Songwriter of the Year - Skepta

If 2016 was the year that the revitalised grime movement finally smashed its way into the UK pop mainstream – and, let’s face it, it was – then Skepta was the man who finally kicked down the door.

When future historians want to take the pulse of UK culture in 2016, it’s to Skepta’s fourth album, Konnichiwa, that they will surely turn. Certainly, The Ivors judges are not the only ones to have had their heads turned. Konnichiwa topped countless Albums Of The Year polls and won praise from Mayors and Cabinet Ministers. It triumphed at the Hyundai Mercury Prize – edging out David Bowie’s Blackstar no less – and the album’s commercial and critical success even led Skepta to perform at the 2017 BRIT Awards, just 12 months after the ceremony was accused of snubbing the genre.

Skepta’s success has no doubt given a boost to other outstanding grime artists, from Stormzy to Giggs, as they looked to secure their own breakthroughs. But, even if you view Konnichiwa in isolation from everything else that’s going on around it – not easy, actually, as the lyrics brilliantly chronicle modern British urban life – it’s a superb body of work. Songs such as Shutdown, Corn On The Curb and That’s Not Me articulate the year’s trials and tribulations better than anything else released by a British artist all year.

Even better, Skepta himself seems determined to continue to keep things as real as his new-found status allows. As he raps on the album’s title track: “Boy better know a man went to the BRITs on a train/Man shutdown Wireless, then I walked home in the rain”. Hopefully, someone somewhere will get him a cab home from The Ivors ceremony but, either way, Skepta’s songs will remain the true soundtrack to the last 12 months, and for a long time to come.