Beth Ray Writes

Last month the shortlist for the Mercury Prize was announced, celebrating the 12 best ‘Albums of the Year’ according to this years judges. So I wanted to talk about those who have been nominated and to explain what the Mercury Prize is and why it is important.

So what is the Mercury Prize? According to their website :

“The Mercury Prize promotes the best of UK and Irish music and the artists who produce it. This is done through the celebration of the 12 ‘Albums of the Year’, recognising artistic achievement across a range of contemporary music genres.”

It adds: “It is the music equivalent to the Booker Prize for literature and the Turner Prize for art. The main objectives of the Prize are to recognise and celebrate artistic achievement, provide a snapshot of the year in music and to help introduce new albums from a range of music genres to a wider audience.“

For me personally, the Mercury Prize is my way of finding new artists and albums to enjoy that I haven’t yet discovered. Last years winners Ezra Collective were quickly added to my Spotify playlists after hearing their winning album. Previous lists have introduced me to Yard Act (nominated in 2022), Wolf Alice (2018 who won for their album “Visions of Life”) and Sampha (who won in 2017 with their album Process) to name a few. It’s not just the winners I notice, I always try to listen to as many of the artists shortlisted as I always think every year there are so many great albums it must be hard to decide on only one. This year is no different, it’s been a great year for new music. Let’s have a look at the list below:

The Mercury Prize 2024 Shortlist:

Barry Can’t Swim – When Will We Land?

Berwyn – Who Am I

Beth Gibbons – Lives Outgrown

Cat Burns – Early Twenties

Charli XCX – Brat

CMAT – Crazymad, For Me

Corinne Bailey Rae – Black Rainbows

Corto.alto – Bad With Names

English Teacher – This Could Be Texas

Ghetts – On Purpose, With Purpose

Nia Archives – Silence Is Loud

The Last Dinner Party – Prelude To Ecstasy

I’ve already written about two of the albums on the list, most recently Cat Burn’s ‘early twenties‘ and English Teacher’s ‘This Could Be Texas‘ with one of my very first posts mentioning how I’d recently discovered the new and upcoming band The Last Dinner Party.

There are so many great albums on this years shortlist for me to to write about, Nia Archives debut album “Silence is Loud” had great reviews from Pitchfork and NME when it was released back in April this year. Irish singer CMAT also received raving reviews for second album “Crazymad, For Me” back in October from The Guardian and The Line Of Best Fit with the latter giving it a 9/10 review.

I think the album who most readers will be familiar with will be Charli XCX’s sixth studio album ‘brat’ which has created it’s own pop culture moment with it’s album promotion. Everyone is talking about a brat summer, with it even being discussed on ITV’s This Morning, Jeremy Vine’s BBC Radio 2 programme and entertainment podcast “The Rest Is Entertainment“. Brat has really broken into the mainstream media. Her latest collaboration with Billie Eilish on song ‘Guess’ which was released on Friday has fans going crazy with what an insanely good song it is. I have to admit, Charli XCX is breaking boundaries and really come into her own sound with this album and has worked so hard with the promo for this album it won’t be a surprise if she’s a favourite to win the prize. However don’t assume just because the album has more coverage it automatically means it’s going to win. For me I think the Mercury Prize judges do a good job with choosing the winner and it’s not always a fan favourite (in 2022 Harry Style’s “Harry’s House” lost to Little Simz) rather them choosing the album with the best quality of music.

I’m not sure if I was a judge who i’d vote for my winner as quite a few of these albums i’ve been really impressed with, I think between English Teacher, Charli XCX, Nia Archives, CMAT, Cat Burns and Barry Can’t Swim… ok I find it really hard to choose so I’d make a terrible judge.

I’ve linked some of the artists below, I know i’ve not discussed not even half of the artists shortlisted but if I do it with all of them what fun are you going to have if you can’t discover these artists for yourself?
Have fun listening to the artists and make sure to let me know who you hope to win this year’s Mercury Prize. The winner will be announced in September so make sure to stay tuned for my reaction.


Thanks for reading,

Beth x