British Rap, Canadian rock reign at UK BRIT awards ceremony

British rapper Tinie Tempah and Canadian rock band Arcade Fire rocked the show at the BRIT’s music awards ceremony, both scooping two awards at the 02 Arena in London this week.

Stars took to the red carpet for the UK’s biggest music awards event, said to be Britain’s answer to the Grammy’s. Tinie Tempah’s triumph marked a great step for British rap, as he won two awards out of the four he was nominated for. He scooped ‘British Breakthrough act’ and ‘Best British single’ for his song ‘Pass Out’, remarking that “this is a great time for British music”, when interviewed about his nominations.

Canadian band Arcade fire collected two awards, after having also won at the Grammy’s this week. They took away the prize for ‘Best International group’ and ‘Best International album’ for ‘The Suburbs’.

Take That came back to win ‘Best British group’, presenting themselves to the stage with dancers dressed in riot police uniforms, as they performed their new single ‘Kidz’ which highlights recent struggles between UK students and the government over education fees.

Other internationally acclaimed artists included Rihanna for ‘Best International Female Solo Artist’, and star of the Grammy awards Justin Bieber took away ‘Best International Breakthrough act’. The greatly successful Cee Lo Green also scooped ‘International Male Solo Artist’, performing with Paloma Faith on stage.

Organisers had revamped the look and style of the ceremony, to make it more up to date and to celebrate the success in British music over the last year. The new styling also included a redesign of the trophy, by designer Dame Vivienne Westwood.