BMI Congratulates its 2023 Nominees for The Ivors with Amazon Music
The Ivors has announced their list of nominations for this year’s coveted awards show, and BMI is very pleased to congratulate our writers who are included in every single category for 2023! Representing the most impactful accomplishments in songwriting and composing, the prestigious awards are presented to music creators by their peers from within the United Kingdom.
It was also announced that BMI London’s 2016 Icon, Sting, will become the latest songwriter to become an Academy Fellow - the highest honor the Ivors Academy bestows. On being announced, Sting stated, “Of all the awards in the world of music, The Ivors are for me, the most prestigious. Songwriting is a skilled craft, and The Ivors Academy are its guild. So, I am delighted and honoured to be offered this Fellowship of the Academy, joining and acknowledging this extraordinary group of fellow songwriters, and all of those who went before us.” To commemorate Sting’s fellowship, Amazon Music has shared an exclusive demo of Sting’s track ‘If It’s Love’ off his latest album, The Bridge – offering a rare insight into the creative process of one of the world’s most eminent songwriters. Stream the demo here.
This year, 72 individual songwriters and composers have received Ivor Novello nominations, with 54% of these receiving a nomination for the very first-time including venbee, who is up for the Rising Star Award with Amazon Music, which has championed Britain and Ireland’s most promising songwriting talents with previous winners including Willow Kayne and Naomi Kimpenu. Singer/songwriter venbee recently graced the BMI Brunch stage at SXSW in March 2023, which you can read more about here.
BMI London’s 2021 Champion Award recipient, Dean “Inflo” Josiah Cover, is one of this year’s most nominated songwriters, with two nominations in the Best Album Category and one for Best Song Musically and Lyrically. One of those albums, No Thank You, was cowritten alongside Little Simz who won the 2022 Mercury Prize Album of The Year Award for Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, which was also executive produced by Inflo.
In the Most Performed Work category, Ed Sheeran makes history as ‘Bad Habits’ is once again nominated after winning the award last year. He is the first ever artist to achieve the feat in this category, with his track ‘Shivers’ also nominated, cowritten with Kal Lavelle and Johnny McDaid.
The prestigious Songwriter of the Year with Amazon Music recognizes British or Irish songwriters or songwriting partnerships for outstanding bodies of commercially successful songs released in 2022. This year’s nominees are both from GRAMMY winning bands - George Daniel and Matty Healy (The 1975) and Rhian Teasdale* and Hester Chambers* (Wet Leg). Both are responsible for countless UK #1 releases combined.
Notably, Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill’ is nominated 37 years after the track was originally released for Best Contemporary Song, following a sync on the hit Netflix series Stranger Things. Other nods to past BMI Award-winning family include RAYE for her international smash hit ‘Escapism’ that was cowritten with 070 Shake and Mike Sabath, Jack Antonoff for pop-rock single ‘King,’ Tyler Johnson for the catchy record ‘As It Was’ and P2J for the emotional love song ‘Hide & Seek.’
The Ivors also importantly recognizes Britain and Ireland’s finest composers across film, TV and video games. The Best Original Video Game Score category sees Oleksa Lozowchuk nominated for his work on Horizon Forbidden West and Gareth Coker for Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope. Coker originally joined the BMI family after he received the BMI London/Royal Academy of Music Student Bursary Award back in 2006.
The winners will be revealed at The Ivors with Amazon Music at Grosvenor House in London on Thursday, May 18th, 2023. There will also be awards presented for the Outstanding Song Collection, Special International Award, Visionary Award with Amazon Music and Icon Award.
Congratulations to all the BMI family who were nominated!
BEST ALBUM
NO THANK YOU
written by Dean “Inflo” Josiah Cover, and Little Simz
performed by Little Simz
11
written by Dean “Inflo” Josiah Cover, Jamar McNaughton*, and Jack Peñate*
performed by SAULT (Inflo & Cleo Sol)
SKINTY FIA
written by Grian Chatten*, Thomas Coll*, Conor Curley*, Conor Deegan* and Carlos O’Connell*
performed by Fontaines D.C.
BEST CONTEMPORARY SONG
ESCAPISM
written by 070 Shake, RAYE and Mike Sabath
performed by RAYE & 070 Shake
HIDE & SEEK
written by P2J
performed by Stormzy
COLD SUMMER
written by Wesley Joseph*
performed by Wesley Joseph
PAYBACK
written by Kojey Radical* and Swindle*
performed by Kojey Radical feat. Knucks
BEST ORIGINAL FILM SCORE
MRS. HARRIS GOES TO PARIS
composed by Rael Jones*
BEST ORIGINAL VIDEO GAME SCORE
MARIO + RABBIDS SPARKS OF HOPE
composed by Gareth Coker
HORIZON FORBIDDEN WEST
composed by Oleksa Lozowchuk and The Flight*
GOTHAM KNIGHTS
composed by The Flight*
BEST SONG MUSICALLY AND LYRICALLY
AS IT WAS
written by Tyler Johnson
performed by Harry Styles
KING
written by Jack Antonoff
performed by Florence + The Machine
STRONGER
written by Dean “Inflo” Josiah Cover
performed by SAULT (Inflo & Cleo Sol)
BEST TELEVISION SOUNDTRACK
THE RESPONDER
composed by Matthew Herbert*
THE THIEF, HIS WIFE AND THE CANOE
composed by Harry Escott* and Ben Pearson*
PRS FOR MUSIC MOST PERFORMED WORK
AS IT WAS
written by Tyler Johnson
performed by Harry Styles
BAD HABITS
written by Johnny McDaid and Ed Sheeran
performed by Ed Sheeran
RUNNING UP THAT HILL
written by Kate Bush*
performed by Kate Bush
SHIVERS
written by Johnny McDaid, Kal Lavelle, and Ed Sheeran
performed by Ed Sheeran
RISING STAR AWARD WITH AMAZON MUSIC
venbee
Cat Burns*
Ines Dunn*
tendai*
SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR WITH AMAZON MUSIC
George Daniel and Matty Healy
Rhian Teasdale* and Hester Chambers*
*Licensing via BMI in the US.
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