BRIT Awards To Open Public Vote For Four New Categories

The vote will decide the first-ever winners of the Alternative/Rock Act, Dance Act, Hip Hop/Grime/Rap Act and Pop/R&B Act accolades

Published on

January 19, 2022

Tim Peacock

BRIT Awards 2022 host Mo Gilligan - Photo: Tom Van Schelven/Comic Relief/Getty Images

A public vote for The BRIT Awards with Mastercard’s four new genre categories will open on Thursday, January 20.

The awards ceremony is teaming up with Tik Tok to launch the vote to decide the first-ever Alternative/Rock Act, Dance Act, Hip Hop/Grime/Rap Act and Pop/R&B Act accolades.

There are 20 nominees across the four new prizes, including Adele, Becky Hill, Central Cee, Ed Sheeran, Glass Animals, Joel Corry, Little Simz, Sam Fender, Tom Grennan, and Wolf Alice.

Fans are being invited to make their vote for their favourite acts over on the TikTok app via a “voting hub” between 12pm GMT tomorrow and 6pm GMT on February 3.

A press release states that: “Users will be able to cast up to ten votes per each of the categories, per day, with vote limits resetting at midnight GMT every night for the duration of the voting window.”

There will also be exclusive content from artists on the BRITs’ official TikTok account, and music-lovers are invited to get involved by using the hashtag #BRITsTok.

So far, the likes of Nathan Evans, Raye, Wolf Alice, Griff, Holly Humberstone, A1xJ1, Joy Crookes and Joel Corry have been getting in on the action.

Adele leads the nominations this year. The London-born star has been nominated in the Album of the Year, Artist of the Year, Song of the Year and Best pop/R&B categories after releasing her new album ’30’ in November.

Adele is joined on four nominations by Dave, Ed Sheeran, and Little Simz. Dave is in contention for the Best hip-hop/grime/rap, Song of the Year, Artist of the Year and Album of the Year gongs. Sheeran, – who released ‘=’ in October – has also been nominated for the Album of the Year, Artist of the Year and Song of the Year accolades, as well as the Best pop/R&B gong.

Little Simz, 27, is up for the Best hip-hop/grime/rap, Album of the Year, Artist of the Year and Best New Artist awards.

Meanwhile, the Best International Artist accolade will be contested by Billie Eilish, Doja Cat, Lil Nas X, Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift.
Holly Humberstone has already been announced as the winner of the coveted Rising Star award, following in the footsteps of artists such as Adele and Sam Smith.

What’s more, the upcoming ceremony will feature a new selection of gender-neutral categories, after the organizers decided to scrap the best male and female categories and create a broader group of nominees.

The BRIT Awards 2022 with Mastercard take place Tuesday February 8 at The O2 arena, exclusively broadcast on ITV and ITV Hub and hosted by Mo Gilligan.