Harry Styles absolutely cleaned up at the 2023 BRIT Awards in London, winning all four categories he was nominated for.
His speech as he accepted the Artist of the Year award, however, is what ultimately turned heads, with the 29-year-old Watermelon Sugar singer appearing to address the controversy surrounding his Grammy Awards acceptance speech last week.
“I want to thank my family for being the most supportive, understanding family I could have ever asked for,” he began after taking to O2 Arena stage on Saturday night (Sunday morning in Australia), before emotionally thanking his former One Direction bandmates and his mum, Anne Styles.
Watch the video above.
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“I want to thank my mum for signing me up for X Factor, I wouldn’t be here without you,” he continued.
His mother, Anne Styles, notably signed her son up for the reality show behind his back in 2010, and rocked up to each audition and performance wearing a “We Think Harry Has The X Factor” T-shirt.
“I want to thank Niall [Horan], Louis [Tomlinson], Liam [Payne] and Zayn [Malik] because I wouldn’t be here with you either.”
He then dedicated his award to several women-identifying artists, a notable move after the BRIT Awards received criticism for its all-male Artist of the Year nominee list after making the award category gender-neutral.
Styles was nominated alongside George Ezra, Stormzy, Fred Again… and Central Cee, which sparked backlash online after gender-neutral categories were first introduced for last year’s awards show.
“I’m aware of my privilege up here tonight so this award is for Reyna, Florence [Welch], Mabel and Becky [Hill],” he said.
That line is one fans are honing in on, as notably, Styles said at the Grammys last week that “this doesn’t happen to people like me very often” while accepting the Album of the Year award, which sparked backlash online and many discussions about privilege.
Here are all the winners at the 2023 BRIT Awards.
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Full list of BRIT Awards 2023 winners
Album of the Year
- The 1975 – Being Funny In A Foreign Language
- Fred Again – Actual Life 3 (Jan 1 – September 9 2022)
- Harry Styles – Harry’s House
- Stormzy – This Is What I Mean
- Wet Leg – Wet Leg
Artist of the Year
- Central Cee
- Fred Again
- George Ezra
- Harry Styles
- Stormzy
Best Group
- The 1975
- Arctic Monkeys
- Bad Boy Chiller Crew
- Nova Twins
- Wet Leg
Song of the Year
- Aitch and Ashanti – Baby
- Cat Burns – Go
- Dave – Starlight
- Ed Sheeran and Elton John – Merry Christmas
- Eliza Rose and Interplanetary Criminal – B.O.T.A. (Baddest Of Them All)
- George Ezra – Green Green Grass
- Harry Styles – As It Was
- Lewis Capaldi – Forget Me
- LF System – Afraid to Feel
- Sam Smith & Kim Petras – Unholy
Best International Artist
- Beyoncé
- Burna Boy
- Kendrick Lamar
- Lizzo
- Taylor Swift
Best International Group
- Blackpink
- Drake & 21 Savage
- First Aid Kit
- Fontaines DC
- Gabriels
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International Song of the Year
- Beyoncé – Break My Soul
- David Guetta & Bebe Rexha – I’m Good (Blue)
- Fireboy DML & Ed Sheeran – Peru
- Encanto cast – We Don’t Talk About Bruno
- Gayle – ABCDEFU
- Jack Harlow – First Class
- Lizzo – About Damn Time
- Lost Frequencies & Calum Scott – Where Are You Now?
- OneRepublic – I Ain’t Worried
- Taylor Swift – Anti-Hero
Best New Artist
- Kojey Radical
- Rina Sawayama
- Sam Ryder
- Mimi Webb
- Wet Leg
Rising Star
- Flo
- Cat Burns
- Nia Archives
Best Alternative/Rock
- The 1975
- Arctic Monkeys
- Nova Twins
- Tom Grennan
- Wet Leg
Best Dance
- Becky Hill
- Bonobo
- Calvin Harris
- Eliza Rose
- Fred Again
Best Hip-Hop/Rap/Grime
- Aitch
- Central Cee
- Dave
- Loyle Carner
- Stormzy
Best Pop/R&B
- Cat Burns
- Charli XCX
- Dua Lipa
- Harry Styles
- Sam Smith
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