Michael Kiwanuka’s third album, Kiwanuka, is the 2020 recipient of the Hyundai Mercury Prize for album of the year. Radio 1’s Annie Mac revealed the winner live on The One Show on BBC One on Thursday (Sept. 24).
Kiwanuka’s album edged out such hits as Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia and Charli XCX’s How I’m Feeling Now. The award honors the best British albums released between July 20, 2019 and July 17, 2020.
The album reached No. 2 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart, but stalled at No. 142 on the Billboard 200. Critics have responded warmly to the album. On the review aggregator site Metacritic.com, Kiwanuka has a solid score of 89.
{“nid”:”9439523″,”type”:”post”,”title”:”Fan Army Face-Off 2020: Whose Army Is The Strongest?”,”relative_path”:”\/articles\/events\/fan-army\/9439523\/fan-army-2020\/”,”media”:{“width”:1548,”height”:1024,”extension”:”jpg”,”mime_type”:”image\/jpeg”,”type”:”image”,”path”:”https:\/\/static.billboard.com\/files\/2020\/09\/01-fan-army-update-2020-billboard-1548-1598967705-compressed.jpg”,”sizes”:[{“path”:”https:\/\/static.billboard.com\/files\/2020\/09\/01-fan-army-update-2020-billboard-1548-1598967705-compressed.jpg”,”width”:1548,”height”:1024},{“path”:”https:\/\/static.billboard.com\/files\/2020\/09\/01-fan-army-update-2020-billboard-1548-1598967705-compressed.jpg”,”width”:1548,”height”:1024}],”orientation”:”landscape”,”id”:”9443271″,”caption”:null,”credit”:null}}
The Mercury Prize judging panel said: “Classic yet contemporary, drawing on the history of music while remaining an intensely personal work of self-expression, this is an album that will stand the test of time…Warm, rich, hugely accomplished and belonging to no one genre but its own, Kiwanuka is a masterpiece.”
Kiwanuka said: “Music and art means so much to me and this is an award that celebrates that so I’m over the moon.”
He also said “Third time’s a charm,” a reference to the fact that his two previous albums were short-listed for the honor, but did not receive it. His debut album, Home Again, lost the 2012 award to alt-J’s An Awesome Wave. His sophomore release, Love & Hate, lost the 2016 prize to Skepta’s Konnichiwa.
{“nid”:”9423041″,”type”:”post”,”title”:”Dua Lipa & Charli XCX Are on Mercury Prize Shortlist: See Who Else Is a Contender”,”relative_path”:”\/articles\/news\/awards\/9423041\/mercury-prize-shortlist-2020\/”,”media”:{“width”:”1548″,”height”:”1024″,”extension”:”jpg”,”mime_type”:”image\/jpeg”,”type”:”image”,”path”:”https:\/\/static.billboard.com\/files\/media\/Dua-Lipa-03-press-by-Hugo-Comte-2020-billboard-1548-compressed.jpg”,”sizes”:[{“path”:”https:\/\/static.billboard.com\/files\/media\/Dua-Lipa-03-press-by-Hugo-Comte-2020-billboard-1548-compressed.jpg”,”width”:”1548″,”height”:”1024″},{“path”:”https:\/\/static.billboard.com\/files\/media\/Dua-Lipa-03-press-by-Hugo-Comte-2020-billboard-1548-compressed.jpg”,”width”:”1548″,”height”:”1024″}],”orientation”:”landscape”,”id”:”9314653″,”caption”:null,”credit”:null}}
Last year’s winner of the Mercury Prize was Dave’s Psychodrama, which, like Kiwanuka, had songs that commented on matters of race.
Other past winners include several that crossed over to achieve success in the U.S., notably Franz Ferdinand’s Franz Ferdinand (2004), Arctic Monkeys’ Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not (2006), The xx’s xx (2010) and James Blake’s Overgrown (2013).
Unlike the Grammys, the Mercury Prize releases the names of the people who served on the judging panel. Jeff Smith, head of music, 6 Music & Radio 2, was chair of this year’s panel, which included four musicians — Jorja Smith (a 2018 Grammy nominee for best new artist), Jamie Cullum, Anna Calvi and Gaz Coombes.
{“nid”:”9426546″,”type”:”post”,”title”:”Rina Sawayama\u2019s Album Is a Hit With Critics, But It Wasn\u2019t Eligible for the Mercury Prize: What\u2019s the Problem?”,”relative_path”:”\/articles\/news\/awards\/9426546\/rina-sawayama-not-eligible-for-the-mercury-prize\/”,”media”:{“width”:1548,”height”:1024,”extension”:”jpg”,”mime_type”:”image\/jpeg”,”type”:”image”,”path”:”https:\/\/static.billboard.com\/files\/2020\/04\/Rina-Sawayama-2020-billboard-1548-1585930589.jpg”,”sizes”:[{“path”:”https:\/\/static.billboard.com\/files\/2020\/04\/Rina-Sawayama-2020-billboard-1548-1585930589.jpg”,”width”:1548,”height”:1024},{“path”:”https:\/\/static.billboard.com\/files\/2020\/04\/Rina-Sawayama-2020-billboard-1548-1585930589.jpg”,”width”:1548,”height”:1024}],”orientation”:”landscape”,”id”:”9350562″,”caption”:null,”credit”:null}}
The 11 other albums on this year’s shortlist were:
Anna Meredith – Fibs
Charli XCX – How I’m Feeling Now
Dua Lipa – Future Nostalgia
Georgia – Seeking Thrills
Kano – Hoodies All Summer
Lanterns on the Lake – Spook the Herd
Laura Marling – Song for Our Daughter
Moses Boyd – Dark Matter
Porridge Radio – Every Bad
Sports Team – Deep Down Happy
Stormzy – Heavy is the Head
{“account_id”:”1125911414″,”id”:”605559714001″,”title”:”The XX I Mercury Prize Winners”,”featured_media”:”9298152″}
