Brit Awards 2025: Charli XCX named Songwriter of the Year

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Charli XCX has been named the Songwriter of the Year at the forthcoming Brit Awards.

The “360” singer dominated the nominations when they were announced, receiving five nods, including for Artist of the Year and Album of the Year for her critically lauded trend-setting record Brat.

This is Charli’s first Brit award, though she has received nominations before in the best female and best pop act categories.

“Charli has had an undeniable year, taking her experimental brand of electronic and pop from underground raves to the heart of mainstream culture,” said Damian Christian, chair of the BRIT Committee for 2025, according to NME.

“Charli’s songwriting is distinctive, bold and relentlessly innovative, and, having been one of the UK’s leading songwriters for a number of years now, has taken her craft to new heights with her global phenomenon Brat. I’m delighted she has been recognised for this much deserved award.”

Previous recipients of the award include Raye in 2024, Kid Harpoon in 2023 and Ed Sheeran in 2022.

The Independent’s Helen Brown gave Charli’s sixth studio album Brat four stars, writing in her review: “Charli’s relationship with the listener shifts through the registers. Sometimes she’s on the podium, striking poses and demanding admiration. Other times, she’s your new bestie, whispering secrets to you on the dance floor and passing loo roll beneath cubicle doors in the bathroom. Later, she’s the girl you find crying outside with the “snagged tights on a lawn chair”. She is shifting and impossible to pin down: you never quite know Charli despite her honesty. The push and pull of her intimacy and her on-off star status are all part of the strobe effect.”

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The Brit award rounds out an incredible year for the musician, who recently won three awards at the Grammys and delivered a closing performance that has been lauded by fans as the “best Grammy performance in history”.

Brat spawned the “brat summer” trend on social media, embodying self-love, positive body image, sultry style choices, and lots of neon green to go with the album’s bright green cover.

The trend in turn led to a viral dance created by TikTok’s Kelley Heyer to the song “Apple” from the album, which earned 1.3 million views.

“Brat” was selected as the Collins Word of the Year for 2024, redefined as being “characterised by a confident, independent and hedonistic attitude”. It had rapidly become the aesthetic movement of the summer, the dictionary said.

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In a TikTok explaining her take on the word earlier this year, Charli XCX said a “Brat” was someone who has “a pack of cigs, a Bic lighter and a strappy white top with no bra”.

“You’re just like that girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things sometimes,” she continued. “Who feels like herself but maybe also has a breakdown. But kind of like parties through it, is very honest, very blunt. A little bit volatile. Like, does dumb things. But it is brat. You’re brat. That’s brat.”

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The Brit Awards ceremony will be hosted by comedian Jack Whitehall and feature performances from Sabrina Carpenter, Sam Fender, and The Last Dinner Party.

Scoring their first nomination at the Brits since 1977 are The Beatles, for “Now and Then”, which was released in November 2023 with the help of AI technology that retrieved the stems from a John Lennon recording. The Fab Four won the inaugural Brit Award for Best Group in 1977.

The 2025 Brit Awards will be held at the O2 Arena in London on 1 March and broadcast by ITV1 and ITVX.

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