Looks like Brat Summer isn’t going away any time soon. After stellar success with her album Brat in 2024 – her global breakout despite being her sixth – the Charli xcx victory lap shows no sign of slowing down with the star now bagging perhaps the most highly sought-after prize in music.
Last night saw xcx (aka Charlotte Emma Aitchison) win the award for Songwriter of the Year at the highly prestigious Ivor Novello awards – a category that has no nominations but features just one artist plucked from the year by The Ivors Academy and bestowed the honour that every songwriter dreams of winning.
Each year, the Ivor Novello Awards celebrate songwriting composition for music and screen, frequently highlighting the incredible work by big-name artists who may not have pierced the public psyche or equally back-slapping some of the biggest and most successful names in pop and rock for lifelong contributions and catalogues of classics.
Xcx’s win, therefore, marks something of a watershed with such a high-profile and aggressively pop writer and performer bagging the sombre and serious award being somewhat of a rarity.
It’s a fact that didn’t escape xcx on the night either: "I wanna dance to me, me, me. When I go to the club, club, club…” she said, quoting lyrics from Brat’s Club Classics. “I'm sure you all agree, I am hardly Bob Dylan… But one thing I certainly do is commit to the bit.”
“Please don’t kill me for saying this, but I have never particularly believed that the idea of ‘everything starts from a great song’ is the real idea,” she told the Ivors audience.
“I’m sorry. I know that’s like, really not good for this room, but it’s just, it’s not my belief.
"In my head, a great song alone has never actually been enough to captivate an audience, but instead, a song with a distinct identity coupled with a point of view, a potent culture surrounding it, and above all, conviction is what can catapult a songwriter from being technically good to globally renowned.”
Given that xcx took home a total of five Brit awards in March (being the second-highest number of wins in one night, bested only by Raye who took six the year earlier) and scooped three Grammys in February, adding an Ivor Novello to the haul should come as no surprise.
Brat bested by Berwyn
Her album Brat was also in the running for Best Album but was beaten by Berwyn’s Who Am I. His debut mixtape Demotape/Vega was nominated for the Mercury prize back in 2021, and Who Am I, his debut album, features collaborations with Fred Again, Blondshell, Monolake, Car Seat Headrest, Model/Actriz, and Samantha Crain.
Likewise pop got beaten into second place in the Best Contemporary Song category, with the award going to the little known Circumnavigating Georgia by Sans Soucis (a track with 681 views on YouTube, at the time of writing), beating, among nominees, Jade’s pop smash Angel of My Dreams (13 million views).
Elsewhere, Myles Smith took the award for most performed song for his ubiquitous streaming hit, Stargazing, beating a 40-year-old ‘late entry’ for George Michael and Wham!’s Last Christmas which was also nominated.
This year’s Icon award was given to Robbie Williams in the week he announced his latest album (and a collaboration with Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath). Self Esteem bagged the Visionary Award following the release of her third studio album A Complicated Woman. The Special International Award was given to Brandon Flowers from The Killers.
Prior to the show was the announcement that U2 would be the latest songwriters to become Academy Fellows, the greatest accolade bestowed by The Ivors Academy, “in recognition of their enduring influence and impact on the craft of songwriting”. Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. are the first Irish songwriters that the Academy has inducted into Fellowship in its 81-year history.
Here are those 2025 Ivor Novello winners in full:
• Best Album: Who Am I, written and performed by Berwyn
• Best Contemporary Song: Circumnavigating Georgia, written and performed by Sans Soucis
• Best Song Musically and Lyrically: Mine, written and performed by Orla Gartland
• Most Performed Work: Stargazing, written by Peter Fenn, Jesse Fink and Myles Smith, and performed by Myles Smith
• Rising Star Award: Lola Young
• Best Original Film Score: The Substance, composed by Raffertie
• Best Original Video Game Score: Farewell North, composed by John Konsolakis
• Best Television Soundtrack: True Detective: Night Country, composed by Vince Pope
• Academy Fellowship: Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr for U2
• Outstanding Song Collection: Kele Okereke, Russell Lissack, Gordon Moakes and Matt Tong for Bloc Party
• Icon Award: Robbie Williams
• Songwriter of the Year: Charli xcx
• Special International Award: Brandon Flowers
• Visionary Award: Self Esteem
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