British jazz collective Ezra Collective have taken home the 2023 Mercury Prize for their album ‘Where I’m Meant To Be’. The group beat out favorites Jockstap, Loyle Carner and Young Fathers to take the prize at the ceremony held at the Eventim Apollo in London.
The collective was presented with the award by Jamz Supernova and was showered with red confetti when they reached the stage. Femi Koleoso graciously accepted the trophy and thanked God for the unexpected win. He also acknowledged the hard work of the people behind the scenes that help make moments like this possible for young musicians.
The night also featured performances from each of the nominated artists, with the exception of Fred Again.. and the Arctic Monkeys who were both on tour. Instead, Fred Again..’s performance of ‘Delilah (pull me out of this)’ from this year’s Glastonbury was shown and Arctic Monkeys’ performance of ‘There’d Better Be A Mirrorball’ on Later… With Jools Holland from earlier this year was screened.
The full list of nominated albums for the 2023 Mercury Prize included: Arctic Monkeys – ‘The Car’, Ezra Collective – ‘Where I’m Meant to Be’, Fred again.. – ‘Actual Life 3 (January 1 – September 9 2022)’, J Hus – ‘Beautiful And Brutal Yard’, Jessie Ware – ‘That! Feels Good!’, Jockstrap – ‘I Love You Jennifer B’, Lankum – ‘False Lankum’, Loyle Carner – ‘hugo’, Olivia Dean – ‘Messy’, RAYE – ‘My 21st Century Blues’, Shygirl – ‘Nymph’ and Young Fathers – ‘Heavy Heavy’.
The 2023 Mercury Prize goes to Ezra Collective, making history as the first jazz collective to win the prestigious award. Their win follows Little Simz’ victory in 2022 for her album ‘Sometimes I Might Be Introvert’.
Leave a Reply