The Ivors Academy has announced the winners of this year’s Ivor Novello Awards at Grosvenor House, London, on Thursday 19th May.
Recognised as a pinnacle of creative musical achievement since they were first presented in 1956, winning an Ivor Novello Award holds a special place in music, as they are judged by award-winning songwriters and composers from The Ivors Academy.
In the 67th year of The Ivors, 21 songwriters and composers collected Ivor Novello Awards across 14 categories, in recognition of outstanding achievements in songwriting and composing for screen.
This year’s Songwriter of the Year accolade has been awarded to rapper Dave. Having dropped the surprise Top 10 single Titanium in 2021, Dave’s second album We’re All Alone In This Together then hit number one in the UK. It spawned three simultaneous Top 10 singles – Clash, featuring Stormzy, Verdansk and In The Fire.
Dave’s 2021 wasn’t just restricted to his own superlative work however – as part of his ongoing collaboration with Fredo, he co-wrote the huge tracks, Back To Basics and Money Talks. This is Dave’s fourth Ivor Novello Award, having previously won Best Contemporary Song three times for Question Time in 2018, Black in 2020 and Children of the Internet last year.
With a catalogue of over 140 songs and more than 80 million record sales, the Special International Award with Apple Music celebrates the global impact and songwriting achievements of Columbian superstar Shakira.
Ed Sheeran, Fred again.. and Johnny McDaid, together win PRS for Music Most Performed Work for their collaboration on the UK’s biggest song of 2021, Bad Habits. This is Ed Sheeran’s fifth Ivor Novello Award, having won this category in 2018, along with Johnny McDaid for Shape of You, Best Song Musically and Lyrically back in 2012 for The A Team and Songwriter of the Year twice. It is songwriter and producer Fred again..’s first Ivor Novello Award.
Previous nominee Sam Fender has taken home his first Ivor Novello Award after winning Best Song Musically and Lyrically, for his hit Seventeen Going Under. The song chronicles Fender’s life at the age of 17 and the challenges he and his mother faced.
Best Contemporary Song went to Dean ‘Inflo’ Josiah Cover and Little Simz for I Love You, I Hate You. A searingly honest, poignant and powerful address to Little Simz’ father from the album Sometimes I Might Be Introvert. This win follows the pair’s success in 2020 when they collected an Ivor Novello Award for the album Grey Area.
The Rising Star Award with Apple Music has been awarded to singer-songwriter Naomi Kimpenu, whose debut EP Prelude was released last year. The stunning four-track collection is described by The Ivors Academy as, “the ideal calling card, serving notice of what her perfectly poised vocals and sincere songwriting can do.” She is the third consecutive female songwriter to pick up the award since its inception in 2020.
Pink Noise, performed and written by Laura Mvula with Dann Hume, wins Best Album. Pink Noise is described as an album borne out of both intense struggles, positive realisations, and an exploration of personal and professional breakups.
Daniel Blumberg wins Best Original Film Score for his work on The World To Come, seeing him receive his first Ivor Novello Award. Set against the backdrop of the mid-19th century American East Coast frontier, the film had its world premiere at the 77th Venice International Film Festival, where it won the Queer Lion award for best LGBTQI+ themed film at the festival, before it was released last year.
Composer Arthur Sharpe has won Best Television Soundtrack for his work on Sky Atlantic’s black comedy drama, Landscapers, based on a true-story and starring Emmy, Golden Globe and Academy Award winner Olivia Coleman.
The award for Best Original Video Game Score goes to Richard Jacques for Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Richard’s previous work includes critically acclaimed orchestral scores for blockbuster franchises such as James Bond 007: Blood Stone, Sonic the Hedgehog and Starship Troopers.
Peter Gabriel received Fellowship of The Ivors Academy in recognition of his outstanding contributions as a musician, innovator, humanitarian and songwriter. Fellowship is the highest honour the Academy bestows, recognising excellence and impact in the art and craft of music creation. Peter has previously won Ivor Novello Awards for Don’t Give Up in 1987, for his Outstanding Contribution to British Music as a founding member of Genesis in 1983 and was recognised with a Lifetime Achievement award in 2007.
The PRS for Music Icon Award recognises two of rock’s most inspiring, influential, and identifiable songwriters – The Cure’s Robert Smith and Simon Gallup. They are true cultural icons who have changed the face of popular music across the last four decades as songwriters for The Cure.
Paul Heaton has been awarded Outstanding Song Collection for his work with The Housemartins through to The Beautiful South and his current collaboration with Jacqui Abbott. He has shown an exceptional talent at observing, and challenging society with a pop sensibility that has resulted in eighteen UK Top 10 albums and a place as one of this country’s finest songwriters.
In recognition of the influence of the unique sound world of Scottish band Cocteau Twins, The Ivors Academy also celebrated the creative genius of songwriters Elizabeth Fraser, Robin Guthrie and Simon Raymonde with the Visionary Award.
Also announced at the ceremony was the retirement of long-time ceremony host Paul Gambaccini. Paul hosted his first Ivor Novello Award ceremony in 1988 and has presented the awards every year since, only missing 2020 when the winners were announced online. In recognition of this, Academy Fellow Joan Armatrading presented him with a unique statuette to acknowledge his contribution to the awards. The Academy also announced that the new host for The Ivors in 2023 is Lauren Laverne.
At the ceremony last year’s Songwriter of the Year Jamie Hartman and multi award-winning producer and musician Paul Epworth gave their backing to TheWRD from The Ivors Academy, a recently launched pre-degree diploma in creative entrepreneurship. TheWRD is designed to help open access to the creative industries by bringing together music industry leaders, expert educators and deep learning AI to provide new opportunities for students aged 19 plus to start a career in the music industry or go onto further study.
Shaznay Lewis, Ivor Novello Award winner and judge for The Ivors, said, “I’m absolutely thrilled for this year’s winners, who have joined an ever-expanding list of legendary songwriters and screen composers. It is a privilege to experience such an immensely powerful, emotive and eclectic range of music. Huge congratulations to everyone who took home awards, and every single songwriter and composer nominated.”
The 2022 winners are:
Academy Fellowship
Peter Gabriel
Best Album
Pink Noise
written by Dann Hume and Laura Mvula
performed by Laura Mvula
published in the UK by Sony Music Publishing and Universal Music Publishing
Best Contemporary Song
I Love You, I Hate You
written by Dean ‘Inflo’ Josiah Cover and Little Simz
performed by Little Simz
published in the UK by Universal Music Publishing
Best Original Film Score
The World To Come
Composed by Daniel Blumberg
published in the UK by Wise Music Group
Best Original Video Game Score
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
Composed by Richard Jacques
Best Song Musically and Lyrically
Seventeen Going Under
Written and performed by Sam Fender
published in the UK by Kobalt Music Publishing
Best Television Soundtrack
Landscapers
Composed by Arthur Sharpe
published in the UK by BDi Music Ltd obo Sister Pictures Ltd and SATV Publishing
Outstanding Song Collection
Paul Heaton
PRS for Music Most Performed Work
Bad Habits
written by Fred again.., Johnny McDaid and Ed Sheeran
performed by Ed Sheeran
published in the UK by Promised Land Music-Universal Music Publishing, Sony Music Publishing and Ed Sheeran Ltd-Sony Music Publishing
PRS for Music Icon Award
Robert Smith and Simon Gallup
Rising Star Award with Apple Music
Naomi Kimpenu
Songwriter of the Year
Dave
Special International Award with Apple Music
Shakira
Visionary Award
Elizabeth Fraser, Robin Guthrie and Simon Raymonde
@IvorsAcademy #TheIvors
