Put a bunch of celebrities into a room, pump them with champagne and the adrenaline of competition, train a live camera on them and it’s bound to be a good time, right? Not always the case, actually, but the Brits is one award show that has, over the years, birthed many legendary pop cultural moments. There are performances that have become pop culture scripture, like Adele silencing the room with “Someone Like You,” or Amy Winehouse raising the roof with “Valerie.” Prince made his comeback on its O2 stage! Geri Halliwell unveiled her Union Jack dress here!
Even when things go wrong, it’s somehow so right—who could forget Madonna’s tumble down a flight of stairs because her cape got caught, or Jarvis Cocker stage-crashing Michael Jackson? Wet Leg saying “f**k the Tories” on national TV was unforgettable, too. Amen.
Below, all the moments you might have missed from the 2024 ceremony at the O2 arena.
This night was undeniably Raye’s
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Raye deservedly cleaned up at the awards, making history with the most wins for one artist in a single night, ever! Her performance also showcased her immense range, as she moved from the piano for a rendition of her powerful ballad about her sexual assault, “Ice Cream Man,” to TikTok favorite “Prada” with a full choir in support, to getting everyone on their feet with her number one hit “Escapism.” We also got to see a range of emotions in back-to-back acceptance speeches that started out shy, stunned, and grateful, then got a bit rowdy, before she eventually broke down after bringing her grandmother on stage. Raye got a standing ovation from Dua Lipa, shout-outs from PinkPantheress and Kylie, and the Album of the Year trophy handed to her by the Brit School’s headmaster. Grandma Agatha’s prayers did good!
Did CMAT just solidify the bumster as 2024’s erogenous zone?
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What’s the craic? The naked dress is shaking, the pantless trend just gulped, and the visible thong is feeling faint, because a fabulous new way to seek fashion attention has dropped. The Irish singer-songwriter CMAT flashed the screen all night, helping to solidify the brand spanking new-again “bumster” trend as, maybe, a real thing. Her cheeky red carpet appearance, and every time she’d flash the live screen, got people talking on Twitter/X. At one point she barged into host Clara Amfo as she was introducing Rema, prompting Clara to tell the entire O2 Arena that “this woman needs to ‘Calm Down!’” While CMAT lost the International Artist of the Year award to her rival all-capped musician, SZA, she might just have won something even more valuable: our hearts.
On Saturdays, we wear black
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From Dua Lipa’s custom Versace and Chrome Hearts looks, to Tate McRae and Raye in jet-black sequin gowns, it seemed like everyone got the memo to wear black at the Brits.
The soapbox was put to good use
Five minutes into the show, sub-postmaster Jo Hamilton appeared on stage to help present an award—and to call out the British government for failing to pay victims of the Horizon post office scandal fast enough. When she won her Songwriter of the Year award, Raye took the opportunity to call for songwriters to get master royalty points. When it was their turn to present, drag artist Bimini Bon-Boulash gave a shout out to all the trans and non-binary people watching, stating that trans rights are human rights. The trio offered a reminder that, sadly, life right now isn’t all glitz and glamour. So use your platform to do some good!
There were some clunky references
Was it the crowd, or was it the jokes? Many people noticed that the energy in the room felt a bit low. When Jack Saunders asked people to cheer if they’d had a beer tonight, Yinka Bokinni quipped that it was the loudest they’d been all night. Hosts Maya Jama, Clara Amfo, and Ross Kemp did try, with a lot of pre-planned bits. There was the kiss cam, where no one they panned to really kissed. A shoutout to The Traitors, with contestant Diane and her son Ross joining the trio in their green cloaks as they wrote predictions for who would perform next on chalkboards. Kemp took a shot with Kylie Minogue out of her shoe, then later another shot from a bottle labeled “Harry Styles’s bathwater,” calling it the “Saltburn.” All presented without comment.
Rema is still performing “Calm Down”
It’s so good to see Rema on the Brits stage. And this song was an immediate classic that deserved all the nominations and awards… when it came out two years ago. Why is there always such a delay for Afrobeats artists to get their due? In any case, Rema killed his performance, with an Edenic set-up jam-packed with dancers, and the initially stifled arena went absolutely wild for it. Before he left, he made sure to remind us: Africa in the house! We want more, please.
Tate McRae’s hairography saved her
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During her performance, Tate McRae seemed to be having sound issues and only really sang her ad-libs, but she danced through it with all the gusto and finesse of a young Britney. The delicious hairography meant it was, somehow, still a serve. You wanted more? Baby, don’t get greedy!
Jungle reenacted their viral music video dance
Which meant we got to see the moves that launched a thousand TikToks performed by Will West again.
This was the year of the on-stage rave
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Chase Status and Becky Hill appeared to have invited a room full of people from an underground nightclub to the stage, put them in black clothes, and let them loose. Ellie Goulding and Calvin Harris did something similar just before them, except their dancers were all in white and there was even more writhing. Dua Lipa combined it with insane Cirque de Soleil-esque acrobatics, while Minogue’s performance featured a ton of outfit changes and Alien vs. Predator dancers. The latter two, as the opening and closing acts, really did round out the night with their polish and showmanship, proving how much they deserve their respective awards before our very eyes. Minogue ended things with a life-affirming confetti moment that lifted everyone’s spirits—no “shoeys” required.