Next month (September 21), the Ivor Novella Awards will converge upon London’s Grosvenor House for its 66th annual celebration. Yesterday (August 10), the full list of nominees were announced, which boasts the likes of AJ Tracey, Dave, Lianne La Havas, and more as potential winners.
AJ Tracey is going up against Celeste and Jamie Hartman, Kamille, Kid Harpoon and Harry Styles, and MNEK for the Songwriter of the Year award. This past April, the West London emcee liberated his sophomore LP Flu Game, which featured appearances from Nav, Digga D, T-Pain, Kehlani, SahBabii, MoStack, and more — the project also peaked at the number two and one positions on the UK’s Official Albums and Independent Albums charts, respectively.
Dave is currently the talk of the town, as last month saw the release of his second album We’re All Alone in This Together, which sees additional contributions from Stormzy, Fredo, Giggs, Ghetts, Snoh Aalegra, and Wizkid, among others. The project earned the South London star critical acclaim, as well as a number one on the Official Albums chart — We’re All Alone in This Together collected a whopping 74,000 album equivalent units, making for the biggest first-week release in the UK this year thus far. The previously 2021 record came from Olivia Rodrigo for her debut LP Sour, which sold 51,000 first-week units. As far as the aforementioned awards, he has a Best Contemporary Song nod for “Children of the Internet,” last year’s collaboration with Fraser T Smith.
Check out the full list below, which also includes Pa Salieu, who has both a Best Album nomination for Send Them to Coventry and a Best Contemporary Song nomination for “Energy,” and Headie One, who’s received a Best Song Musically and Lyrically nomination for the Fred Again..-assisted “Gang.”
Best Album:
- Fontaines D.C., A Hero’s Death
- Lianne La Havas, self-titled
- Pa Salieu, Send Them to Coventry
- Laura Marling, Song For Our Daughter
- Tom Misch + Yussef Dayes, What Kinda Music
Best Contemporary Song:
- Dave and Fraser T Smith, “Children of the Internet”
- Ashnikko, “Daisy”
- Pa Salieu, “Energy”
- Rachel Chinouriri, “Give Me a Reason”
- For Those I Love, “Top Scheme”
Best Original Film Score:
- Black Mass, Calm With Horses
- Anne Nikitin, Four Kids and It
- Adam Janota Bzowski, Saint Maud
- Daniel Pemberton, The Trial of the Chicago 7
- Craig Stuart Garfinkle and Eimear Noone, Two By Two: Overboard!
Best Original Video Game Score:
- Ilan Eshkeri and Shigeru Umebayashi, Ghost of Tsushima
- Jessica Curry and Jim Fowler, Little Orpheus
- Gareth Coker, Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Best Song Musically and Lyrically:
- Arlo Parks, “Black Dog”
- Headie One & Fred Again.., “Gang”
- Obongjayar, “God’s Own Children”
- Marina, “Man’s World”
- Celeste, “Stop This Flame”
Best Television Soundtrack:
- Alex Heffes and Anoushka Shankar, “A Suitable Boy”
- Geoff Barrow, Ben Salisbury and the Insects, “Devs”
- David Arnold and Michael Price, “Dracula”
- Matthew Herbert, “Noughts + Crosses”
- Oli Julian, “Us”
PRS for Music Most Performed Work:
- Harry Styles, “Adore You” and “Watermelon Sugar”
- Lewis Capaldi, “Before You Go”
- Joel Corry feat. MNEK, “Head & Heart”
- Lewis Capaldi, “Someone You Loved”
Rising Star Award with Apple Music:
- Allegra
- Holly Humberstone
- Kamal.
- Rachel Chinouriri
- Willow Kayne
Songwriter of the Year:
- AJ Tracey
- Celeste and Jamie Hartman
- Kamille
- Kid Harpoon and Harry Styles
- MNEK