Charli XCX, Mahalia and Freya Ridings hit out at gender 'imbalance' in music industry

Female artists including Charli XCX, Freya Ridings and Mahalia have hit out at the lack of recognition for women in the music industry.

The stars spoke to Sky News about the issue at the Brit Awards , where they were all up for best female artist - but missed out on nominations in the mixed categories.

In fact, just four nominations out of the 25 slots available - in the best group, best new artist, album of the year and song of the year categories - went to women.

Of these, Mabel was nominated for new artist and song, while the other nominations were for songs by Sam Smith and Mark Ronson, featuring female artists Normani and Miley Cyrus respectively.

Male artists including Foals and Michael Kiwanuka also spoke out about the issue at the Brits, with both saying it "100%" needs to be addressed.

Charli XCX told Sky News that while she didn't necessarily expect to see herself up for best album, the lack of female nominees in general this year was "annoying".

"We're not the sub-plot," she said. "We're not the support act. We're the main event."

The singer-songwriter said that while she was "very grateful" to be nominated for best female solo artist, which went to Mabel on the night, she stressed women should be represented more in mixed categories.

"I'm very grateful to be nominated, but don't just give us the women category and then think you can forget about us everywhere else, because there have been so many incredible albums that have been made by iconic, incredible, prolific women," she said.

"This year and every year. So yes, I think it would be nice for female artists to be shown some love in other categories as well."

Charli agreed it was a "strong year", with big male stars including Harry Styles, Stormzy, Lewis Capaldi and Mercury Prize-winner Dave up for some of the top prizes.

"But it's been an incredibly strong year for women, too," she said.

To be eligible for a Brit nomination, an artist must have had success in the Top 40 charts in the previous 12 months, suggesting that the lack of female nominees is a wider issue with the music industry.

Only two British women made the Official Charts top 40 best-selling albums of 2019 - Jess Glynne and Dua Lipa - however neither album was eligible for the Brits as they were released in 2018 and 2017 respectively.

Ridings agreed that it is an industry-wide problem.

"It's a strange imbalance that's just built into the industry and I feel like the more light that gets shined on that, the better that things are going to become," she said.

""Because people will realise there's work to do and there's young women to empower and give that song-writing love for, you know, when you're younger. So… we've got a lot to do."

The singer-songwriter, who released her eponymous debut album last year, said that as a young girl who played instruments growing up, she always felt different.

"I think that growing up, I was made to always feel strange for playing my own instruments and writing my own songs, and that is so dangerous," she said.

"Because I saw my dad and mum playing their own instruments and loving writing, I was just like, that's what you do. But then I went out into the world and people were like, that's weird. And I got that for 10 years, so for me I think it's just so important to champion young girls and their writing and playing their own instruments.

"Because that's how you have any chance of writing your own destiny - writing your own music."

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Mahalia, who released her second album, Love And Compromise, in September, said after being nominated for the critics' choice award (now the rising star award) for new artists last year, she was excited to receive a nomination for best female.

However, she said it was "frustrating" to see women all but left out of the mixed categories.

"Particularly with the albums of the year, I feel like so many women put out amazing albums last year," she said. "As a woman I'm definitely a little bit gutted by that."

Kiwanuka, who was nominated for best solo male and best album at the Brits, said criticism over diversity is "now going to get us thinking, what's the problem? Why's this happening?"

He agreed the problem is "systemic, and that takes time" but said he believes change is happening.

Ahead of the awards, Guardian music editor Ben Beaumont-Thomas, a voting member of the Brits academy, told Sky News he thought it was an "absolute disgrace" that there were "so few women" nominated this year.

"It really behoves the Brits to broaden its eligibility criteria, to bring in more women to be able to be nominated in the first place," he said.

"As it stands, as a member of the Brits voting academy, I could only pick from 26 different women for the female artist of the year, whereas I could pick from 84 different men for the male equivalent category - so there's a huge disparity there."

Geoff Taylor, chief executive of the Brit awards and the BPI, which represents the record industry, said they have made efforts to ensure diversity among nominees following the 2016 #BritsSoWhite controversy, by changing the make-up of its voting academy.

He said: "We radically overhauled the academy so it's 50:50 male and female and we have about 24% BME representation in the academy, because we want the academy to represent the country in making its choice."