Brit Awards: Griff, Pa Salieu and Rina Sawayama nominated for rising star prize

The nominees are (L-R): Rina Sawayama, Griff and Pa Salieu

Griff, Pa Salieu and Rina Sawayama have been nominated for the Brits rising star award, which recognises pop's ones-to-watch for the coming year.

The prize, which was called critics choice until last year, has previously gone to Adele, Celeste and Jorja Smith.

Sawayama's nomination comes after the singer persuaded the Brits to change their eligibility rules last month.

The British-Japanese singer had been excluded because she didn't hold a British passport or dual citizenship.

New rules - announced on the day that voting for the rising star award opened - allow any artist who has been resident in the UK for more than five years to qualify for the main prizes.

"I literally fell to the floor when I found out that I'd been nominated," said the singer.

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"I really can't put into words how much this means to me given that I wasn't eligible for this award a few weeks ago and now that door has been opened for future generations of artists like myself.

"Thank you so much to everyone who voted for me, it means the world."

The winner of the rising star award will be announced on 19 March, ahead of the Brits ceremony - which has been delayed from February to 11 May, due to the pandemic.

Here's a potted guide to the nominees.

Griff

Griff chose her stage name because her real name, Sarah Griffiths, "sounds like I have a mortgage and three kids"

• Griff is the stage name of 20-year-old Sarah Faith Griffiths, whose evocative and catchy pop songs have already seen her nominated for the BBC Sound Of 2021 award.

• She discovered music after hearing Stevie Wonder's Pastime Paradise at the age of five and learned to sing in her church choir; but she says "the first album I think I really loved out of choice was Taylor Swift's Fearless".

• Griff had her first recording session at the age of 10, "just doing embarrassing things in a band". By the time she left school, she'd signed a deal with Warner Music, releasing her first single in July 2019, two weeks after she finished her A-Levels.

• Last year she took over the Tate Modern for her second ever London show, and provided the song for Disney's Christmas advert.

• Her current single, Black Hole, is on the A List at BBC Radio 1.

• On receiving her first Brit nomination, she says: "It's kinda terrifying how many legends have been nominated for this award. I never ever ever expected making beats in my music room after school could eventually lead to a BRIT nomination."

Read more: Bedroom pop star Griff takes fifth place in the BBC Sound of 2021.

Pa Salieu

Pa Salieu won the BBC's Sound of 2021, giving his chances at the Brits an extra boost

• Born in Slough, Pa Salieu Gaye spent his early years in Gambia, living with his grandparents on his family's farm; before moving back to the UK and settling in Coventry.

• He started making music at his local youth club (Positive Youth Foundation), and released his debut single Never Had in September 2018.

• Not afraid to experiment with different sounds and styles, he draws on everything from dancehall and drill, while incorporating the hand-drummed sounds of his Gambian heritage. "I don't do genres," he said in one interview, "I do everything".

• Last November, he released his debut mixtape Send Them To Coventry, full of adventurous, infectious tracks with hard-hitting lyrics about life and death on the "frontline" in Coventry.

• Featuring collaborations with M1llionz and Mahalia. The Guardian called the mixtape "too fresh and inventive to ignore", while the NME dubbed him the "UK's next star".

• He went on to win the BBC's Sound Of 2021, while his single Energy has become a breakout radio hit.

• On his Brit nomination, he said: "I am very grateful to be shortlisted for this BRIT award. Love & blessings every time! Thanks to everyone supporting my journey so far."

Read more: Pa Salieu wins the BBC Sound of 2021

Rina Sawayama

Rina Sawayama's debut album was one of the most critically-acclaimed records of 2020

• Born in Niigata, Japan in 1990, Rina Sawayama moved to London at the age of five with her parents, where she has lived ever since.

• She attended a Japanese school, learning calligraphy and dance, and eventually studied politics, psychology and sociology at Cambridge University.

• Her first musical venture was a hip-hop group called Lazy Lion, which also featured Theo Ellis from Wolf Alice.

• But she struck out as a solo artist in 2013, crafting a futuristic version of pop that incorporates elements of R&B, thrash metal and even Japanese opera.

• The star's debut album, simply called Sawayama, was released last year and delves deep into her parents' divorce, her wild teenage years, and the acceptance she found in the LGBTQ+ community.

• It has since amassed more than 100 million streams worldwide, and was named one of the albums of the year by NME, the Guardian and the New York Times, which called it "the year's most audacious pop statement".

• Sawayama, who uses her Instagram to speak out about the lack of Asian representation in fashion and music, discovered she was ineligible for major British music prize last year, and successfully lobbied the Brits to change their criteria.

• On her Brit nomination, she said: "I literally fell to the floor when I found out that I'd been nominated."

Read more: How Rina Sawayama turned familial pain into pop gold