The 2024 Mercury Prize nominations are out: Charli xcx set to win amid a diverse lineup of musical innovation and talent

The Mercury Prize of 2024, offering a celebration of the most alternative and obscure best-selling albums across the UK and Ireland, has released its nominations for their top twelve ‘Albums of the Year’. With previous winners including artists such as Wolf Alice, Arlo Parks, and Little Simz, the Mercury Prize has the ability to catapult an artist into a higher realm of musical success. 

However, nominees for the Mercury Prize in 2024 do not shy away from including famous faces, with Charli xcx’s summer-inspiring and neon-green Brat making up one of the nominees. As far as predictions for the final award go, it would be unsurprising for Brat to achieve the famed prize, with reviewers from The Guardian praising Charli xcx’s ‘superb sixth album’ as acquiring ‘unique cult status’, resulting in a five-star rating from them. From an alternative perspective, this ‘cult status’ may be a hindrance for Charli xcx, with previous cult classic nominees, such as Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black, and Arctic Monkeys AM failing to win the Mercury Prize in its previous years, whilst holding similar acclaim.

From the vast scope of experience presented, it is clear that the Mercury Prize rewards those throughout their personal music career, and equally rewards experimentalism and notably alternative sounds

The Mercury Prize has equally shown prime representation for indie music, with the folky-feminine sound of The Last Dinner Party gaining a nomination for their album Prelude to Ecstasy. Including five female band members, The Last Dinner Party has gone from strength to strength in the music industry, with their ‘baroque sound’ and Renaissance imagery securing them the BRITs Rising Star Award. Similar representation of the indie genre has been met by the dreamy pop sound of English Teacher, and their album This Could Be Texas, an exciting achievement for the band’s personally regarded ‘ambitious’ debut album. The equally fun and fresh sound of CMAT has seen the Irish singer, formally known as Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, gain a nomination for her album CrazyMad, For Me. CMAT’s nomination, alongside the trendiness of Cat Burns and her nomination for her album early twenties, proves that solo women are dominating nominations and the British music scene alike.

Alternative nominees for the Mercury Prize include drum and bass newcomer, Nia Archives, whose debut album, Silence is Loud, offers an energetic follow-up to her smash-hit single ‘Baianá’. From a female newcomer to a female veteran, Beth Gibbons, the near-60 lead singer of the renowned band, and Mercury Prize winner, Portishead, has also been nominated, with her album Lives Ungrown offering a maturer exploration of ‘ageing and loss’. The equally renowned female veteran, Corinne Bailey Rae, has received a nomination for her album Black Rainbows. Whilst previously finding acclaim from her noughties smash-hit, ‘Put Your Records On’, Rae resuscitates her energetic soul roots with a modern twist in her recent album, gaining her second nomination for the album prize throughout her career. From the vast scope of experience presented, it is clear that the Mercury Prize rewards those throughout their personal music career, and equally rewards experimentalism and notably alternative sounds. 

It is clear that the breadth of nominees for the Mercury Prize is an apt representation of the diverse music scene throughout the UK and Ireland

It is hard to know the outcome of the Mercury Prize, which is set to be announced in September and exclusively broadcast on BBC Radio 6 Music. However, from the ‘blissed-out’, ‘unifying’ music of Barry Can’t Swim, to the political statements made by grime artist Ghetts, it is clear that the breadth of nominees for the Mercury Prize is an apt representation of the diverse music scene throughout the UK and Ireland. I, for one, am very excited to see who will win the acclaimed prize.