part of this ceremony and giving us her usual shtick. You are fine and perfect the way you are. Takes a special kind of ruthlessness for an artist to tell her fans that they should stay this way instead of maybe lose weight and drastically increase their life expectancy because if they do not change anything, then their heart will one day no longer be able to deal with all this. Honestly, the only ones worse than Lizzo from this perspective was that guy, not sure who it was exactly, that called Lizzo the biggest inspiration and it was not an issue that she is not British. Oh boy, on this occasion the show really could not have stumbled any lower. At least, Adele cannot make the same ridiculous statements anymore with her weight loss. Good for her. The bad thing with her though is that the song about wine she sang this time was absolutely forgettable and uninspired. If these people are the ones dominating western award shows these days, then I can only say that you should not let the people who make these shows trick you into thinking what you see there is actual talent and genuine. Keep looking for really gifted artists instead, the ones you will not find in the limelight. Back to the show for one last time: Of course, the advertising and mentioning of certain brands as part of the awards categories are as despicable as it gets. Powerful companies from the finance industry you find there. Oh well, at least Pfizer was not a part of this like with the Grammys. All you can do here is hope for the lesser evil. Not the good. In other words, I have to be generous here to call this a weak show and not a terrible one. Maybe it is somewhere between these two attributes. The one thing that is safe though s that it gets what it deserves: a thumbs-down and negative recommendation. Skip the watch.