Beth Ray Writes

It’s officially BRITs weekend and it’s the first time the awards show is taking place in Manchester at the brand new Co-Op Live venue so I’m expecting for this years show to be a spectacular arrival to the city.
I’m expecting big performances, lots of glitz and maybe a little drama. Last year we had great performances from JADE, Sabrina Carpenter, Ezra Collective, The Last Dinner Party, Teddy Swims and Lola Young and it looks like this year will be just as excellent. So here are the BRITs 2026 performers, let’s discuss who is performing, what songs they might be choosing to perform and what to expect!

Harry Styles

Harry Styles has been announced as the show’s opener and I can’t think of a better way of starting the event. Harry has been away from the spotlight the past year whilst he’s recorded his new album “Kiss all the time. Disco, occasionally.” which is out on March 6th. Fans will be wanting to know what to expect for this new era for Harry and so the performance will certainly be a glimpse of what is to come from his upcoming tour later this summer. I’m hoping for maybe a dance routine like the one we see in the Aperture music video? Some wild costumes? I’m expecting it to be one of the best performances of the evening so no pressure for Harry.

Rosalía

Rosalía is probably the artist I’m most excited to watch this year. Her latest album, Lux, is magical and had completely captured my attention as I’ve never really listened to her music before then. Since hearing the album I’ve been obsessed with the Catalan singer and how she’s made an album like no other with it’s classical style and by singing in 14 languages as one of the few reasons for my obsession. I’m happy the BRITs have selected her to perform so hopefully more people can discover her as I’m sure she’s only going to be around for longer. If you want to know more about the superstar singer I’d definitely recommend watching her Apple Music interview with Zane Lowe. I’m thinking she’ll put on a big performance, with an orchestra and big visuals or it could be a stripped down acoustic performance – both options will probably make me want to open Duolingo and practice my Catalan and Spanish so I can singalong.

Olivia Dean

Olivia Dean is soaring, following the release of her second album “The Art of Loving” last September her popularity is growing and deservingly so. Her performances are always mesmerising and she’s definitely going to be one of the highlights of the night. I’m looking forward to seeing which song she’s going to choose to perform, I’d love it to be “Nice to Each Other” but it could be “Man I Need” with it having more plays.

Wolf Alice

Wolf Alice are one of my favourite indie bands and it’s been wonderful to see them having a great year following their fourth album “The Clearing” going straight to number 1 when it was released. We’re going to see amazing vocals, a cool set and a great performance much like the one we saw at Glastonbury last year.

Alex Warren

Alex Warren will also be performing tonight. He released his latest single “Fever Dream” yesterday (the music video is fun – look out for the celebrity cameo) so I’m hoping he’ll perform this song tonight although it’s probably more likely he’ll perform his smash hit “Ordinary”. His song is up for “International song of the year” so it’ll be exciting to see if he wins.

Mark Ronson

Mark Ronson is being honoured at the BRITs this year for “Outstanding contribution to music” so I’m really hoping his performance this evening will showcase a medley of his hits with hopefully a few surprise performers to join him onstage this evening… He’s collaborated with everyone from RAYE to Miley Cyrus, to Florence and Dua Lipa. I’ll be wishing for at least one appearance from someone.

RAYE

Talking of Mark Ronson, one of his collaborators has been the wonderful RAYE. It wouldn’t be a RAYE performance without her amazing big band, trumpets, singers, trombones, strings, percussionist there will be a hell of a lot of performers onstage with her and I’m hoping she’ll perform “Where is my husband!” as I love how much this song showcases not only RAYE but her band too. RAYE performed at the Co-Op Live arena a few weeks ago so she’ll be familiar with how she can really have her performance shine in this new arena.

sombr

sombr is up for two awards tonight, international artist of the year and international song of the year. It’ll be interesting to see which song he’ll perform, if it’ll be the popular disco inspired hit “12 to 12” or his latest single “homewrecker”. Either way both songs will certainly get him on the radars of many music fans who haven’t yet heard his music.

EJAE, Audrey Nuna and REI AMI aka HUNTR/X from K-Pop Demon Hunters

I’ll admit I’m one of the few who haven’t watched K-Pop Demon Hunters so my knowledge of HUNTR/X is minimal but I recognise it’s been huge worldwide so I really should know more! The song is up for “International Song of The Year” so the band could win their first BRIT award this year. I’m looking forward to seeing them perform this evening as their performance at the BAFTA’s was amazing but a little reserved, so I’m wondering if they’ll put on a bigger theatrical performance for the BRITs?

Make sure to let me know who you are hoping to watch at the BRITs this year and after the ceremony let me know whose performance you liked best!