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    Brit Awards Boss Responds to Charli XCX and Anne-Marie's Criticisms

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    The British music awards is criticized for lack of female nominees but the chief defends the nominations and insists they simply reflected a strong 2019 for male acts.
    Feb 19, 2020
    AceShowbiz – Brit Awards boss Geoff Taylor has hit back at Charli XCX and Anne-Marie’s criticism of the lack of female nominees for this year’s British Album of the Year prize.
    Anne-Marie and Charli have both expressed frustration at the lack of women on a shortlist for Tuesday’s February 18, 2020 ceremony that features Dave, Stormzy, Lewis Capaldi, Harry Styles, and Michael Kiwanuka.
    However, Geoff, the chief executive at awards organisers the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), points out that three of last year’s five nominees, who included Anne-Marie, were women – although all-male band The 1975 won on the night.
    “There’s been a lot of success for male acts in 2019 – and with grime and hip-hop doing very well, they are more male-dominated genres,” he tells Britain’s Music Week magazine. “That is different to 2019.”
    “We had a really strong showing from female (nominees) last year with the same (gender) balance in the academy. So last year it was all about Dua Lipa, Anne-Marie, Jorja Smith, Florence (Florence and the Machine), and Jess Glynne.”
    The BPI chief went on to say that the nominations simply reflected a strong 2019 for male acts.
    “When you look at the Album of the Year nominees, they all released absolutely fantastic records,” he says. “We have an academy that’s made up equally of men and women, and that academy decided that these were the best releases of this particular year. I think we need to respect that.”
    Anne-Marie told Britain’s Daily Mirror newspaper the lack of female representation this year “does p**s me off,” while Charli, who could win the British Female Solo Artist prize at the event at the O2 in London, expressed fury about the lack of gender-balance.
    “What the f**k is that about?” she raged. “It’s what everyone has been saying. Women don’t just deserve to be in the female categories, we’re not the subplot, the warm-up act, we’re the main event.”

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    Charli XCX Condemns Reading and Leeds Festivals for Failing to Book More Women

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    As she voices her frustration over the music events’ male-dominated lineup, the ‘Break the Rules’ singer calls for improvement on representation by record companies.
    Feb 15, 2020
    AceShowbiz – Charli XCX has slammed the organisers of the Reading and Leeds festivals for booking a male-dominated lineup.
    Organisers of the U.K. music event have come under fire for their male-dominated bill, with only 20 female or mixed-gender acts announced as performers on Tuesday, February 12, and no headliners.
    Speaking to U.K. music website NME at their annual awards bash on Wednesday, Charli condemned Reading and Leeds chiefs for failing to respond to past criticism over line-ups that have only featured one female-fronted headliner, Paramore, in 20 years.
    “They just need to book more women, but the thing is that this conversation has been going on for so long,” Charli said. “I feel like this literally happened last year with Reading & Leeds.”
    “The lineup came out and everybody was like, ‘There aren’t enough women on this lineup’. Nothing has changed. Nothing. What can be done? It’s our responsibility to talk about this and be as open as we can.”
    However, she also believes record companies also have to act to improve representation, adding: “The change needs to come from the industry itself and the ground up. Yes, the festival needs to book females but the industry as a whole needs to recognise women working within it: producers, writers, A&Rs, executives, anything.”
    In a separate chat with the Daily Mirror, Charli also hit out at BRIT Awards chiefs for the lack of female representation in their Album of the Year or Best Group categories.
    “What the f**k is that about?” she raged. “It’s what everyone has been saying. Women don’t just deserve to be in the female categories, we’re not the subplot, the warm-up act, we’re the main event.”
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    Her criticism follows a promise by The 1975 frontman Matty Healy that his band, who headlined the event last year, will only play gender-balanced festivals.

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