News December 21, 2021

2022 BRIT Awards criticised for having no R&B acts in pop/R&B category

The 2022 BRIT Awards nominations were announced this week but one category in particular has come in for criticism.

Last month, four new genre categories were confirmed for the 2022 ceremony – alternative/rock act, hip-hop/grime/rap act, dance act, and pop/R&B act.

When the nominees for the Best Pop/R&B Act were revealed, however, fans noticed that there were no actual R&B artists within the list. Ed Sheeran, Adele, Dua Lipa, Griff, and Joy Crookes were nominated, with all four being more pop-oriented.

Both artists and musicians have questioned the decision to merge pop and R&B together. “I have two questions: The first one is why merge pop with R&B? And the second is, if you’re gonna do that please at least include some R&B acts within the category,” rising R&B singer-songwriter Sinéad Harnett said in a video posted to Twitter.

“I’m really not understanding why the BRITs decided to group pop and R&B into one category this year,” one fan said. “Aside from ZERO U.K. R&B artists being nominated, what chance would any of them have alongside Adele and Ed Sheeran?”

Elsewhere in the nominations, though, there were more positive developments. The 2022 BRIT Awards will have the most women nominees in over a decade. In the 13 categories, 18 female artists or all-women groups were nominated. This falls just behind the massive 22 female acts nominated back in 2010.

Another major change in next year’s BRIT Awards is the removal of the Best Male and Female Artist categories, with a Best Artist category taking their place. It came after non-binary singer Sam Smith criticised the awards earlier this year for continuing to have gendered categories.

“Music for me has always been about unification not division,” they said. “I look forward to a time where awards shows can be reflective of the society we live in. Let’s celebrate everybody regardless of gender, race, age, ability, sexuality and class.”

The 2022 BRIT Awards ceremony is scheduled to take place at London’s O2 Arena on Tuesday, February 22nd. You can view the full list of nominees here. Adele, Ed Sheeran, Little Simz, and Dave lead this year’s list with four nods apiece.