Arctic Monkeys, Raye and Fred Again.. up for Mercury Prize album of the year
The winning artist will be named in a London ceremony on Thursday.
Arctic Monkeys, Raye and Fred Again.. are among the nominees competing to win the 2023 Mercury Prize album of the year award.
Radio DJ and broadcaster Lauren Laverne is to host the ceremony on Thursday at the Eventim Apollo in London’s Hammersmith, which will feature live performances from 10 of the dozen shortlisted artists.
Arctic Monkeys and Fred Again.. are both on tour in September and will not be attending the ceremony but a live performance film will be shown to celebrate their albums.
After two decades of making music, the Arctic Monkeys announced their return in August 2022 with their Mercury Prize-nominated seventh studio album titled The Car.
All six of Arctic Monkeys’ previous studio albums have gone to number one in the UK while The Car peaked at number two, according to the Official UK Chart.
Meanwhile, Actual Life 3 (January 1 – September 9 2022) from Fred Again.. is also up for the Mercury Prize, which recognises the best British and Irish album of the year.
The British songwriter, producer and DJ, who made history in 2020 as the youngest musician to become producer of the year at the Brit Awards, had his first worldwide hit with the 2022 album, peaking at number four in the UK album chart.
This year’s Mercury Prize shortlist also features a host of first-time nominees, including Raye, with her debut album My 21st Century Blues which features her number one single Escapism.
It follows a year of success for the singer-songwriter who also won the award for best contemporary song at the Ivor Novello Awards.
Most recently, Raye collaborated with British grime star Stormzy on his track The Weekend.
Among the other acts in the running for the Mercury Prize is London-born singer Jessie Ware with her 2022 album That! Feels Good!, which peaked in the UK albums chart at number three.
Rapper J Hus also made the shortlist with his album Beautiful And Brutal Yard, alongside Where I’m Meant To Be by the Ezra Collective and the debut album Messy from singer-songwriter Olivia Dean.
The debut from UK duo Jockstrap titled I Love You Jennifer B is also in the running for the prize, as well as Irish folk group Lankum’s album False Lankum, and Nymph from rapper and singer Shygirl.
The album, Hugo, from hip-hop artist Loyle Carner and Scottish band Young Fathers with Heavy Heavy also feature.
The shortlist was chosen by an independent judging panel including BBC DJs Jamz Supernova and MistaJam.
