British songwriting awards also acknowledge Florence + the Machine, Wet Leg, Central Cee and more
Harry Styles, Little Simz, and Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner are among the 72 nominees for this year’s Ivor Novello awards, which honour the best in British and Irish songwriting.
At three apiece, the most nominations are given to Harry Styles and his co-writer Kid Harpoon after the huge success of Styles’ third studio album Harry’s House; and to Cleo Sol and Dean “Inflo” Josiah Cover, for their work with rapper Little Simz and soul collective Sault.
In 2021, Styles won his first Ivor Novello for most performed song, eight years after Noel Gallagher praised the awards “because clowns like One Direction aren’t invited”.
Styles is nominated for the same award this year, for his track As It Was, alongside Ed Sheeran who makes history for being the first artist to have a song nominated two years in a row, for Bad Habits, which won the category in 2022. Sheeran’s track Shivers is also nominated, alongside Glass Animals’ Heat Waves.
Rounding out the category is Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill, 37 years after it was nominated for best contemporary song. The 1985 hit had a remarkable resurgence after being featured in Netflix show Stranger Things, and reached No 1 in the UK charts – something that Kate Bush called “extraordinary”.
