The Ivors 2022

The Ivors 2022

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The Ivors 2022

For the year 2021 Ivor Novello Awards celebrate creative excellence in songwriting and composing. They are presented and judged by the UK music creator community.

JW Marriott Grosvenor House London Park Lane Thursday 19th May 2022 Hosted by Paul Gambaccini #TheIvors @IvorsAcademy

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The Ivors 2022

Menu

Starter Somerset goats’ cheese and fig, candied walnuts, Granny Smith apples (v) Main Course

Menu

Menu

Roast sustainable Atlantic cod, champ potatoes, lemon spinach, artichoke, vine tomato, lemon thyme butter sauce Dessert Coconut mousse, pineapple compote, mint cremoux (v) Coffee and Petits Fours

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The Ivors 2022

Contents

02

Menu

05

Welcome to The Ivors 2022

11

The Judges

18

Best Song Musically and Lyrically

20

Best Television Soundtrack

22

Best Album

26

Rising Star Award with Apple Music

32

Visionary Award

35

Best Original Video Game Score

36

PRS for Music Most Performed Work

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Outstanding Song Collection

42

Best Original Film Score

44

Best Contemporary Song

48

Songwriter of the Year

56

PRS for Music Icon Award

58

Special International Award with Apple Music

60

Academy Fellowship

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Contents

Contents

Awards

THE HOME OF ALL SONGWRITERS AND COMPOSERS JOIN

IVORSACADEMY.COM/JOIN

JOIN THE ACADEMY

The Ivors 2022

The Ivors Academy Welcome

The Ivors Academy is a powerful collective of songwriters and composers. Our awards are treasured because they are given to creators from creators. Each Ivor Novello Award is given with deep consideration from the heart. We come together today to show how much we value and respect music and those who make it.

The Ivors Academy

Welcome

Welcome to The Ivors with Apple Music, our unrivalled celebration of talent and innovation in songwriting and screen composition.

As well as celebrating our community’s extraordinary achievements, the Academy nurtures emerging talent, and supports and champions creators throughout their lives.

Young, disadvantaged people face huge challenges when starting a career in music. In response, we’re introducing #TheWRD from The Ivors Academy, where we hope to create a pathway into music for young adults through a new diploma in creative entrepreneurship. We have an opportunity to bring together music makers, industry professionals and education experts so that anyone with the desire and talent can follow a career in music.

With the launch of #TheWRD we need much more support and help through donations, partnerships and mentoring. Everyone can get involved and we would love it if you did.

Tom Gray Chair

Our deepest thanks go to Apple Music, PRS for Music, our supporters and partners who enable us to do our work.

What we do is only possible with tireless work by our Board, Senate, Awards Committee, judges and team. Our heartfelt thanks to them all and congratulations to all the winners and nominees.

Have an amazing day in celebration of each other and our craft.

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Graham Davies CEO

The Ivors 2022

Apple Music Welcome

Throughout the events of the last two and a half years songwriters have continued to hone and apply their craft, adapting to the challenges of the shifting times. And new songwriters have emerged, as they have for generations before, inspired by the music of their predecessors and the events of the day. In parallel, we have been moved by the songs they’ve created.

Apple Music

Welcome

The eight months since last year’s Ivors have passed in a flash while also feeling like the dawning of a new day, as we (hopefully) move towards a post-pandemic world.

Over the last three years since the inception of the Rising Star Award with Apple Music, we have also been inspired by the new, emerging talent that is ascending through the ranks. It is a joy to see so many burgeoning female songwriters putting themselves forward. An all-female slate of Rising Star nominees (and consequently three consecutive years of female winners) is a wonderful indicator of the changes that are starting to seep through the industry. However, this is not the time to sit back and assume all the work to move towards greater diversity and inclusion in songwriting is done. This is the time to champion and support those who are taking bold steps. It is the time to lift up those blossoming songwriters who have faced marginalisation, and who have struggled to make their voices heard. It is the time to listen to what as broad a range of people as possible have to say.

There can hardly be doubt that one day we will look back on these times as a turbulent moment in history, and the songs of today will serve as a record of the fears, frustrations, joys, and all other emotions that punctuate and provide colour to our lives as the world turns around us. And that itself is cause for celebration.

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Elena Segal, Global Senior Director of Music Publishing at Apple

Mace The Great performing at PRS Presents - March 2022

FOR MUSIC

Congratulations to all the 2022 Ivor Novello Award nominees We’re honoured to have been supporting The Ivors for over 65 years, celebrating the achievements, creative excellence and talent of members.

We’re here to represent music creators across all genres, at every stage of their careers, to ensure they are rewarded for their creations.

BECAUSE MUSIC MATTERS

prsformusic.com

The Ivors 2022

PRS for Music Welcome

Welcome, one and all, to The Ivors 2022.

The dedication and talent of the songwriters and composers nominated today, and the publishers that support them, is inspiring, even more so as many of the works recognised were created against a backdrop of personal and professional challenges.

PRS for Music

Welcome

We are incredibly pleased to once again be supporting the Ivor Novello Awards. In their 67th year, The Ivors continue to be an essential moment to celebrate the art of songwriting and composition – the foundations of the entire music industry.

After two years of uncertainty, there is a renewed optimism within the music community and as we emerge from the pandemic, we should be proud that yet again music has shown its resilience, its importance and its ability to use adversity as a catalyst for creativity.

As we reshape the music industry, we must ensure the voices of the songwriter and composer community are amplified and that the royalties they receive reflect the true value of their work.

All those in the industry must play their part in shaping an ecosystem which benefits and sustains creativity and creators.

Andrea Czapary Martin, PRS for Music CEO

Congratulations to all the nominees and winners of this year’s Ivor Novello Awards. With just twelve notes and minds unendingly flowing with ideas, you inspire us all.

Nigel Elderton PRS Members’ Council Chair 09

The Ivors 2022

The Judges An Ivor Novello Award represents peer recognition.

Dan Adams

Luci Holland

Vince Pope

Jessica Agombar

Crispin Hunt

Gaynor Sadler

Iain Archer

Jin Jin

Renell Shaw

Christopher Barnett

Alyx Jones

Dominic Shovelton

Richard Beddow

Lianne La Havas

David Sneddon

Bernard Butler

Chris Loco

Kate Stables

Rachel Chinouriri

Rob Lord

Biff Stannard

Sarah Cracknell

Cass Lowe

Isabella Summers

Rebecca Dale

David Lowe

Tinie

Dyo

Adrian Leung

Tess Tyler

Michelle Escoffery

Shaznay Lewis

Hannah V

Ilan Eshkeri

Alloysious Massaquoi

Shakira Walters

Jamal Green

Andrew Simon McAllister

Lindsay Wright

Philip Guyler

Dave McCabe

Victoria Wijeratne

Karen Harding

Andrew Roachford

Roma Yagnik

Paul Hartnoll

Emma Rohan

Gary Yershon

Wayne Hector

Karen Poole

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The Judges

Awards Panels

The Ivors Academy would like to thank all who sat on this year’s award panels:

D. Morrison/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley at the Ivor Novello Awards on 14 March 1985

CONGRATULATIONS

LOVE TO ALL OUR NOMINEES AND WINNERS

Wesley/Keystone/Getty Images

Vera Lynn and Lynsey De Paul at the Ivor Novello Awards on 22 May 1975

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The Ivors 2022

Best Song Musically and Lyrically The Nominees

Awards

ALL YOU EVER WANTED written by Mike Elizondo, Natalie Hemby, Ben Jackson-Cook and Rag’n’Bone Man performed by Rag’n’Bone Man published in the UK by Warner Chappell Music, Universal Music Publishing and Sony Music Publishing

EASY ON ME written by Adele and Greg Kurstin performed by Adele published in the UK by Universal Music Publishing and Sony Music Publishing

HAUNTED HOUSE written by Sarah Aarons, Holly Humberstone and Rob Milton performed by Holly Humberstone published in the UK by Sony Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing and Promised Land MusicUniversal Music Publishing

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The Ivors 2022

SEVENTEEN GOING UNDER written by Sam Fender performed by Sam Fender published in the UK by Kobalt Music Publishing

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Best Song Musically and Lyrically

LET’S GO HOME TOGETHER written by James Arthur, Tom Barnes, Ella Henderson, Pete Kelleher and Ben Kohn performed by Ella Henderson & Tom Grennan published in the UK by Sony Music Publishing and BMG

The Ivors 2022

Best Television Soundtrack The Nominees

Awards

BLITZ SPIRIT WITH LUCY WORSLEY composed by Jessica Dannheisser published in the UK by Northdog Music Publishing

LANDSCAPERS composed by Arthur Sharpe published in the UK by BDi Music Ltd obo Sister Pictures Ltd and SATV Publishing

ROBIN ROBIN composed by Ben Please and Beth Porter published in the UK by Universal Music Publishing obo Aardman Animations Ltd

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The Ivors 2022

THE OUTLAWS composed by Stew Jackson and Dan Jones published in the UK by Kobalt Music Publishing and Faber Music

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Best Television Soundtrack

THE SERPENT composed by Dominik Scherrer published in the UK by Du Vinage Publishing and Sony Music Publishing

The Ivors 2022

Best Album The Nominees

Awards

MOTHER written by Cleo Sol and Dean ‘Inflo’ Josiah Cover performed by Cleo Sol

NINE written by Cleo Sol, Dean ‘Inflo’ Josiah Cover and Jack Peñate performed by SAULT published in the UK by Sentric Music

PINK NOISE written by Dann Hume and Laura Mvula performed by Laura Mvula published in the UK by Sony Music Publishing and Universal Music Publishing

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The Ivors 2022

SOMETIMES I MIGHT BE INTROVERT written by Dean ‘Inflo’ Josiah Cover and Little Simz performed by Little Simz published in the UK by Universal Music Publishing

Best Album

SPARE RIBS written by Andrew Fearn and Jason Williamson performed by Sleaford Mods published in the UK by Wipe Out Music

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The Ivors 2022

Rising Star Award with Apple Music Introducing ...

Introducing

The world may be facing an energy shortage, rampant inflation and a cost-ofliving crisis, but at least a great song will always maintain its value.

After all, when times are tough – and we’ve endured more than our fair share of difficult moments in recent years – a good song can help you through. And, while plenty of other natural resources are in increasingly short supply, British and Irish songwriting continues to mine a particularly rich seam of talent.

That’s illustrated perfectly by the shortlist for the third annual Rising Star Award with Apple Music, all of whom are ready to showcase their talents to the world.

The Rising Star prize is reserved for young British and Irish songwriters and composers with exceptional potential and ambition, while all nominees will be mentored by an established Ivors Academy member and leaders from Apple Music.

And, whoever ultimately triumphs in this category, you can bet that the entire shortlist will be burning bright for a long time to come.

Take ASHAINE WHITE for example. Just when you thought every genre mash-up had been done, along she comes with a brand-new hybrid: grunge-soul.

That’s how the super-talented North London singer-songwriter bills her music and, after a frustrating period during the pandemic, she says her Rising Star nomination “really means everything”.

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The Ivors 2022

“To be nominated based on my songwriting and compositions is a real honour,” she adds. “It is really inspiring to know that, by doing things my way, I can achieve such justification of my work.”

And what work it is. Her debut EP, Fairytales, bristles with brilliantly brooding songs such as Cure and Prince Charming.

“Music, to me, is a language form, a vessel for communication,” she says. “I hope that, when people listen to my songs and read the lyrics, they feel like they’ve had an honest conversation with someone who cares about them.”

LUZ is similarly unique. Talent always knows talent, and this Irish teenager has won support slots with Freya Ridings and Lewis Capaldi, while her emotive originals and strikingly original covers have been endorsed by Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa and Dermot Kennedy.

Even alongside such co-signs, her Ivors nomination has made quite the impression.

“If you could go back and show my 14-year-old self what was happening, the shock on her face would explain it all,” she laughs. “It feels like the push I needed to take myself seriously for once!”

And her songs are certainly significant: the likes of We’ll Be Fine and Permanent +1 have helped her amass over 60 million streams.

“I always like to write about things that mean something to me,” she says. “If I’m writing about something that has impacted my life, most likely it has affected others and can help them get through it.”

Luz’s ultimate aim is “have fun in everything I do”. Also on the agenda, you suspect, is stardom to equal some of her admirers.

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Rising Star Award with Apple Music

Ashaine’s ambitions include hoping to “break moulds and industry stereotypes” and certainly this is one star-in-the-making with a style all her own.

The Ivors 2022

MATILDA MANN is also going places.

The only Mann on this year’s all-female shortlist, the 21-year-old West London singer-songwriter had already finished second in Glastonbury’s Emerging Talent contest and supported Arlo Parks and Beabadoobee before her Ivors nod.

Introducing

“When you look at how many singersongwriters there are today, it’s insane to be nominated for such a prestigious award,” she enthuses.

Matilda’s wonderfully emotional songs, found on brilliant EPs such as Sonder and Because I Wanted You To Know, have already received widespread radio and streaming support. The notes page on her phone is full of snippets she hears while out and about and she has the knack of speaking universally in her songs.

“I love the idea of music making people feel less alone,” she says. “Even just writing about other people feeling similar things makes me feel better.”

To that end, she hopes to “write songs that resonate with a lot of people” and “to constantly grow as an artist”. Truly, a Mann for all seasons…

Also here for the long haul is NAOMI KIMPENU. Not for nothing was her debut EP entitled Prelude. The stunning four-track collection is the ideal calling card, serving notice of what her perfectly poised vocals and superbly sincere songwriting can do.

“My lyrics are very emotive and personable to the listener,” she says. “I want to build a global and long-lasting legacy. This is just the beginning for me…”

She describes making the Rising Star shortlist as “validation for all of the hard work I’ve put into my career so far”.

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The Ivors 2022

She wrote, recorded and produced Prelude herself and, while it wasn’t easy, she sees it as “proof that, if you work hard, anything is possible”.

Certainly, songs such as Only and Who I Am have already won fans and some major radio support. But she doesn’t want to stop there.

“I want to inspire other young musicians too,” she says. “And encourage them to make the music they love.”

With Naomi Kimpenu, there is still so much more to come.

She has made expert use of TikTok, dropping snippets of songs and gauging reaction before putting the full versions online. And yet there’s plenty of classic craft in irresistible anthems such as Break It Off and Pain.

“My greatest joy is coming up with melodies that I personally haven’t heard before,” she says.

“Lyricism also plays a huge role in my music. It’s a great outlet to share the imagination in my head into a reality that people can tap into.”

And people are definitely tapping in; she racked up hundreds of millions of streams before becoming a Rising Star contender.

“It feels like such an honour to be considered for this award,” she says. “It’s something I can be truly proud of when I look back at 2022.”

In the meantime, however, it’s full steam ahead for a career she hopes will be “true to my artistry”.

The perfect mix of new school and old school, PinkPantheress is cool for all cats.

And that’s typical of this year’s Rising Star nominees. Because, whatever the wider world may throw at us over the coming months, you can bet the songwriting class of 2022 will continue to be worth its weight in gold.

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Rising Star Award with Apple Music

PINKPANTHERESS, meanwhile, has already achieved plenty, via a very modern rise to fame.

from

Imogen Williams, songwriter and #TheWRD student

A new wave of music education

studythewrd.com

David Tonge Getty Images

The Ivors 2022

Visionary Award Elizabeth Fraser, Robin Guthrie & Simon Raymonde

If the key to being visionary is to see things that others can’t, then Cocteau Twins certainly understood the assignment.

Starting out in Scotland as Siouxsie and the Banshees fans and named after a Johnny and the Self-Abusers song, the Cocteaus – as everyone knew them – would go on to push the sonic parameters like no other band before or since. No wonder music journalists everywhere had to reach for the word ‘ethereal’ in an attempt to describe such wonders.

Because, when the Cocteaus first landed in our lives in the early ‘80s, they were unlike anything most of us had ever heard. Even more remarkably, they stayed that way throughout a remarkably prolific, constantly innovative burst of albums and EPs. It wasn’t just Fraser’s unique voice, or the lyrics that often seemed to be in their own inimitable – yet somehow still satisfyingly singalongable – language. But the unique song structures on the likes of Sugar Hiccup, Aikea-Guinea and Iceblink Luck (even their song titles were unlike anyone else’s!) made for a truly immersive experience.

None of which prevented them from enjoying hit singles (including Pearly-Dewdrops Drops and Tishbite), while the more accessible lyrics on later albums such as Heaven Or Las Vegas and Four-Calendar Café even saw them conquer America.

But really, theirs was a creative collaboration that existed far beyond such earthly concerns. The band split in 1997, with all three members going on to suitably inspired solo careers. And while a mooted reunion fell apart in 2005, today will see them reunited for this award. And you don’t have to be a visionary to see that rarely has such an accolade been so richly deserved.

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Visionary Award

Awards

This is a band who, via the incredible vocal flights of fancy of Elizabeth Fraser and the unique musical soundscapes created by Robin Guthrie and Simon Raymonde, completely reinvented our idea of what pop music could sound like.

ASCAP CONGRATULATES OUR 2022 IVOR NOVELLO AWARD WINNERS AND NOMINEES THANK YOU FOR BEING A PART OF THE ASCAP FAMILY AND CONTINUING TO INSPIRE US WITH YOUR MUSIC

JOHN TITTA EVP, Membership & Chief Creative Officer

ASCAP LONDON OFFICE SIMON GREENAWAY VP, Membership UK/Continental Europe DAVID RYAN JORDAN Director, Membership UK/Continental Europe

The Ivors 2022

Best Original Video Game Score The Nominees

OMNO composed by Benedict Nichols

RETURNAL composed by Bobby Krlic

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Best Original Video Game Score

Awards

MARVEL’S GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY composed by Richard Jacques

The Ivors 2022

PRS for Music Most Performed Work The Nominees

Awards

BAD HABITS written by Fred again.., Johnny McDaid and Ed Sheeran performed by Ed Sheeran published in the UK by Promised Land Music-Universal Music Publishing, Sony Music Publishing and Ed Sheeran Ltd-Sony Music Publishing

BED written by David Guetta, Jin Jin, Raye and Giorgio Tuinfort performed by Joel Corry, Raye and David Guetta published in the UK by Jackback Publishing, Universal Music Publishing, Warner Chappell Music and New Classic

COLD HEART (PNAU REMIX) written by Elton John, Bernie Taupin, Andrew Meecham and Dean Meredith performed by Elton John & Dua Lipa published in the UK by Universal Music Publishing and Defected Music

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The Ivors 2022

SHIVERS written by Kal Lavelle, Steve Mac, Johnny McDaid and Ed Sheeran performed by Ed Sheeran published in the UK by Sony Music Publishing, Rokstone Music-Universal Music Publishing and Ed Sheeran Ltd-Sony Music Publishing

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PRS for Music Most Performed Work

LITTLE BIT OF LOVE written by Daniel Bryer, Tom Grennan and Mike Needle performed by Tom Grennan published in the UK by Catherine Songs-Sony Music Publishing and Sony Music Publishing

The Ivors 2022

Outstanding Song Collection Paul Heaton

Paul Heaton, it seems fair to say, is not one of music’s serial award winners.

Awards

Many observers have questioned the absence of previous recognition for a writer who has contributed hit after hit to the Great British songbook, and whose Beautiful South best of, Carry On Up The Charts, was said to be owned by one in seven British households.

Heaton himself, you suspect, might be less concerned. Because his self-deprecation skills are also second-to-none. This, after all, is a man who once declared The Housemartins to be “the fourth best band in Hull” and modestly titled another Beautiful South compilation Solid Bronze.

But if he won’t sing his own praises, at least this Outstanding Song Collection nod gives us the chance to do so. Because Paul Heaton is that rarest of songwriters: one who can make an important political, social or emotional point, without neglecting the accompanying melody.

And what melodies. The patron saint of the earworm, Heaton’s greatest hits veer from The Housemartins’ irrepressible indie disco classic Happy Hour (actually about sexism) and The Beautiful South’s cute tune/caustic lyrics masterclass A Little Time to Heaton & Abbott’s ode to home improvement D.I.Y. He’s also the only songwriter to ever sneak a mention of “PRS cheques” into a Top 2 single (The Beautiful South’s Song For Whoever).

When the time came for a career-spanning collection in 2018, he even forwent the self-effacement for once and declared himself The Last King Of Pop. It’s a fitting title for a songwriting genius who, today, will finally get to wear the crown. All hail.

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Outstanding Song Collection

Indeed, this Ivor is, incredibly, the first major gong of a career that has, nonetheless, scaled the heights of songwriting excellence across two hugely successful bands – The Housemartins and The Beautiful South – a brilliant solo career and his current, all-conquering collaboration with Jacqui Abbott.

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR NOMINATED BMG SONGWRITERS. 2022 IVOR NOVELLO AWARDS.

FK A T WIG S

MUR A MASA

B EST C O N T EM P O R ARY SO N G

B EST C O N T EM P O R ARY SO N G

Don’t Judge Me performed by FKA twigs, Headie One, Fred again..

Just For Me performed by PinkPantheress

AND REW ME EC HAM, DE AN ME RE DITH

TH O MAS BARNES, PETE R KE LLE HE R , B E NJAMIN KO HN (TM S)

PRS FO R M U S I C M O ST PER FO R M ED WO R K

B EST SO N G M U S I CAL LY AN D LY R I CAL LY

C old Hear t (PNAU Remix) performed by Elton John & Dua Lipa

Let ’s G o Home Together performed by Ella Henderson & Tom Grennan

Bergamo Berlin Copenhagen London Los Angeles Madrid New York Paris years

Sydney

Tokyo

years

Congratulations to Daniel Blumberg for his nomination in the category of Best Original Film Score for The World to Come

Celebrating our International Family of Music Publishing Companies wisemusic.com

The Ivors 2022

Best Original Film Score The Nominees

Awards

AFTER LOVE composed by Chris Roe published in the UK by Cacophony Ltd

CENSOR composed by Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch

LAST NIGHT IN SOHO composed by Steven Price published in the UK by Universal Music Publishing

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The Ivors 2022

SPENCER composed by Jonny Greenwood published in the UK by Concord Music Publishing LLC

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Best Original Film Score

THE WORLD TO COME composed by Daniel Blumberg published in the UK by Wise Music Group

The Ivors 2022

Best Contemporary Song The Nominees

Awards

BODY written by Gotcha, Russ Millions and Tion Wayne performed by Russ Millions & Tion Wayne published in the UK by Warner Chappell Music, Sony Music Publishing and Concord CM UK Ltd

COMING BACK written by James Blake, Dominic Maker, Starrah and SZA performed by James Blake ft. SZA published in the UK by I Keep Calling-Pulse GlobalConcord Music Publishing LLC, Warp Publishing, People Over Planes-These Are Songs of Pulse-Concord Music Publishing LLC and Universal Music Publishing

DON’T JUDGE ME written by FKA twigs, Fred again.. and Headie One performed by FKA twigs, Headie One & Fred again.. published in the UK by BMG, Promised Land Music-Universal Music Publishing and Universal Music Publishing

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The Ivors 2022

I LOVE YOU, I HATE YOU written by Dean ‘Inflo’ Josiah Cover and Little Simz performed by Little Simz published in the UK by Universal Music Publishing

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Best Contemporary Song

JUST FOR ME written by Mura Masa, PinkPantheress, Mike Kinsella, Steve Holmes and Steve Lamos performed by PinkPantheress published in the UK by BMG and Sony Music Publishing

SESAC CONGRATULATES

ADELE 2022 IVOR NOVELLO AWARD NOMINEE SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR BEST SONG MUSICALLY AND LYRICALLY “EASY ON ME”

TERS

WRI G N SO ING TIONS Z A R AM NOMINA U O S TO VELLO N O I LAT IVOR NO U T GRA THEIR CON ON

DAVE GOTCHA MIKE ELIZONDO RAG ‘N’ BONE MAN RAYE

The Ivors 2022

Songwriter of the Year And the Nominees are ...

Over the last couple of years, there hasn’t been much in life that you can rely on.

Last year, The Ivors introduced nominations for the Songwriter of the Year prize for the first time since it was launched in 1970. The shortlist returns this year – with writers selected by a judging panel of songwriters and voted on by Academy members – and it reveals an astonishing strength in depth amongst our songwriting ranks.

Voters will have had the toughest of tasks separating these contenders, because all five nominees in this brilliant group had a major impact on the world of music during 2021.

Take ADELE for example. Years with Adele albums don’t come around as often as we would like but you can guarantee that, when they do, it will be a great year for British songwriting. And 2021 was no exception.

It had been six long years since 25 broke records all around the world, and a lot changed for Adele as a person in that time.

Simon Emmett

Awards

But through a global pandemic, political upheaval and everything else that 2020 and 2021 managed to throw at us, at least one thing has remained constant: the all-round excellence of British songwriting.

She got married, divorced and gave birth to her first child – events that provided plenty of lyrical inspiration for the album. But two things hadn’t changed:

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The Ivors 2022

Adele’s ability to make incredibly personal events into wonderfully universal songs. And the fact that everything she touches turns to multi-platinum.

So first single, Easy On Me, shattered streaming records and spent eight weeks at Number One. Oh My God and I Drink Wine followed it into the charts.

The album, meanwhile, became the biggest selling record of the year. Confirmation that, whatever the year and whatever her age, Adele always delivers.

That was more apparent than ever on Music Of The Spheres, which showcased Chris Martin, Guy Berryman, Will Champion and Jonny Buckland’s unwavering desire to keep pushing Coldplay’s musical envelope.

Lead single Higher Power lodged itself in the nation’s collective consciousness, before My Universe, a collaboration with K-pop sensations BTS, surged to Number Three and topped the US Hot 100.

The band also hooked up with Selena Gomez for Top 30 smash, Let Somebody Go, while the album went straight to Number One, becoming the first to sell more than 100,000 copies in its debut week since 2019.

Such dizzy commercial heights may seem a long way from the indie guitar scene.

But that’s the beauty of Coldplay: a band that will always boldly go where other guitar bands fear to tread.

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Songwriter of the Year

And then there was COLDPLAY. Most guitar bands struggle to have hits these days – but Coldplay aren’t most guitar bands.

The Ivors 2022

DAVE operates in a different genre and is at a different stage of his career, but 2021 showed he’s every bit as dependable when it comes to writing great songs.

Awards

It was a year that turned him into a superstar, thanks to superb second album, We’re All Alone In This Together, which hit Number One in July with what was then the biggest first week sale of the year.

We’re All Alone… was the work of a songwriter at the absolute top of his game, and became one of the defining UK rap albums. At one stage it spawned three simultaneous Top 10 singles – Clash, featuring Stormzy, Verdansk and In The Fire, after he hit the Top 10 earlier in the year with his surprise drop, Titanium.

Dave’s 2021 wasn’t just restricted to his own superlative work, however. As part of his ongoing collaboration with Fredo, he co-wrote Fredo’s smashes Back To Basics and Money Talks.

Confirmation that, when it comes to great Daves, this one is a real household name.

Elsewhere, even in a year full of staggering achievements by UK songwriters, ED SHEERAN’s consistent accomplishments stand out.

The prolific singer-songwriter – probably Britain’s most consistent hitmaker over the past decade – is no stranger to formidable success. But even by his sky-high standards, 2021 was special.

Dan Martensen

Sheeran co-wrote five Top Five singles, contributed to numerous other hits, and released the second biggest-selling album of the entire year.

His mission began with Bad Habits, which spent 11 weeks at Number One. It was eventually knocked off by – you’ve guessed it – Ed Sheeran. Shivers stayed on top for four weeks, while Visiting Hours and Overpass Graffiti also scored as the = LP took up permanent residence around the top of the charts.

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The Ivors 2022

He even found time to co-write hits for Maisie Peters, BTS, JLS and Anne-Marie, before (festive) wrapping up the year with Elton John and a new Yuletide anthem, Merry Christmas. That topped the charts and even formed the basis of the song that took over at the summit, LadBaby’s Sausage Rolls For Everyone.

Further proof that, when it comes to songwriting, Ed Sheeran is irreplaceable.

Unless it’s by himself.

Our final contender is RAYE, showing that 2021 was truly a banner year for mononymous UK singer-songwriters.

Songwriter of the Year

Because it wasn’t just Dave and Adele, Raye – aka Rachel Agatha Keen – also got in on the act in a game-changing year for the star in more ways than one.

Raye started the year with a hit collaboration with Rudimental, Regardless, and followed up with her biggest UK hit to date – Bed, with Joel Corry and David Guetta.

She also remained a much soughtafter featured artist and co-writer, via D-Block Europe’s Ferrari Horses, Mabel’s Let Them Know, Shift K3Y & Tinashe’s Love Lines, Riton’s I Don’t Want You and Anne-Marie’s Breathing and X2.

But despite that success, all was not well between her and her label, Polydor Records, and they parted ways after Raye complained on social media about not being able to release an album.

In the process, her voice became as important to the burgeoning artists’ rights movement as it has always been to creating irresistible hit singles.

These, then, are our famous five contenders. Only one can go on to win the Songwriter of the Year award. But whoever that might be, you can be sure of one thing: in an uncertain world, you can always rely on the Great British songwriter.

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Celebrating the best new works by composers writing for classical, jazz and sound art

Call for entries opens Monday 30th May Awards ceremony Tuesday 15th November

Andy Vella

The Ivors 2022

PRS for Music Icon Award Robert Smith & Simon Gallup

The Cure started off playing sparse, spiky pop songs, with Gallup joining after debut album, Three Imaginary Boys, had established the band as post-punk contenders. He forged an enduring songwriting connection with Smith as The Cure moved into desolate, experimental alternative rock with their notorious ‘dark trilogy’ of albums: 1980’s Seventeen Seconds, 1981’s Faith and 1982’s Pornography.

It was a period of unparalleled intensity for the band – indeed, for any band – and Gallup temporarily left the band after the Pornography tour, while Smith diverted into gloriously off-kilter pop.

But Gallup returned for 1985’s The Head on the Door, and from 1987’s epic Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me onwards, rekindled his writing collaboration with Smith. Gallup’s been there for every record since, his brilliantly brooding basslines an essential component of a band that are always several steps ahead of everyone else.

Meanwhile, amidst an otherwise ever-changing line-up, Smith and Gallup’s unswervingly innovative compositions have been The Cure’s constant north star.

Smith is a unique lyricist, one equally capable of starting a song with the words “It doesn’t matter if we all die” (One Hundred Years) or “I don’t care if Monday’s blue/ Tuesday’s grey and Wednesday too” (Friday I’m In Love). And in Gallup, he has had the perfect musical foil as they mastered everything from feel-good hits of the summer (Just Like Heaven) to albums that channel the bleakest emotional winter (Disintegration, Bloodflowers).

No wonder Smith has hailed Gallup as “absolutely vital to what we do”. And with not one, but two new Cure albums apparently on the horizon, it’s clear that Robert Smith and Simon Gallup are just getting started.

Prepare to have your minds blown all over again.

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PRS for Music Icon Award

Awards

Some songwriting partnerships find their groove and stick with it. Not Robert Smith and Simon Gallup. Over an astounding 40-plus-year career with The Cure, the pair have proved to be virtuosos of versatility.

The Ivors 2022

Special International Award with Apple Music Shakira

Awards

Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, as almost no one knows her, has a catalogue stuffed with similarly enormous smashes but unlike some international pop sensations, they’re almost entirely written or co-written by her. She is as devoted to the craft as any indie-rock woodshedder – hell, she was winning talent shows when she was still at primary school – she just happens to be phenomenally successful at it.

This, after all, is a composer who made the move from Spanish to English language songs by first learning the language in order to be fluent enough to write the lyrics herself (and showed other songwriters how it’s done by memorably using the word ‘lycanthropy’ in another gigantic hit song, 2009’s She Wolf). And, while she already had an incredibly successful Latin American career across multiple albums before fans in the UK embraced her first English album, 2001’s Laundry Service, it’s since then that she has established herself as the nation’s favourite Columbian (apologies James Rodriguez, but it’s true).

Shakira’s influence and success ultimately cleared the way for Latin music’s Despacito generation to conquer the world, but it’s her songs that have really secured her own legacy. From the irrepressible Whenever, Wherever to the emotive Underneath Your Clothes, and from the strident rock of Can’t Remember To Forget to the state-of-the-art electropop of Don’t Wait Up, hers is a consummate CV in anyone’s language (and she continues to have global hits in both Spanish and English).

In short, she’s already achieved twice as much as most careers, with the prospect of much more to come. The facts, like the hips, don’t lie.

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Special International Award with Apple Music

Shakira, Shakira: so good a songwriter they named her twice. Or at least Wyclef Jean did, as he joined her on one of the biggest international hits of all time, Hips Don’t Lie.

Michele Turriani

The Ivors 2022

Academy Fellowship Peter Gabriel

So which one is your favourite? The Peter Gabriel that made Genesis a theatrical prog-rock powerhouse? Or the one that left a band at the peak of its powers in order to embark on a ground-breaking electronic career with songs such as Games Without Frontiers and Shock The Monkey?

Perhaps you’re partial to the big-budget video pop superstar of Sledgehammer, Big Time and Steam? The folk-inspired singer of Biko and Solsbury Hill? Or maybe the emotive balladeer of Don’t Give Up, his memorable duet with Kate Bush?

If the choices seem endless, the truth is that Gabriel is all of these things and more.

In an industry that rarely encourage second – let alone third, fourth, fifth and more – acts in rock star lives, he has consistently reinvented his musical output, while always remaining true to his vision. He has been both a cult underground artist and one of the biggest stars in the world (notably on his monster hit So album in 1986), and never stopped innovating in either sphere.

He has given back a huge amount to the musical world as well. Through his Real World record label and WOMAD festival, he has done more than perhaps anyone else to promote artists from countries beyond the traditional US-UK pop axis. He has honoured writers he admires through his Scratch My Back covers project. And he has tirelessly championed causes such as Amnesty International.

It is his brilliant songwriting, however, that is the thread running through all of his wonderful creations, and is ultimately the reason for him being honoured today. All together now: for he’s a jolly good Fellow…

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Academy Fellowship

Awards

He might be The Ivors Academy’s latest Fellow – a list that includes the likes of Elton John, Paul McCartney and Joan Armatrading – but really Peter Gabriel’s career could have been the work of multiple individuals, rather than one remarkable one.

Dave Benett/Getty Images

Craig David at the Ivor Novello Awards on 24 May 2001

The Ivors 2022

The Ivors 2022 The Ivors Academy wishes to thank Apple Music PRS for Music Paul Gambaccini, our Host Capitol House Productions, for the stage production Steam Motion and Sound, for the video production Moxie, our voice over artist Anne Nikitin, for composing the show music PPL and VPL, for the kind permission to use sound and video recordings Everyone who granted permission and contributed visual material to the award films

Acknowledgements

Mike Wilson and Meltcharm Products Ltd, for our exquisite statuettes The songwriters and composers who sat on this year’s judging panels Pete Compton, our Independent Adjudicator UK Engage, for delivering the member voting for Songwriter of the Year Anna Bailey and team at the Grosvenor House Annabel Fitzgerald, Mandy Read and team, for their back stage management Pace Prestige Services Ltd Mark Allan Photography Taylor Herring PR Grey Moth, for filming our winners All the staff at The Ivors Academy and ushers volunteering on the day Joanne Viner, for the programme production Mark Sutherland, for writing our award recipient and nominee profiles Principal Colour, for our printing At The Ivors Academy Director of Awards, Fran Matthews Awards Manager, Cindy Truong Awards Manager, Tilly Flynn Awards Administrator, Kate Spiers

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The Ivors Academy thanks

This year’s award presenters

The Ivors 2022

The Ivors Academy of Music Creators

The Ivors Academy Trust Board Michael Adex, Natasha Baldwin, Michael Dugher, Cliff Fluet (Chair), Lucy Francis (Vice Chair), Sally Ann Gross, Charlotte Harris, Melanie Johnson, Katie Lam, Peter Leathem, Silvina Munich (special advisor), Danny Poku, Oliver Vibrans Chief Executive Graham Davies The Ivors Academy Awards Committee Mat Andasun, Iain Archer, Cassell the Beatmaker, Nainita Desai, Crispin Hunt (Chair), Anna Neale, Sandy Nuttgens, Bankey Ojo, Anna Phoebe, Orphy Robinson MBE

Persons wishing to reproduce or use these marks must secure the written consent of The Ivors Academy prior to use.

Although every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained within this publication, The Ivors Academy cannot be liable for errors or omissions. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of The Ivors Academy.

The Ivors Academy of Music Creators 1 Upper James Street, London W1F 9DE contact@ivorsacademy.com ivorsacademy.com @IvorsAcademy

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The Ivors Academy

The Ivors Academy

The Ivors Academy Board Fiona Bevan, Rebecca Ferguson, Tom Gray (Chair), Crispin Hunt, Ailís Ní Ríain, Emma McClarkin, Julia Montero, Anna Phoebe, Orphy Robinson MBE, Kevin Sargent, Emily Saunders, Nitin Sawhney, Ayanna Witter-Johnson, Hope Winter (shared role), Imogen Williams (shared role)

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