LONDON (CelebrityAccess) – On Tuesday (October 18), at London’s Eventim Apollo (after being postponed due to the death of the Queen), Little Simz was named the 2022 Mercury Prize winner.
Accepting the award, Little Simz said: “I want to say a huge thank you to the Mercury and Free Now for this incredible, incredible prize. I want to say a thank you to my brother and close collaborator, Inflo. ’Flo has known me since I was so young, he’s stuck by me, we created this album together. There were times in the studio that I didn’t know if I was going to finish this record. I was feeling all the emotions and really going through it, and he stuck by me and pushed me to deliver this album for you guys.”
Organizers of The Mercury Prize announced the shortlist of nominees for the 2022 album of the year back in July. Recognizing the artistic achievement of British and Irish artists across a range of contemporary music genres, shortlist nominees are chosen by an independent panel of judges based solely on merit, without considering factors such as sales data.
The nominees for 2022 were:
Fergus McCreadie: Forest Floor
Gwenno: Tresor
Harry Styles: Harry’s House
Jessie Buckley & Bernard Butler: For All Our Days That Tear the Heart
Joy Crookes: Skin
Kojey Radical: Reason to Smile
Little Simz: Sometimes I Might be Introvert
Nova Twins: Supernova
Sam Fender: Seventeen Going Under
Self Esteem: Prioritise Pleasure
Wet Leg: Wet Leg
Yard Act: The Overload
The judges for 2022 were: Anna Calvi – Musician/Songwriter; Annie MacManus – Broadcaster/DJ; Danielle Perry – Broadcaster/Writer; Hazel Wilde (from Lanterns on the Lake) – Musician/Songwriter; Jamie Cullum – Musician/Broadcaster; Jamz Supernova – Broadcaster/DJ; Jeff Smith – Head of Music, 6 Music & Radio 2; Lea Stonhill – Music Programmer, Radio X; Loyle Carner – Musician/Songwriter; Phil Alexander – Creative Director, Kerrang!/Contributing Editor, Mojo; Tshepo Mokoena – Music Writer/Author; Will Hodgkinson – Chief Rock/Pop Critic, The Times. The Chair of the judging panel was Jeff Smith.
