The Ivors Academy has unveiled the nominations across seven categories for this year’s Ivors with Apple Music.
This is the 65th year for the Ivor Novello Awards. While the ceremony is unable to go ahead on September 2 because of Covid-19, the announcement of the winners will be made on Beats 1 by Matt Wilkinson.
Thirty-five individual writers are recognised, including Stormzy, Dave, Kate Tempest, J Hus, Sam Smith, Mica Levi, Jamie Cullum, Sam Fender and Little Simz. Apple Music is also backing the new Rising Star Award. You can see the full list of nominees below.
“I think it’s a good line-up,” said Ivors Academy CEO Graham Davies. “We’ve got a good number of first-time nominees. What probably sticks out the most is the importance of the lyric, as spoken word and rap continues on from last year [in being represented]. The Ivors is at the forefront of recognising trends, and that’s an important one.”
Davies noted the “incredibly powerful songwriting team” of Dave and Fraser T Smith, who won Best Contemporary Song for Question Time in 2018. The rapper and producer are nominated in the same category this time for Dave’s Black, which they performed together at the BRITs.
This year the Ivors Academy has revised the rules for who is recognised in terms of the songwriting. Because of the rise of co-writing, the threshold for a writer’s share of a song that will be recognised as part of a nomination has been reduced by a couple of percentage points to 10%.
While that rule change may have had little direct impact on who’s been recognised this time, Davies said the Ivors Academy has responded to the increase in co-writing. Music Week research has found that it takes an average of 5.34 writers to come up with a hit.
“We made a change this year to reduce the amount of percentage contribution that will get a credit,” said Davies. “That’s partly because we need to recognise as much diversity as we can, but also the number of co-writers [on a song] has gone up a lot over the last year.”
Sam Fender is a rare nominee this year who writes his own songs.
“The songwriter that is either doing the majority, or all of the writing, is notable,” said Davies. “I think that gets a lot of respect. I’m not saying that it’s necessarily better or worse, but it’s good to see that some writers are able to bring forward something that's entirely their own.”
Fender’s a first-time nominee, along with Little Simz, Kate Tempest, Jamie Cullum and MJ Cole.
“The judges look for [songwriting] that is important and inspirational, which is always going to be a mix of the commercial and the less commercial,” said Davies. “But they are all equally important. Hopefully, the awards stimulate interest and attention on music that is creatively important.”
The awards stimulate interest and attention on music that is creatively important
Graham Davies
Davies recognised the “incredibly vibrant” film and TV music sector, thanks to the rise of streaming platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video along with Sky. But he raised concerns about enforced buyouts of work by composers.
“We are pushing back on the some of the coercive commissioning terms that that music for screen composers are facing,” said Davies. “While it's a boom time for the screen, it's not necessarily a boom time for the composers writing the scores.”
The 2020 Ivors nominations recognise works written by British and Irish songwriters and composers (a minimum of a third of a song must be credited to UK/Irish talent) that were released in the UK in 2019. The Academy held a public call for entries earlier in the year and judging across all categories took place before lockdown restrictions were imposed.
Each category is judged by a separate panel of music creators, except for PRS for Music Most Performed Work, which is based on performance data from PRS for Music. Over 40 award winning songwriters and composers were involved as judges, including past Ivor winners and nominees.
Crispin Hunt, chair of The Ivors Academy, said: “Our judges have recognised extraordinary works that reflect on all aspects of the human experience and demonstrate the power and importance of music, in all its forms. Everything begins with the creativity of the songwriter or composer, and this is the building block on which our industry rests. That is why these awards are so important because they celebrate this craft and talent. It is also fantastic to see nearly half of those recognised today nominated for an Ivor Novello Award for the very first time. Congratulations to everyone.”
The Ivors 2020 Nominations
Best Album
Ghosteen - Written by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis
Performed by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Published in the UK by Kobalt Music Publishing.
Grey Area - Written by Inflo and Little Simz
Performed by Little Simz. Published in the UK by Universal Music Publishing.
The Book of Traps and Lessons - Written by Dan Carey and Kate Tempest
Performed by Kate Tempest. Published in the UK by Warner Chappell Music and Domino Publishing Company.
Best Contemporary Song
Black - Written by Dave and Fraser T Smith
Performed by Dave. Published in the UK by Warner Chappell Music and Kobalt Music Publishing.
Firesmoke - Written by Dan Carey and Kate Tempest
Performed by Kate Tempest. Published in the UK by Warner Chappell Music and Domino Publishing Company.
Must Be - Written by JAE5 and J Hus
Performed by J Hus. Published in the UK by Black Butter Music Publishing – Kobalt Music Publishing and Warner Chappell Music.
Best Original Film Score
For Sama - Composed by Nainita Desai
Published in the UK by Manners McDade Music Publishing.
Midsommar - Composed by Bobby Krlic
Published in the UK by Kobalt Music Publishing.
Monos - Composed by Mica Levi
Published in the UK by Beggars Music.
Best Original Video Game Score
Arise: A Simple Story - Composed by David Garcia Diaz
Draugen - Composed by Simon Poole
Lost Ember - Composed by Dorian Behner, John Broomhall and Will Morton
Best Song Musically and Lyrically
Age of Anxiety- Written and performed by Jamie Cullum
Published in the UK by Sentric Music Ltd.
Crown - Written by MJ Cole, Jimmy Napes and Stormzy
Performed by Stormzy. Published in the UK by Warner Chappell Music and Downtown Music Publishing.
Dead Boys - Written and performed by Sam Fender
Published in the UK by Kobalt Music Publishing.
Best Television Soundtrack
Euphoria - Composed by Labrinth
Published in the UK by Universal Music Publishing.
Rise of the Nazis - Composed by Tom Hodge
Published in the UK by BBC Studios Distribution Limited obo 72 Films Limited – Universal Music Publishing and Leland Originals Publishing – Decca Publishing.
The Crown (Series 3) - Composed by Martin Phipps
Published in the UK by Du Vinage Publishing and Sony/ATV Music Publishing.
PRS for Music Most Performed Work
Dancing with a Stranger - Written by Mikkel Eriksen, Tor Erik Hermansen, Jimmy Napes and Sam Smith
Performed by Sam Smith and Normani. Published in the UK by EMI Music Publishing, Downtown Music Publishing, Stellar Songs - EMI Music Publishing and Naughty Words - Sony/ATV Music Publishing.
Giant - Written by Calvin Harris, Jamie Hartman, Rag‘N’Bone Man and Troy Miller
Performed by Calvin Harris and Rag ‘n’ Bone Man. Published in the UK by EMI Music Publishing, Reservoir Reverb Music, Warner Chappell Music and Bucks Music Group.
Hold Me While You Wait - Written by Lewis Capaldi, Jamie N Commons and Jamie Hartman
Performed by Lewis Capaldi. Published in the UK by BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing and Reservoir Reverb Music.
Previously announced are the nominees for the new Rising Star Award with Apple Music: Amahla, Carmel Smickersgill, Griff, lullahush and Mysie.
Recipients of Songwriter of the Year 2019 and the Academy Fellowship will be announced along with winners across all nominated categories on Apple Music’s Beats 1 Radio from 11am on the Matt Wilkinson Show on Wednesday, September 2, 2020.
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