The 26-year-old south London-based artist is also one of five nominees in the most esteemed category of the night, album of the year, for her debut record ‘My 21st Century Blues‘; the catalyst behind her smash hit no. 1 single ‘Escapism’ which has received worldwide attention and critical acclaim.

Central Cee, J Hus, Blur, Calvin Harris, Young Fathers, Dave, Olivia Dean, Little Simz and four-time winner Dua Lipa are also among the artists nominated for this year’s Brit Awards, along with international acts including Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish. Up against Raye for best new artist are Mahalia, Olivia Dean, PinkPantheress and Yussef Dayes. Following alleged public outrage, the best artist category has now been doubled to 10 slots after all five nominations were awarded to male artists in 2023.

The awards were heavily criticised as a result, but have stuck to their word on creating a more diverse, representative space, including the addition of a brand new R&B category, fronted by Jorja Smith, Cleo Sol, Mahalia, Sault and Raye herself. With all of this in mind, girl power appears to be bigger than ever, with more than half of this year’s nominations featuring women. Figures show that six out of 10 of the British artists of the year are female-led, rising to eight out of 10 in the international category, and four out of five of the best new British artists.

The awards are voted for by the Brit Awards Voting Academy which is comprised of musicians, industry professionals and media figures. However, the British general public will have the final say on the winners of the five genre categories, with voting taking place via Instagram. Voters must tag the official BRIT Awards Instagram account (@BRITs) and include a Voting Hashtag in the caption which is explained in the terms and conditions. Completing this action will contribute five (5) votes towards the artist.

Meanwhile, the winners of songwriter of the year and producer of the year will be revealed beforehand during the run-up to the show in the coming weeks, with the ceremony set to take place at the O2 Arena, London on Saturday 2 March. For those wanting to dance the night away, you can grab a last-minute ticket to the awards here.

The 2024 Brit award nominations

British album of the year

Blur – The Ballad of Darren
J Hus – Beautiful and Brutal Yard
Little Simz – No Thank You
Raye – My 21st Century Blues
Young Fathers – Heavy Heavy

British artist of the year

Arlo Parks
Central Cee
Dave
Dua Lipa
Fred Again
J Hus
Jessie Ware
Little Simz
Olivia Dean
Raye

British group

Blur
Chase and Status
Headie One & K-Trap
Jungle
Young Fathers

New artist

Mahalia
Olivia Dean
PinkPantheress
Raye
Yussef Dayes

Song of the year

Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding – Miracle
Cassö, Raye and D-Block Europe – Prada
Central Cee – Let Go
Central Cee and Dave – Sprinter
Dua Lipa – Dance the Night
Ed Sheeran – Eyes Closed
J Hus – Who Told You
Kenya Grace – Strangers
Lewis Capaldi – Wish You the Best
PinkPantheress – Boy’s a Liar
Raye – Escapism
Rudimental, Charlotte Plank and Vibe Chemistry – Dancing Is Healing
Stormzy and Debbie – Firebabe
Switch Disco and Ella Henderson – React
Venbee and Goddard – Messy in Heaven

International artist

Asake
Burna Boy
Caroline Polachek
CMAT
Kylie Minogue
Lana Del Rey
Miley Cyrus
Olivia Rodrigo
SZA
Taylor Swift

International group

Blink-182
Boygenius
Foo Fighters
Gabriels
Paramore

International song

Billie Eilish – What Was I Made For
David Kushner – Daylight
Doja Cat – Paint the Town Red
Jazzy – Giving Me
Libianca – People
Meghan Trainor – Made You Look
Miley Cyrus – Flowers
Noah Kahan – Stick Season
Robin Schulz and Oliver Tree – Miss You
Olivia Rodrigo – Vampire
Peggy Gou – (It Goes Like) Nanana
Rema – Calm Down
SZA – Kill Bill
Tate McRae – Greedy
Tyla – Water

Rock/alternative act

Blur
Bring Me the Horizon
The Rolling Stones
Young Fathers
Yussef Dayes

Hip-hop/grime/rap act

Casisdead
Central Cee
Dave
J Hus
Little Simz

Dance act

Barry Can’t Swim
Becky Hill
Calvin Harris
Fred Again
Romy

Pop act

Calvin Harris
Charli XCX
Dua Lipa
Olivia Dean
Raye

R&B act

Cleo Sol
Jorja Smith
Mahalia
Raye
Sault

We are sorry to announce the cancellation of Rag’n’Bone Man, Inhaler, Alfa Mist and Yussef Dayes Trio’s concerts at the MJF. Zucchero, Woodkid, Benny Sings & Athletic Progression will remplace them.https://t.co/Ds3rCwQ4uD#MJF21

— Montreux Jazz Festival (@MontreuxJazz) June 25, 2021

The Montreux Jazz Festival is one of the few that will take place this year. Other famous ones, St Gallen Open -Air and Bern’s Gurten festivals have been cancelled for the second time in a row, due to the ongoing and unstable situation with the Covid-19 virus.
More than half of the UK’s festivals and world festivals have been already cancelled or postponed until next year. Reading and Leeds festival will still go ahead this August with Queens of the Stone Age and Post Malone as headliners, also All Points East has a green light for this year with Little Simz, Kano and Jamie xx included in the bill.

“Festival organisers have been talking for several months about alternative line-ups and what they might look like for the obvious reasons of travel restrictions. The general sense out there is that it won’t really matter to audiences this year in terms who headlines and who’s playing“.

With Dayes on the drums and Misch on the electric guitar, the duo create a range of jazz, funk, and samba improvised grooves that showcase their undeniable chemistry. Released last year, their collaborative album ‘What Kinda Music’ was a masterful example of this chemistry. Combining electronica and acid jazz in a way that allowed both artists to bring something distinctive to the table, the album helped to fuel the fire of the ever-growing UK jazz scene.

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A post shared by (@yussefdayes)

Whilst discussing the pair’s musical relationship in a press release, Misch said, “Yussef comes from a more experimental background, and he has a lot of loose, crazy ideas. I know how to write a catchy melody, but with interesting chords and I have a good understanding of popular song forms, so I think I streamlined those ideas and made them accessible.”

On a more personal note, Dayes then added, “Both our parents, who’d never met each other before, are now best friends as a result of this – they now see each other more than we do! I’d like to think, in some small way, that [‘What Kinda Music’] has a similar impact for people too – everything feels so divided these days, it would be nice for people to hear the record and hear two very different musicians coming together and realize it doesn’t have to be that way.” Indeed, although they come from two different musical worlds, the duo have undoubtedly found a harmonious middle ground.

Whilst Tom Misch has continuously featured in the UK charts over the past few years, Yussuf Dayes – despite being an integral part of London’s underground jazz scene throughout the 2010s – is less well known. ‘What Kinda Music’ was Dayes’ first record since the split of Yussef Kamaal in 2017, his musical project with Henry Wu a.k.a Kamaal Williams. Even more recently, he collaborated with Ben Howard on the singer-songwriter’s most recent album ‘Collections From The Whiteout’. As he has already done, the jazz experimentalist is poised to play a crucial role in the development of the genre in the UK.

London’s (especially South London’s) current jazz scene is vibrant and diverse, ranging from the afro-jazz of KOKOROKO to the electronica-jazz fusion of Moses Boyd. Tom Misch and Yussuf Dayes’ unique musical partnership sits perfectly within this contemporary scene.

Myself & @YussefDayes present the What Kinda Music listening party and YouTube Premiere of our album documentary – tomorrow from 7:00PM-9:00PM BST! RSVP here: https://t.co/8Ox7ApmaVt pic.twitter.com/4FyVyoIpyS

— Tom Misch (@TomMisch) April 23, 2020

The film captures the making of the album and tells the story of how Misch and Dayes met. This makes the film essential viewing for fans of either artist or people just wanting to learn more about the process of recording. 

Being a short 6 minutes, the film manages to fit a lot of information into the amount of time explaining that Misch had seen Dayes play drums at a school talent show when he was nine. I’m sure they would not have seen themselves making an album together all those years later. Watch the video below:

What Kinda Music was released yesterday and has so far split opinions with critics. While the musicality comes through and Misch and Dayes obviously compliment each other really well, some of the songwriting and structures does let the album down towards the second half. 

While it may have split opinion among critics, many fans have taken to the album and the new sound that Misch has taken. Though it might not look like we’ll get another collaborative album from the duo, as we have learnt so many times from music, we can never rule anything out.