Welcome to The Brits live blog, where we’ll be bringing you all the action from inside the O2 arena.
This will be the 45th edition of the awards, but more importantly today marks 29 years since Jarvis Cocker stormed the stage and pretended to break wind in the direction of Michael Jackson, who was busy playing the messiah during Earth Song.
Here’s hoping for some unplanned fun as well as a good show, which this year is thankfully back in the hands of Jack Whitehall for his fifth stint as presenter.
The event kicks off at 8.15pm UK time, with the likes of Sabrina Carpenter, Teddy Swims and The Last Dinner Party set to perform. But surely this is Charli xcx’s night. May as well call is The brats.
The gongs!
Saturday 1 March 2025 17:26 , Martin RobinsonThis is what the winners will be putting in their downstairs loos tomorrow...
British-Nigerian multidisciplinary artist Gabriel Moses is the designer of the trophies – following on from the like of Peter Blake, Tracey Emin and Vivienne Westwood - and it’s surely the most elegant Britannia has ever looked.
Moses says he drew on his childhood in South London for his design: “It all stems from my upbringing, my Nigerian heritage, sculptural works my mum would showcase around our house…that’s all I’ve ever tried to do with my work – just bring my memories and my culture into everything, whether that be South London or Nigerian heritage.”
Really lovely design. The Standard’s aim tonight is to touch one. Not steal, just touch.
And the winner of The Brits overall is...
Saturday 1 March 2025 19:00 , Martin RobinsonTeddy Swims! Just for this outfit:
Is this Peak Cuddliness for Teddy?
We say that because in our interview with him he was so loveable even without the stuffed toys. He told us about impending fatherhood, loving his family and, ok, how therapy has helped him overcome his demons.
Looking forward to seeing him perform tonight. Will he keep this outfit on? Hope not, looks like a fire hazard...
Sabrina's in the house!
Saturday 1 March 2025 19:25 , Martin RobinsonAnd by house, I mean red carpet...
Carpenter is opening the awards tonight with the first performance.
And actually she has already won the Brits Global Success award – why they announce a few beforehand is unknown, presumably as doggie treats for Content-crazed journalists – and will receive it this evening. This award has been won by Ed Sheeran and Adele in the past and celebrates, but Carpenter will be the first international winner.
Big year for her of course. She was number one in the UK charts for 21 weeks in 2024, and was the first female artist to ever simultaneously occupy the top three spots with Taste, Please Please Please and Espresso. In the US she was the first artist to have their first three hits in the top five at the same time, since The Beatles (who will also feature tonight, otherwise I’m rioting).
Dinner is served!
Saturday 1 March 2025 19:57 , Martin RobinsonThe stars are all seated and chowing down on the lovely Brits dinner, as you can see here if you squint:
My insider intel is that the catering is very sustainable, with locally sourced vegetables, and raw ingredients to eliminate preparation wastage...
Yes, I am growing bored waiting for this shaboodle to start...
View from the red carpet
Saturday 1 March 2025 20:15 , Martin RobinsonCheck out these beautiful Brit people, from the ES team on the carpet:
Jack Whitehall opens The Brits 2025!
Saturday 1 March 2025 20:31 , Martin RobinsonWhitehall appears in a Squid Game sketch to start, and now follows with a brilliant monolgue in which calls Stormzy the “Ronald MacDonald of grime!”
He also calls Coldplay “the public schoolboy Nickelback.”
And we’re off!
As Sabrina Carpenter fully embraces the Brits idea and does some naughty things with a Beefeater:
Ofcom is gonna be getting lots of complaints tonight 😂 #BRITs2025 pic.twitter.com/5zHTOiFoHZ
— Charlie Watts (@char1iewatts) March 1, 2025
Charli xcx wins Song of the Year!
Saturday 1 March 2025 20:36 , Martin RobinsonWhitehall said she’s not performing tonight because she wants to get drunk, but she seems perfectly lucid as she bigs up her song about underwear...
“Thanks Brits, bye...” One suspects we’ll see her again soon.
Teddy Swims performs!
Saturday 1 March 2025 20:47What a big performance by Teddy Swims, which starts with him in bed, continues with lots of fire and has him resplendent in a glittery trenchcoat taht makes him look like the nicest gangster ever.
JADE wins Best Pop Act!
Saturday 1 March 2025 20:50 , Martin RobinsonBit of a surprise but very much deserved and JADE is emotional to receive it.
Life is possible post-Little Mix... and not just life, but impending superstardom.
She ends her speech in tears after thanking her old bandmates. Everyone in the arena goes awww...
Sam Fender wins Best Rock Act!
Saturday 1 March 2025 20:53 , Martin RobinsonSam picks it up from Serge from Kasabian - who brilliantly refers to the venue as the Millennium Dome - and says he’s not as drunk as his last appearance (no-one has been as drunk as his last win in 2022, when he said he’d been awake for 40 hours in one interview done post-Brits bender.
Big favourite with the crowd.
Myles Smith wins the Rising Star Award!
Saturday 1 March 2025 21:02This had already been announced of course, but it’s lovely to see Myles collect it. We interviewed him recently and he must be the nicest man in music, genuinely taken aback by his fast ascent to the top.
“I’m a bit nervous he says...” before talking about being a boy on free school meals at a normal secondary school, and then taking the government and the music industry to task for not supporting young musicians and grassroots venues.
“If British music is one of the most powerful exports we have, why have you treated it like an after thought for so many years?”
— CLASH (@ClashMagazine) March 1, 2025
“Moments fade but careers last forever.”
Amazing speech from Myles Smith. pic.twitter.com/bonXHPUau4
This is warmly received by the crowd. Is the music industry sober enough to listen? Maybe.
Jack Whitehall calls him “the Luton Bob Dylan” before Smith brings the house down with a huge performance.
Charli xcx wins Best Dance Act!
Saturday 1 March 2025 21:17She’s back again, picking up another big award. Will this be a record haul for her?
But more importantly she pays tribute to the people who inspired her in her career, including the late trailblazing musician SOPHIE.
Ezra Collective win Best Group
Saturday 1 March 2025 21:25Naomi Harris makes an appearance to present the award.. and it goes to Ezra Collective!
Massively deserved win following on from a big couple of years for them in a run of collective acclaim since their 2023 Mercury Prize win.
Femi Koleoso pay tribute to youth clubs and schools for supporting young musicians.
“The problems in this country... the solution lies with giving the young people a saxophone...because it gives them reason to believe...group of the year is made by youth groups throughout the country.”
By the way Jack Whitehall is smashing it
Saturday 1 March 2025 21:27 , Martin RobinsonNot sure how well he’s coming off on TV but he’s really making people laugh in the room.
Look, he’s better than Roman Kemp ffs...
Great lines about The Last Dinner Party: “The Tatler Girls Aloud...The St Trininian House Band”
And the Diddy joke... funny.
JADE performs live!
Saturday 1 March 2025 21:30 , Martin RobinsonHuge performance by the new Brit award winner. Like, seriously good.
Angel Of My Dreams climaxes with her rising up as some magnificent angel with 6ft long wings in what is the best performance of the night so far.
The Substance is in the house - disembodied wig heads a menacing man with huge hands feature in this nightmare trip of a performance
Wow.
Sabrina Carpenter wins the Global Success award
Saturday 1 March 2025 21:34Millie Bobby Brown shows off her new Marilyn Monroe look as she presents Sabrina Carpenter with the Global Success award.
She too is doing a Marilyn Monroe thing. Is Glamour back? You bet it is.
Carpenter pays tribute to “this predominently tea drinking country who streamed the shit out of Espresso.”
Sabrina Carpenter accepting the ‘Global Success’ award at the #BRITs2025
— Sabrina Times (@SabrinaTimes) March 1, 2025
pic.twitter.com/kHrebK7aG2
Chappell Roan wins International Song of the Year!
Saturday 1 March 2025 21:47Lovely lad Danny Dyer presents this one and says, “Unfortunately Chappell Roan couldn’t be fucked to be here...”
Genius.
On video, Chappell does some awkward thing and we move on...
The Last Dinner Party Perform!
Saturday 1 March 2025 21:50 , Martin RobinsonBeautiful red curtain set for the Tatler Girls Aloud as they play Nothing Matters.
Nice to see an actual band on stage, although their spinning flamboyant performance finds it hard to compete with JADE’s pop spectacle.
Stormzy wins best Hip-Hop/Grime/Rap Act!
Saturday 1 March 2025 21:53Seems like a personal victory over Whitehall’s Maccy D’s barbs about him.
He thanks Jesus a lot. Also Chase & Status.
Raye wins Best R&B Act!
Saturday 1 March 2025 21:59 , Martin RobinsonJason Isaacs, currently smashing it in White Lotus presents this to Raye!
Raye accepts it over video link. She’s too big for this now.
Danny Dyer in X-rated sensation!
Saturday 1 March 2025 22:04 , Martin RobinsonFor the latest link Whitehall sits down for a somewhat ill-advised chat with Danny Dyer, who of course responds to Whitehall’s middle class encouragement for him to describe his new film Marching Powder as “Bridget Jones for cunts.”
It’s silenced out on TV I gather... not here.
Whitehall squirms. Dyer goes on to call Keir Starmer, “a slag.”
Things are getting out of hand. Brilliant.
Lola Young performs Messy!
Saturday 1 March 2025 22:10People are on their feet for Lola Young’s Messy, very Tracy Emin with yet another unmade bed set.
Fontaines DC win Best International Group
Saturday 1 March 2025 22:14They say they weren’t expecting to get it for the second year running.
They’re not the only ones. Better than Amyl and the Sniffers? I think not.
Whitehall says: “It’s the first time in a while Britain has had an act that isn’t deporting people.”
The Last Dinner Party win Best New Artist!
Saturday 1 March 2025 22:18They follow up last year’s Rising Star award with a New Artist award!
How long can you drag out being new...
Not their fault of course.
Anyway, they’re lovely, and they pay tribute to the beautiful indie producer James Ford, who is currently battling leukemia.
Chappell Roan wins Best International Artist award
Saturday 1 March 2025 22:29And fair play, she is outstanding as an artist. Although her video background is giving mouldy kind flat, her sheer queer joy overcomes that.
Kind of wish she was here to perform after her Grammys appearance.
Sam Fender performs!
Saturday 1 March 2025 22:33 , Martin RobinsonThis guy is so massive now. The South Shields Springsteen.
You get it when you see him. This is indie rock write large.
Charli xcx wins Artist of the Year
Saturday 1 March 2025 22:38 , Martin RobinsonYes, of course!
This is the big moment for Charli xcx. She says “i hear ITV were complaining about my nipples...but this is the era of free the nipple... thanks for being on my side.”
“To all the artist who feel like they don’t fit in... I share this with you.”
Whitehall then gives her the Songwriter of the Year award too. It’s raining awards on her...
Tribute to Liam Payne
Saturday 1 March 2025 22:45 , Martin RobinsonLovely section of the night paying tribute to Payne, who sadly died earlier this year.
Charli xcx wins Album of the Year
Saturday 1 March 2025 22:50 , Martin RobinsonOf course!
It had to be... Charli xcx wins for brat, which by any stretch of the imagination, was the most important music happening of last year.
I’d just say, it’s weird she’s not appearing. Feels like a huge missing moment for an award show that is celebrating her in such a major way.
So while it may feel like an anticlimax without her putting on a performance, they have done the right thing by chucking so many awards her way. A seriously talented artist.
That's it!
Saturday 1 March 2025 22:54 , Martin RobinsonThe Brits 2025 are over. Ezra Collective play live to bring it home with some proper music.
But this was Charli xcx’s night...
Or was it?
Despite picking up all the awards, she didn’t play and instead JADE will take the plaudits as the killer act of the night.
We’re now heading to the Universal Music after-party to hang out with Sam Fender, Sabrina Carpenter, Lola Young and suchlike.
Hopefully Danny Dyer will be there to call us a c*nt....
