Huw Stephens announcing the shortlist of finalists for the 2018 Mercury Prize
Lily Allen, Everything Everything and Wolf Alice are among this year’s award nominees, joined by debutants Novelist and Jorga Smith
The shortlist for this year’s Mercury Prize ‘Albums Of The Year’ has been announced. It’s one of the biggest annual events in British music, celebrating the best of UK music across a range of genres. The shortlist was announced by BBC Radio’s Huw Stephens and Mary Anne Hobbs on 26 July. Other nominees for the award include Florence + The Machine, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds and Arctic Monkeys.
Florence + The Machine’s fourth album High As Hope reached No 2 in the UK Album Charts when it was released in June. The singer has been nominated for the prize twice, in 2009 and 2015, for Lungs and How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful. Arctic Monkeys have been nominated for Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, the band’s first album since 2013. Arctic Monkeys won the Mercury Prize in 2006 with their debut long player, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not.
The Mercury Prize isn’t reserved for big-name artists. Kojo Kankam, better known as Novelist, is a grime MC and producer from South London who has been nominated for his debut studio album, Novelist Guy. Kankam has a reputation for being down to earth, and his manager is also his mother. Jorga Smith also received her first Mercury Prize nomination for her debut Lost & Found, which reached No 3 in the UK Album Charts. The singer-songwriter has previously collaborated with Drake and Stormzy.
The award hasn’t been won by a female artist since PJ Harvey took the prize in 2011, beating the likes of Adele and Katy B. Since then the awards have been dominated by male artists. But bookies William Hill has Florence + The Machine as joint-favourites at 4/1, alongside Noel Gallagher and Arctic Monkeys, with Lily Allen, Jorja Smith and Wolf Alice a close second at 6/1. The Mercury Prize final will take place 20 September 2018.
The full list of 2018 Mercury Prize finalists and albums are:
- Lily Allen, No Shame
- Arctic Monkeys, Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino
- Everything Everything, A Fever Dream
- Everything Is Recorded, Everything Is Recorded
- Florence + the Machine, High as Hope
- Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Who Built the Moon?
- King Krule, The Ooz
- Novelist, Novelist Guy
- Nadine Shah, Holiday Destination
- Jorja Smith, Lost and Found
- Sons of Kemet, Your Queen is a Reptile
- Wolf Alice, Visions of a Life
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