The nominees for the Mercury Award 2019 have been announced.
Rap and guitar music dominate this year’s shortlist, with The 1975, Dave, Foals, Slowthai, and Little Simz among the shortlisted acts. Albums addressing race, class hierarchy and immigration populate the list.
The political vibe and climate is pretty obvious in the albums as social and political issues, mental health, Brexit, climate change etc are the subjects being touched upon. A number of this year’s nominees have produced politically inclined work, for example IDLES’ ‘Joy as an Act of Resistance’ and rapper Slowthai’s ‘Nothing Great About Britain’.
The 12 shortlisted Mercury Prize albums for 2019 include five debuts: SEED Ensemble’s ‘Driftglass’, Dave’s ‘Psychodrama’, Fontaines DC’s ‘Dogrel’, Black Midi's ‘Schlagenheim’ and Slowthai’s ‘Nothing Great About Britain’.
Furthermore, this year also has repeat nominations for Foals, who are up for their third Mercury Award with ‘Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost’ and The 1975 with their second nomination for ‘A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relatioships’.
There is no representation for electronic music this year and the shortlist follows a shake-up of the judging panel, which added Stormzy, Gaz Coombes, Radio 1’s Annie Mac and the R&B star Jorja Smith. Last year’s Award was lifted by the alternative-rock band Wolf Alice with their album ‘Visions of a Life’.
This year’s ceremony will be held at the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith, London on the 19th of September, 2019.