UK in a Changing Europe is a project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and is based at King’s College London. It has as its remit the promotion of ‘rigorous,
high-quality and independent research into the complex and ever changing
relationship between the UK and the European Union’. To that end, I was invited
to write a piece about last night’s Brit Awards. The text to is as follows:
That dress. In an echo
of Geri Halliwell’s iconic Union Flag outfit, worn at the height of the Britpop
era, Dua Lipa took to the stage at the Brit Awards last night wrapped in a
European Union flag.
Or did she? It is a measure of the
British music industry’s ambivalence towards Europe that nobody is quite sure.
According to the Daily Express, it ‘seemed she was making a Brexit reference’. The paper added, ‘Many thought the
sartorial choice could have been a political one – even if accidental’. The
Twittersphere is divided. Some people are asking where they can buy similar EU
outfits to wear on 29 March. Others are pondering if a European reference was
being made. Dua Lipa, born in London to Kosovan-Albanian parents, has made no comment.
And nor have the other winners at
the ceremony. The Brit Awards can be a forum for politics. Tony Blair attended
in 1996, ahead of his election as prime minister, and received a ringing
endorsement from Oasis. Labour came out less well in 1998, when the punk group
Chumbawamba threw a bucket of ice water over deputy prime minister John
Prescott. In 2014 Davie Bowie urged Scottish voters to remain a part of the
United Kingdom. Last year’s ceremony was replete with references to the #MeToo
movement. Brexit appears to be a trickier prospect. The subject was not
broached in any of the acceptance speeches last night.
It is tempting to say that this is
because this year’s ceremony was dominated by pop. There has long been a divide
at the Brit Awards. When pop artists win they keenly take to the stage and
thank the industry people behind them. They do not talk about party politics. When
edgier, leftfield artists win they shamble forwards and can make provocative
pronouncements. However, when the Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn attempted to
do this about Brexit in 2018, he ended up being just as vague as Dua Lipa’s
dress:
This country, believe it or not, is quite a small little thing, right.
It’s a lovely place and it’s part of a beautiful world. What I want to say is
don’t let it become isolated. Don’t let yourself become cut-off, you know.
Considering our size we do incredible things in music. You know what I mean,
we’ve got a real spirit and a real soul. And don’t let politics get in the way
of all that shit, right.
What is it that makes
Brexit so hard to discuss openly at this ceremony? Some artists have pronounced
upon the subject elsewhere. Annie Lennox and Paloma Faith (both Brit Award
winners) are among the signatories to a letter calling for an alternative
solution to Theresa May’s policies. It states:
In the Post-Brexit UK, there
is a clear risk that reaching consumers and fans will be more expensive, and
international markets will be harder to access. Live events will run the danger
of being delayed or even cancelled, which would undermine the financial and
cultural benefits that this vibrant sector brings to UK PLC.
This is not the sort of analysis that would go
down well at an awards ceremony. It talks about economics and what the British
music industry can get from the Continent. It does not speak of a cultural
embrace.
And
therein lies the problem. The reason why it is difficult for UK artists to talk
about Europe at the Brit Awards is because the ceremony – from its name through
to its most iconic dress – is all about celebrating the home countries. It does
offer international awards, but these are given to American artists who fail to
turn up. In its entire history the Brits has never awarded an artist from the
Continent.
The
one explicit reference made to Brexit last night is telling. Introducing the
international trophies, the host Jack Whitehall commented, ‘As you all
know Britain is a very outgoing country, which loves the rest of the world.
Well, not Europe, but the rest of it’. And maybe this points to a reason why
52% of the British public chose to leave the EU in the 2016 referendum.
Political decisions are regularly informed by cultural preferences. Britain has
rarely voted for European pop.
