Dua Lipa, Arlo Parks, Celeste, Joel Corry and Young T & Bugsey lead Brit Awards 2021 nominations with three noms apiece. The British album category also features four out of five female nominees for the first time in Brits history, with the aforementioned women joined by Jessie Ware and J Hus. Also, more than half the nominees in key categories are non-white, making the most diverse nominations in the event's history, as Sky emphasizes. Alexis Petridis points out that - "by recognising UK rap and women’s creativity, the Brits are finally in tune".

London rapper Jelani Blackman lives the usual life, judging by the lyric "I just eat, work, and then I swerve" from his new song 'Swerve'; avantgarde Mexican musician Nnux is both experimental and enjoyable in her new video 'Piezas'; Lady Gaga unveiled her first solo single in three years, disco-pop 'Stupid Love', with a Slipknot-meets-Klingon-meets-Avatar video; Jessie Ware has shared a disco-banger 'Spotlight' with a video set in Belgrade aboard the Blue Train, the private transport of former Yugoslavian leader Tito; some good country by Steve Earle & the Dukes about one of the worst mining disasters in American history in 'Devil Put The Coal In The Ground'; Gorillaz go Afropop in 'Désolé' ("sorry") featuring Malian star Fatoumata Diawara on vocals; Lovelorn combine goth and synth-pop in 'Around You'; Azusa is comprised by members of Dillinger Escape Plan, Extol, Sea + Air, and, as if that wasn't enough, they have Testament’s Alex Skolnick on guitar solo on 'Detach'; Stephen Malkmus has shared 'Shadowbanned', a psych-folk jam featuring Kim Gordon, Sharon Van Etten, Kurt Vile, Conor Oberst in video.