‘What is actually happening?!’: Barefoot Raye fights back tears as she scoops a record breaking six BRIT Awards – while Dua Lipa and Ellie Goulding give show-stopping performances 

Raye broke records at Saturday night’s BRIT Awards, winning six gongs during a star-studded ceremony at London’s O2 arena.

The singer/songwriter, 26,scooped the first gong presented on the night, Song of the Year for her hit Escapism ft 070 Shake, shortly before also taking home the R&B Act gong and Best New Artist.

She was in floods of tears as she later accepted Album Of The Year, Artist Of The Year and Songwriter of the Year, bringing her beloved grandmother on stage at one point.

The star now holds the record for the most BRITs won at a single ceremony, a record which previously stood at four, jointly held by Blur (1995), Adele (2016) and Harry Styles (2023). 

She had been nominated seven times – the most ever for a single artist in a year – but couldn’t possibly have won more than she did as she was shortlisted twice for song of the year – for Escapism, which won the title, and for Prada. 

As well as Raye’s huge successes, Dua Lipa won best pop act while Kylie Minogue – who had a massive comeback hit last year with Padam Padam – picked up the global icon award. 

‘I’m shaking. i don’t really know what to say right now, but… thank you. I’ve always dreamed of saying that,’ Raye said as the reached the podium to accept her first award of the night.

Accepting Best New Artist just minutes afterwards, the emotional star, a former pupil of the BRIT School in Croydon, told the crowd: ‘What is actually happening right now ’cause I just don’t understand!’

Raye’s recent success comes after she parted ways with her former label, Polydor, and released her critically acclaimed debut My 21st Century Blues as an independent artist. She referenced her new beginning in her Best New Artist Speech. 

‘I have to thank my mum and my dad who are also part of my team, and my grandma. Yes grandma! I, in ways, do feel like a new artist. I released my first song when I was 15, my first mixtape when I was 16, don’t go and listen to it because it’s not that good any more.’

‘But I do feel like a new artist, I got to start again. The artist I was three years ago would not believe what she’s seeing today. I’m my own boss now, I’m in control. Thank you!’

Born in Tooting to a Ghanaian-Swiss mother and English father, Raye began singing in the church choir. At the age of 14, she was accepted into the Brit School for performing arts, but dropped out after two years saying she felt ‘confined’.

She first found fame in 2016, aged 19, when she featured on Jax Jones’s You Don’t Know Me which peaked at No 3 on the UK singles chart.

But in 2021 she revealed that record label Polydor had refused to release any of her albums, despite having signed her seven years earlier. She took to Twitter to say : ‘I have been on a four album record deal since 2014. And haven’t been allowed to put out one album.’

She also scooped the first ever BRIT Award for R&B act, which is voted for by the public via Instagram and is a new standalone genre category after musicians and fans complained about R&B being conjoined with the pop  last year.

Raye acknowledged the the uproar in her speech, telling the crowd: ‘Look I just wanna say, when I was about 16, 15 years old, I wanted to be an R&B artist, that’s what I would say.

‘And I was told, I think, a lie that R&B doesn’t sell in the UK so I needed to learn how to make different kinds of music.’

‘I know that’s a bit shady but I need to say R&B is so important and there are so many R&B artists in the UK eating it up. I wanna shout out to Mahalia, who campaigned for this award, Cleo Sol, who’s immaculate, Sault. This really is a lot – thank you.’

Raye also won Songwriter of the Year, which was announced ahead of the live ceremony, with host Clara Amfo handing her the gong in a surprise moment after her Best New Artist win. 

Radio 1 DJ Clara told the crowd how she gave Raye her first radio play back when she was a teenager. ‘Brit awards coming like buses, you wait for one and three come along!’ she gushed of her friend as a speechless Raye clutched her gongs.

The artist then gave an impassioned plea to the music industry, taking the mic to declare: ‘Whilst I’m here, British record music industry please, I just wanna have a brief conversation about normalising giving songwriters master royalty points.

‘It can be net costs, it doesn’t have to be at your expense, but it means if songs win big the writers win big too. Please allow that to happen.’

Later in the evening the star scooped one of the night’s top prizes – Artist Of The Year. 

The non-gendered Artist Of The Year Award sparked outrage last year, after it replaced individual Male and Female categories, but then failed to include any female or non-binary artists among its five nominations.

This year however, thanks in part to the category being doubled in size, there were six female nominees out of the 10, including Raye.

Arlo Parks, Jessie Ware, Lil Simz, Olivia Sims and Dua Lipa made up the female nominees, while Central Cee, Dave, J. Hus and Fred Again… were also nominated.

‘There are so many ridiculously incredible artists here tonight, so this is especially overwhelming,’ Raye told the crowd after her fifth win. Man, what is happening? What the hell is happening? Shoutout Croydon! South London! What! Shoutout my team! My sisters! My best friend Carly, I love you so much Carly, don’t start me off!’

‘Thank you, this is unfair, this is unfair, this is wild. Somebody take this mic off me, I’ve had my first drink. Thank you to the Brits, thank you so much!’

Raye bought her grandmother Agatha Dawson-Amoah on stage as she won Album Of The Year, which was presented to her by her BRIT School headteacher Stuart Warden, who she had earlier given a shout out to. 

‘You just don’t understand what this means to me!’ she sobbed. ‘I wanna thank my grandma for her prayers. My grandma is awake til 3am praying for me and my beautiful sisters, I love you so much.’

‘My middle name is Agatha and her name is Agatha Dawson! I’m ugly crying on national television. I’m so proud of this album, I’m in love with music, all I ever wanted to be was an artist and now I’m artist with an album of the year! Thank you so much to the Brits, this is too much, this is too much, really it is. Come on grandma, let’s go!’

The star of the night also took to the stage to perform a trio of hits – Ice Cream Man on piano, an orchestral version of Prada before ending with Escapism.

Raye has previously told how she was assaulted by a music producer – an experience she drew upon for the album track Ice Cream Man. 

A record 98 artists were up for the new 2024 BRIT award, which has been designed by British visual artist and painter Rachel Jones.

The only men to get accolades were Calvin Harris for dance act; Sheffield quartet Bring Me The Horizon in the alternative/rock category; Casisdead for best hip-hop, grime or rap act; and duo Jungle for group of the year. 

The second gong of the night went to Jungle for Group of the Year. Meanwhile Bring Me The Horizon got another early win for  for Alternative/Rock Act while Sza won International Artist of the Year.

It is the first BRIT for Bring Me The Horizon, who were left shocked by the win. 

Oli Sykes told the crowd: ‘I don’t know what to say ’cause we didn’t think we’d be winning this at all. Cheers to the Brits for making the voting system so complicated only our fans could be arsed.’

Hip Hop/Grime/Rap Act went to Casisdead and Calvin Harris picked up the Best Dance Act gong, which follows the success of his hit collaboration with Ellie Goulding, Miracle spending eight weeks at number one last year.

Calvin shouted out Ellie in his speech, telling her: ‘I wouldn’t be on this stage this year if it wasn’t for you. What you brought to Miracle was unbelievable, I couldn’t have done this with anybody else.’

Dua Lipa picked up the fan-voted Pop Act gong, gushing to her fans: ‘I guess for more reasons than one my fans are the reasons why I’m standing here today, so I wanna say a massive thank you to each and every single one of you who have voted for me.’

‘This means so much, I’m so, so happy to be here. You guys give me this radical sense of confidence that I can do anything, I can try and experiment … and all the love and optimism and support is what inspires me, so thank you so much. Beyond that, it takes a village, so I want to thank my dad-ager.’

International group went to Boygenius, the supergroup comprised of Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus.

The Producer category was won by Chase and Status shortly before taking to the stage with Becky Hill.

Will Kennard told the crowd: ‘We’re proud to represent British music, to champion new talent always, but mostly tonight we are proud to represent drum’n’bass music.’

Miley Cyrus was a notable absentee on the night, sending her thanks for her International Song win for her smash hit Flowers in a video message.

‘Hello to everybody at the Brits. I wanted to say thank you so much for voting Flowers as the international song of the year, and a special thank you for giving me somewhere to wear this dress, she said, showing off her minuscule gold number.

‘It’s incredible to win but the real prize is having this incredible song hit around the world. I know this video is a little short but I just wanted it to match my dress.’ 

Dua Lipa and Ellie Goulding pulled out all the stops as they led the performances for the 2024 BRIT Awards at the 02 Arena on Saturday night. 

Double nominee Dua, 28, opened the ceremony with her new song Training Season from her upcoming her third studio album. 

The songstress looked incredible in an all leather look while Ellie, 37, stormed the stage just a week after announcing the end of her marriage. 

Dua flashed her abs in a black bra which she teamed with hotpants, a biker jacket and heeled boots. 

Flanked by a group of backing dancers, Dua appeared in her element as she worked the crowd for hosts Maya Jama, Roman Kemp and Clara Amfo.  

At one point she was lifted off her feet as her clan of dancers worked the floor below her.  

And it was a poignant moment for Ellie as she also hit the stage after a turbulent few weeks. 

The singer announced last week her four-year marriage to Caspar Jopling, 31, had ended after she was pictured cosying up to hunky surf instructor Arrmando Perez. 

But music was solely the focus for Ellie on Saturday night as she took to the stage with Calvin Harris to perform Miracle which won Best Song Of The Year. 

The songstress stunned in a white ruffled bodysuit and thigh-high leggings which showed off her gym-honed physique.  

The pair previously collaborated on the dance-pop anthems ‘I Need Your Love’ in 2012 and ‘Outside’ in 2014. 

The evening ended with Dua Lipa presenting Kylie with the Global Icon Award, leading into the Aussie popstar’s finale performance.

‘Alright I’m just gonna be sobbing with Raye, you did that!’ an emotional Kylie said as she took to the stage.

‘You did that. Brits, thank you so much. I really tried to think hard about what to say tonight but I knew I couldn’t plan anything and I knew it’d be just about the emotion.’

‘For some of you it’s been a lifetime – 36 years and counting of experiences together and the thing that really gets me is the love of music and connection with people … I have friends in this room that I’ve worked with through the years.’

‘My team now, thank you so much. There’s a part of me that’s still the 14-year-old girl in her room dreaming of making it in this industry and I met some of the Brits students before and I feel your promise … here I am with this and anything’s possible.’

‘Thank you to each and every person who’s been part of my journey, you have my heart forever and always, thank you so much’

The pop superstar then took to the stage for a medley of her greatest hits including her recent chart smash Padam Padam, Can’t Get You Out Of My Head, Slow and Love At First Sight.