The prestigious music award is given to the best British or Irish album of the past 12 months.
Image source, PA MediaLondon rapper Little Simz has won the Mercury Prize, for the best British or Irish album of the last 12 months.
The 28-year-old took the £25,000 award for her fourth album Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, a hip-hop coming-of-age tale delivered with a cinematic sweep.
She received the trophy at a ceremony in London on Tuesday. The other nominees included Self Esteem, Wet Leg, Harry Styles, Sam Fender and Gwenno.
Little Simz can add the Mercury to the Brit Award she won earlier this year.
That was for best newcomer, despite the fact she released her debut album seven years ago.
But she has grown in stature and acclaim with every release, and was also nominated for the Mercury for her last LP, Grey Area, in 2019.
Image source, Reuters
Sometimes I Might Be Introvert reached number four in the UK album chart when it was released a year ago, and topped a BBC News “poll of polls“, which combined the results of 30 critics’ end-of-year lists for 2021.
Her appearances at the Reading and Leeds festivals over the summer also cemented her status as a crowd-pleasing main stage performer.
She is the 31st winner of the Mercury Prize, one of the most prestigious awards in music. Singer-songwriter Arlo Parks won last year, while other recent holders include Michael Kiwanuka, Dave and Wolf Alice.
Contrary to the title, Little Simz is bursting with confidence on her fourth album, which takes you on a journey through her family background and artistic struggles over a funky, orchestral brand of hip-hop.
On Little Q, she raps from the perspective of her cousin, who was stabbed in the chest in South London. The moving I Love You / I Hate You, meanwhile, is addressed to the father who abandoned her when she was 11. “Never thought my parent would give me my first heartbreak,” she observes.
The star’s laid-back delivery balances the sadness with empathy and understanding, and the music pulses with an unstoppable life force.
Tuesday’s ceremony, which featured performances from 11 of the 12 nominated acts, took place almost six weeks later than planned, after it was postponed at the last minute due to the death of the Queen.
Last month, several of the artists had already arrived and rehearsed for the show, scheduled to take place on 8 September, when news broke of the Queen’s death.
The full list of Mercury Prize nominated albums:
- Jessie Buckley & Bernard Butler – For All Our Days That Tear The Heart
- Joy Crookes – Skin
- Sam Fender – Seventeen Going Under
- Gwenno – Tresor
- Kojey Radical – Reason To Smile
- Little Simz – Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
- Fergus McCreadie – Forest Floor
- Nova Twins – Supernova
- Self Esteem – Prioritise Pleasure
- Harry Styles – Harry’s House
- Wet Leg – Wet Leg
- Yard Act – The Overload
