Harry Styles Fetes Radiohead, Rosalia Wins Big at Chaotic Ivor Novellos

The Ivor Novello Awards are all about celebrating human creativity in the form of songwriting, and for 70 years, they have quietly commended the geniuses behind the music that articulates universal emotions and shape popular culture.

But now, in its 71st year (and now known officially as the Ivors with Amazon Music), the very premise of human creativity is under threat from AI and low streaming payments, as noted by much of the talent on stage at this year’s awards.

You could feel it as the industry assembled at the pre-awards drinks reception and executives debated the latest AI moves.

You could see it in the warnings given by Ivors bosses Tom Gray and Roberto Neri about how tough it remains for songwriters to be heard and be paid.

And you could hear it, loud and clear, during the ceremony itself, as a string of artists and songwriters queued up to criticize AI companies, the music industry and pretty much anyone else perceived to not have songwriters’ very best interests at heart.

Who knows what Ivor Novello himself would have made of it, but the passion and, at times, anger on display certainly gave the awards an unpredictability that it never had in the olden days, and an edge that has been absent from even its more recent incarnation as a joyful honorarium for huge stars.

U2, Bruce Springsteen, Ed Sheeran and the Killers all featured last year; Springsteen (again), Paul McCartney and Lana Del Rey popped in the year before. While Springsteen did not go for the three-peat this year, it was still a stellar turnout, albeit one served up as a deeply human, hot mess of a show, rather than the slick spectacle we’ve become used to.

So, even the night’s big surprise — Harry Styles, hot-footing it across the Channel from his 10-date tour opening in Amsterdam to present Thom Yorke with the Academy Fellowship, its highest honor — was inadvertently revealed ahead of time.

That’s because Sir Elton John — who thought he was there to present Sam Fender with his Songwriter of the Year prize, but ended up being showered with awards of his own, including an Ivors Academy Honour (which has its own ceremony later in the year) and becoming the first ever President of the Ivors Academy — just happened to mention he’d seen Harry backstage in his speech. Cue gasps and laughter from the until-that-point unsuspecting crowd.

No worries. Mr Styles knows how to wrestle back the initiative, and people’s attention. After politely thanking “Elton for that wonderful introduction,” Styles declared the personal significance of Radiohead’s music to him: “I lost my virginity to ‘Talk Show Host.’”

And, after a deep, meaningful pause, he continued: “Well, I lost my virginity to the intro to ‘Talk Show Host’.”

The 1D-Radiohead love-in is the sort of unlikely moment that only the Ivors can deliver, as he continued, “Without ‘Exit Music’, there would be no ‘Watermelon Sugar’. Imagine that. A world without that song? It doesn’t bear thinking about.”

Self-deprecation aside, Styles made a convincing case for just how important the “religious experience” of listening to Yorke and Radiohead is, not just to him, but millions of others. Yorke seemed truly touched, giving the former One Direction star a long, lingering hug as he walked on stage.

But such bonhomie didn’t last long. Yorke launched a passionate attack on the modern music industry, contrasting it to the risk-taking business that backed the nascent Radiohead in the ‘90s.

“I worry that our business is becoming risk-averse and unable or unwilling to help [artists],” he said, complaining of the focus on “the exciting share prices of streaming services” and the “feeding frenzy” around catalog acquisitions. “It is not, as they like to call it, investment in the music sector.”

“Pull your fingers out,” he urged the industry. “Just remember, without us, you ain’t shit.”

There were certainly plenty of music industry luminaries there to hear it: the likes of Warner Chappell global CEO Guy Moot; former Warner Music chief Max Lousada; Sony Music U.K. CEO Jason Iley; Universal Music Publishing Group’s David Gray; Sony Music Publishing U.K.’s David Ventura; plus British label bosses Ben Mortimer (Polydor), Louis Bloom (Island), Dipesh Parmar (Columbia) and Ed Howard (Atlantic); and top managers Craig Logan (P!nk), Jonathan Dickins (Adele) and Paul Craig (Biffy Clyro) among those spotted in the room.

Yorke returned to music to play two songs, including a jittery version of “Jigsaw Falling into Place”, but he was hardly alone in calling out the numerous perceived threats to the creatives in the room. Instead, a cavalcade of winners used their platform to discuss just how much of a struggle it can be to be an artist or songwriter these days.

So, Scottish singer-songwriter and double winner Jacob Alon called out representatives from AI companies in the room as — and I’m afraid there’s no polite way of putting this — “c—s” (just one of a multitude of c-bombs emanating from the once-genteel Ivors stage); Best Album winner CMAT had a pop at politicians in both Ireland and the U.K.; and Sam Fender even seemed to call out the night’s sponsors, Amazon, in a night that rarely stuck to the script.

Indeed, Lola Young threw hers away as she picked up the PRS for Music Most Performed Work for “Messy,” only to get derailed by a popping champagne cork in the crowd, leaving the stage before she’d finished her point about what songwriting means to her (she did return later for a somewhat more prepared presentation to Elton John, saying: “In a world that takes and takes, he gives back in abundance”).

Icon winner Calvin Harris seemed shell-shocked as he stumbled through his acceptance, while Damon Albarn fumbled his way through his presentation to International Songwriter of the Year Rosalía, attempting to speak Spanish and serenading her on a melodica before, possibly wisely, knocking it on the head in favor of running a video.

Rosalía, meanwhile, was grace itself, praising Albarn for his “beautiful” music and “great” Spanish, but even she criticized the music industry as being an “insatiable monster” in its constant craving for new material over true artistry.

There were also a lot of tears on stage, with even grime OG Kano looking moved as he picked up his Visionary Award, and Sam Fender weeping after Elton praised him as “one of the finest lyricists Britain has ever produced.” Fender waxed lyrical about how his manager, Owain Davies, discovered him playing live in a pub in South Shields but stressed: “As an industry, we can’t rely on people like Owain walking into a pub and finding people from working class backgrounds.”

And Kae Tempest, winner of Best Contemporary Song for “I Stand on the Line,” also shed some tears, saying: “Sometimes, you think you have to suffer for your art. But you’ve got enough of that in the world. When we sit down [to write], that’s not the time for suffering, that’s the time for service.”

And the ceremony certainly honored those who have served the art of songwriting well. The late, great George Michael was awarded a posthumous Fellowship, with rising star Skye Newman covering “Careless Whisper” in tribute, and the award itself accepted by Michael’s Wham! partner-in-crime Andrew Ridgely.

“George would have been profoundly moved to be recognized in this way,” said an emotional Ridgely. “It would have been a moment of great pride.”

Special International Award winner Linda Perry, the 4 Non Blondes singer-turned-hit-writer for P!nk, Ariana Grande and more, was introduced by James Blunt (or “James Cucking Funt” as he jovially put it, in the foul-mouthed spirit of the day). Blunt told a story about being signed to Perry’s Custard Records label, “having been rejected by most of the record company executives in this room”, and playing a 30-minute South By Southwest showcase (“That’s ‘You’re Beautiful’ six times,” he quipped).

Perry responded in kind, telling Blunt “I got shit for that — ‘You’re responsible for James Blunt!’” But she soon got serious, thanking her mother for “fucking me up so badly as a child that I had no choice but to find self-expression.”

“I’m not looking for hits,” she concluded. “I’m looking for emotions.”

She’d come to the right place. There was so much going on that there was barely time to ponder where Outstanding Song Collection Lily Allen was (not even a video acceptance); or how this awards season’s all-conquering champion Olivia Dean, also not in attendance, managed to miss out.

But then this was a night to celebrate those in the room, and not those outside it – particularly those in the tech sector that might, in future, seek to deny the assembled creatives their moment in the sun.

But it will be a long time before AI can come up with anything as enjoyably anarchic as this evening. And, to that end, the final word must surely go to the new President of the Ivors Academy, Sir Elton John.

“Music is the greatest gift you can possibly be given,” he declared. “Don’t let people take it away from you — especially AI.”

The full list of The Ivors winners is below:

Best Album

“Euro-Country”

Written and performed by CMAT.

Music published in the UK by BMG Rights Management UK.

Best Contemporary Song

“I Stand on the Line”

Written by Fraser T Smith and Kae Tempest.

Performed by Kae Tempest.

Music published in the UK by Warner Chappell Music and Domino Publishing Company.

Best Song Musically and Lyrically

“Don’t Fall Asleep”

Written and performed by Jacob Alon.

Music published in the UK by Concord Music Publishing.

PRS for Music Most Performed Work

“Messy”

Written and performed by Lola Young.

Music published in the UK by Sony Music Publishing.

Best Original Film Score

“Testimony”

Composed by Tom Hodge.

Music published in the UK by Bucks Music Group Limited obo Rocliffe Limited and Underground

Films Commissioning Limited.

Best Television Soundtrack

“Trespasses”

Composed by David Holmes and Brian Irvine.

Music published in the UK by Kobalt Music Publishing and Sony Music Publishing obo All3Media.

Rising Star Award

Jacob Alon

Special International Award with Amazon Music

Linda Perry

International Songwriter of the Year

Rosalía

Outstanding Song Collection

Lily Allen

Visionary Award with Amazon Music

Kano

PRS for Music Icon Award

Calvin Harris

Songwriter of the Year with Amazon Music

Sam Fender

Academy Fellowship

George Michael

Thom Yorke