The BRIT Awards 2015 Review

The Brit Awards 2015 with Mastercard - Wednesday 25th February 2015 - London's 02 Arena

Winners (in order announced):

Critic's Choice Award - James Bay

Best British Male - Ed Sheeran

Best British Group - Royal Blood

Best International Female - Taylor Swift

Best British Female - Paloma Faith

Global Success - Sam Smith

Best British Single (supported by Capital FM & Google Play) - "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson

Best International Group - Foo Fighters

Best British Breakthrough (supported by Radio 1) - Sam Smith

Best British Video - "You and I" by One Direction

Mastercard Album of the Year - Ed Sheeran "X"

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The BRIT Awards will always be the highlight of my year and will always be the one award show I watch from start to finish. One day, I vow that I will be able to say that I was there in the flesh to witness this incredible night celebrating the best of music from the previous 12 months, but for now, I will sit at home, spam your Twitter feeds with my live tweeting and write a blog post on how I viewed it through the box.

From the stellar performances to the moment Madonna stacked it, here are some of the highlights from the biggest night in British music, The BRITS.

Everyone's favourite duo Ant and Dec were back to host this year's show and it made us truly realise how much of a British treasure they are. They gave us many of their classic one liners and even played several rounds of "Presenter Bingo" You know when two celebrities get put together to announce an award and you can almost taste the awkwardness in the air? This is apparently the game that decides these mismatched couples.

Photo credit: theguardian.com

Taylor Swift started the night's proceedings with a live performance of her ever so slightly overplayed single "Blank Space" Surprisingly, she only mimed the choruses! Taylor also grabbed her first ever Brit by winning Best International Female, and dedicated her award to her best friend Ed Sheeran who "taught her how to be British" I hope she meant that in a good way.

Best British Male went to the man of the moment, Ed Sheeran, who also later picked up the prestigious Album of the Year award for his groundbreaking album Multiply. His performance of "Bloodstream" had some brilliantly skilled and fast paced guitar strumming may I just add. Watching Ed sing live last night made me realise that, deep down, if he was to sing the cooking instructions for a packet of rice and put it on an album, I would probably buy it.

Photo credit: brits.co.uk

Oh and to the guy who thought it would be hilarious to bob up and down whilst Ant and Dec interviewed Ed Sheeran, I wish there was a BRIT award for the Biggest Knob because you have won it hands down.

Going back to spectacular voices, Sam Smith's performance was angelic! His voice is both so mesmerising and almost haunting all at once and he's the only artist who can make you both smile and cry all in one performance. Sam completely stripped down his song "Lay Me Down" and sung it with such grace and fluency, it was breathtaking. The stage was glowing white almost as if Sam Smith was the godlike presence of the Brits, which by the awards he won, why . Sam Smith is the only artist to go from winning Critic's Choice to Global Success in the space of a year. I find it so incredible how this time last year Sam Smith won the award that says "I hope to see you next year" and a year later, he comes back and dominates the entire show.

Photo credit: brits.co.uk

Royal Blood also dominated the 02 stage and showed us just why we all need to see Royal Blood live before we die. The duo have such a strong energy whilst performing and their guitar solos are always on point. For this performance in particular, they also put on an amazing light show. Royal Blood also beat One Direction to win Best British Group, much to my delight.

Photo credit: brits.co.uk

One Direction did manage to take one gong home though...well...Simon Cowell did. The 1D boys are currently in Japan on their world tour so were unable to attend so being the good ol' manager he is, Simon accepted the award on their behalf. And because One Direction didn't do the mundane thing which is to make an acceptance speech through a video link like everyone else, Simon had to deliver the speech too, where he kindly mentioned everyone who works for him, who may or may not be directly related to One Direction and be people the band would have mentioned had they bothered to have done a speech.

Best British Female went to a very emotional Paloma Faith. Paloma gave a speech that left Mark Ronson with a face like a slapped arse (not too different from his usual facial expression) as she rambled on about all the people she needed to thank. It was the first time that Paloma Faith had ever won any highly prestigious award and she wanted to bask in the moment as much as she could. Her long speech however did show that she is a really determined musician and has a real passion for what she does, which is becoming more and more rare in artists today.

Shortly after Paloma's emotional breakdown on stage came Kanye West's performance. Being a common peasant and watching it from the comfort of my own home, we got the Kanye West treatment. ITV took the rightful decision to audio mute his many MANY swears. However, when someone is swearing live, how long the audio mute needs to played for is never really known. In terms of his staging, it was pretty simple - a large group of hooded men, two of which waved flares in the air whilst we listened to the silent muffles of the crowd. Oh and there was also a surprise verse (if that) from British rapper, Skepta.

Photo credit: brits.co.uk

British Single went to the most overrated song of all time, Uptown Funk. It is one of those songs that is absolutely genius but absolute nonsense all at once.

The International Group category offered a wide variety of nominees but it was of course the almighty Foo Fighters that took home the prize. The Foo's were up against not quite punk, not quite pop band 5 Seconds of Summer. |Despite them being a firm favourite of mine, I knew from the off that Foo Fighters were the strongest contenders in that category.

Photo credit: brits.co.uk

Despite all of the glamorous awards, awkward moments and outstanding performances, there was one moment I think we can all agree just topped off the entire evening - Madonna falling down the stairs mid performance.

After a 20 year absence from The BRITS, the 50 year old wonderwoman of pop makes her BRIT comeback with a bang...and maybe not in the way she wanted. Madonna sported a long black cape which two of her dancers held as she slowly walked her way down the walkway to the stairs. She then proceeded to walk up a small podium and that was when the magic was supposed to happen - the cape was meant to come off gracefully but instead the cape, and Madonna, came crashing down the stairs and hit the stage with a loud thud. Thankfully, Madonna nor her dancers were hurt in any way. I think it was the initial shock of the incident and the sheer disbelief that it actually happened was what made it all that bit funnier. All immaturity aside, I applaud her for getting back up and carrying on with her performance despite the dramatic fall.

Don't worry Madonna, in 5 years time, this will be funny to you too.

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