Brit Award-nominees Wolf Alice said that grime music has been “criminally overlooked” at this year’s awards.
The annual ceremony takes place tonight (February 24) at The O2 in London. Wolf Alice are nominated for British Breakthrough Act alongside Catfish and The Bottlemen, James Bay, Jess Glynne and Years & Years.
However, the band argue that more grime artists should have been nominated alongside them and namechecked both Stormzy and Skepta’s BBK crew in a post on Twitter.
GettyThe message posted on the morning of the ceremony reads:
“Grime music has been criminally overlooked this year at the Brits,” the short statement begins. “It has dominated the charts, the media and the word on everyone’s lips. No doubt they don’t need a nomination nor any award to keep running the UK music scene and eventualy the world, but would have been sick to walk down the red carpet with the likes of BBK or Stormzy and feel how exciting 2016 in the UK is gonna be!”
Brits. pic.twitter.com/ixUAkBCoKd
— Wolf Alice (@wolfalicemusic) February 24, 2016
Lily Allen also recently hit out at the Brits, whose 2016 nominations she said were “blind to black talent” with grime artists like Skepta and Stormzy ignored. She added that votes cast were “tactical” and that “It is the awards ceremony Alan Partridge would approve of.”
Coldplay, Justin Bieber, Adele and Rihanna will all perform at the Brits this year as will The Weeknd, Little Mix and Jess Glynne.
Click here for a full list of nominations.
Meanwhile, organisers have confirmed that they will be staging a tribute to David Bowie at some point during the ceremony.