The Brits Nominations Through the Eyes of The Jaded and Vaguely Sarcastic

I had meant to post this before the show aired, but didn't get the chance. Apologies.

On Thursday of last week I found myself at the O2 Indigo, cheering my head off for The Wanted as I watched them perform a shabbily choreographed dance routine to a backing track. No, this isn't some kind of hallucination, you are still on Irrelevant Twaddle (I'm not about to let loose on a rave about how TOTES AMAZIN Bieber is or anything like that, don't worry, I haven't quite lost my marbles yet). Why then, you may ask? Well, you see, it was a very special night. It was the night in which the nominations for this year's Brits were announced. And I was there to witness all the excitement.

Ooh arr.

Photo taken from the Brits site.

Now if you know anything about the Brits, you'll know that in all honesty it's nothing more than an excuse to shift a few more copies of dreary mainstream pop fodder to the nation's chavs and write stories about celebrities getting plastered and making arses of themselves (which in turn creates more sales. Ah the circle of life). But it's not all bad; the shortlist for this year holds a few gems amongst the predictable fools gold of Cheryl Cole et al. Both Mumford & Sons and The XX each received 3 nominations, including one for the former for Best British Breakthrough Act. Not too shabby. Shockingly Biffy Clyro even received a nod for Best British Group: which, considering they've been going strong for at least 10 years, is good to see, even if their latest album is the tiniest bit sub par. Considering they're up against the likes of the 2 mentioned above as well as the mighty Take That however, the chances of them actually obtaining the little statuette remain forever elusive. Sorry chaps.

But of course it's not what most of the blogging world has been buzzing about since the release of the nominees. Since New Year I don't think I've gone a day without hearing about The Vaccines and how amazing their 2 songs are. Now I can even find them in the nominations for Critics' Choice Award. Sadly, they missed out to Brit school alumni Jessie J (conspiracy? Hmm...), but it does show that whoever draws up these lists has actually had their ears on more than just Radio 1 for a change, it's quite refreshing. Jessie J was actually at the launch night and treated us lucky people to a beautiful acoustic rendition of her appallingly written Do It Like a Dude. Dressed as some kind of Egyptian princess, she managed to make a song I originally despised sound wonderful; not the easiest of things to accomplish by any means. She really does a remarkable voice, the Brit School have clearly trained her well.

While I'm nattering about performances, I may as well explain the rather bizarre position I found myself in back at the beginning of this spiel. That-band-that-appeared-from-nowhere-to-become-one-of-pop's-rising-acts, aka The Wanted, performed a track that was not only live, but so catchy it seems to have wormed its way into my head (where it has lodged itself for the past 4 days. I am not amused). Obviously a live setting can make all the difference when it comes to the more commercial side of music, but they definitely lived up to the teenage hysteria that seemed to exude from the slightly pissed crowd. I'm not exactly going to go around wearing an 'I love The Wanted' t-shirt after watching their performance or anything, but I will admit that for what they are they're pretty good at what they do. Mcfly watch out.

The best performance of the night however was obviously going to be Tiny Tempah and his electropop sidekick Ellie Goulding. Whilst I'm not a huge fan of Ellie, I bloody love the Tempah for reasons unknown, and his rather bombastic performance failed to disappoint. In theory I shouldn't like Tiny, but his charisma and energy always make up for his achingly elementary lyrics (rap by numbers anyone?). I can't say it was much of a duet though; from where I was standing you could hardly hear Goulding, not that I'm saying that's a bad thing necessarily. All in all, an interesting if slightly mind opening evening.

If you're actually bothered about the results of the Brits then you'd better get voting. Voting is taking place on the Brits 2011 website until 12 noon on February the 11th. Just do me a favour and vote for anyone but Scouting for Girls.