Raye had already made history going into the Brit Awards ceremony on Saturday, having been the first artist to rack up seven nominations. Now, the singer has smashed another record, taking home six awards — Songwriter of the Year, Song of the Year, Best R&B Act, Best New Artist, Artist of the Year, and Album of the Year; she lost Best Pop Act to Dua Lipa. The previous record of four has only been achieved by Harry Styles, Adele, and Blur.
The singer was overcome with emotion when she was named as the winner of Album of the Year for her debut album, My 21st Century Blues, which arrived last year.
At the ceremony, she was seen shaking her head and covering her mouth in disbelief. She then headed to the stage, breaking down in tears, with her grandmother in tow to accept the award.
“I’m ugly crying on national television,” she said. “I’m so proud of this album. I’m in love with music. All I ever wanted to be was an artist,” she said while also thanking her executive producer and the writers who contributed, along with her grandmother who was “praying for me” at 3 a.m.
Her winning night also featured her performing a medley, which included “Ice Cream Man,” “Prada,” and “Escapism.”
Raye is one of several women taking home trophies this year — 70 percent of this year’s winners were either female or non-binary, marking a change from recent years, as The Guardian points out.
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Last year, Harry Styles swept all four categories for which he was nominated, and acknowledged that while the awards ceremony was working to be inclusionary — going gender neutral the year prior — it ended up with all-male nominees for its Artist of the Year category.
Last month, Raye covered Nina Simone’s classic “Feeling Good” for Australian radio station Triple J’s Like a Version series.