How to watch The Brit Awards 2023, who is performing and the categories causing controversy
By Multimedia Producer Rachel Dixon
The Brits is a night filled with stars, singing, stunning outfits, and sometimes the odd scandal - and tonight's event promises to be as glamorous as ever.
With performances from A-listers including Lizzo and Harry Styles, and comedian Mo Gilligan hosting the show, it is prime Saturday night viewing.
Here's how to watch the show, and all the drama unfold this evening.
How to watch The Brits Awards 2023
The show kicks off tonight at 8.30pm from London’s The O2 arena. It can be watched on ITV 1 or streamed live on ITV X and lasts until around 10.45pm.
Mo Gilligan will be hosting for the second year running, with plenty of cheeky gags and celebrity guests.
Stars will begin taking to the red carpet at around 4.30pm, ITV News' Entertainment Reporter Rishi Davada will be on hand to get the latest.
Who is performing?
A huge line-up of stars will be performing throughout the evening, many of which are nominated for multiple gongs.
The ever-popular Harry Styles, who is nominated for four BRIT awards this year, will be taking to the stage.
Stormzy will also be returning to the stage after his epic performance at the 2020 awards, and the unforgettable moment at the 2018 Brits when he rapped, ‘Theresa May, where’s the money for Grenfell? What you think we just forgot about Grenfell?’. Tonight's performance is sure to be equally memorable.
He joins Wet Leg, who are also heavily featured in this year's nominations plus Sam Smith and Kim Petras after their smash hit 'Unholy' topped the charts.
US pop phenomenon Lizzo will return to the BRITs stage following her performance in 2020.
Platinum-selling singer/songwriter Cat Burns, 22, will also take to the stage.
For the first time and double Grammy winning DJ & producer David Guetta alongside Becky Hill and Ella Henderson.The final live performance comes from chart-topping Scottish music phenomenon Lewis Capaldi.
Ahead of his performance he said: "Last time I played The BRIT Awards I was so scared that I had a panic attack before I went on, and then got hammered afterwards. Looking forward to more of the same this year."Category controversy
Despite being a key event in the British showbiz calendar, the awards have come under fire for lack inclusivity due to its new gender neutral categories.
In 2022, the best male and best female categories were scrapped and replaced with a single award 'Artist of the year'.
The aim was to judging artists solely on the quality and popularity of their work, rather than on who they are, or how they choose to identify.This year all the people in the category identify as male, with Central Cee, Fred Again.., George Ezra, Harry Styles and Stormzy up for the award and it is causing controversy.
In fact men dominate many of the categories, including Best Hip Hop/Grime/Rap Act, Album of the Year, Group of the Year and Best Rock/Alternative Act all being predominantly male.
Last year Adele picked up the first ever Artist of the Year award.
In her winner's speech she said: "I understand why the name of this award has changed but I really love being a woman and being a female artist. I do, I do! I’m really proud of us.”
The Brit Awards however, has said that 42% of the nominees this year are women or groups featuring women artists.
In a statement the awards' Chair committee said: "Notwithstanding this, we acknowledge and share in the disappointment that, unlike last year, no women are represented in the AOTY shortlist.
"There may be a number of reasons for this, but a key factor is that, unfortunately, there were relatively few commercially successful releases by women in 2022 compared to those by men, which means that, of the 71 eligible artists on the longlist, only 12 (17%) are women.
"We recognise this points to wider issues around the representation of women in music that must also be addressed."
Who is set to win big tonight?
There are plenty of artists nominated but a few fan favourites have been highlighted in multiple categories, they are:
Harry Styles
Stormzy
The 1975
Fred Again...
Harry Styles is the 6/4 favourite to win the Song of the Year Brit Award, he is also the betting favourite at 4/7 to win Best Album for Harry's House.
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