Jamie Whitehead
Live reporter at the O2

A few moments before Ezra Collective entered the Winners Room, their entourage of wives, girlfriends, mums, dads, cousins and friends entered and made their way to the back of the room.

They didn’t last long there, seeing their reaction as the band walked in was like watching a last minute FA Cup final winner go in.

They ran to the front, embracing the Group of the Year winners. Posing for pictures with the group, the cheers went up again before making their way around the assembled press pack.

It’s our turn to try and give it back, they tell us, it would be great if someone inspired by us won a Brit in ten years. They’re loving every second of this, deservedly so

Mark Savage
Music correspondent at the O2

Really pleased for Chappell Roan, who’s just won international song of the year for her massive breakout hit Good Luck, Babe.

When she released it last year, she was only known to a select few pop fans. By the end of the year, it was the UK’s eighth best-selling song.

It’s essentially the story of Chappell’s fling with a girl who insists she's not gay. At first, the song is one big eye-roll: Just shut up and admit the truth, Chappell insists, before you get trapped in a loveless, heterosexual marriage of convenience.

Then, in the closing bars, the song slows down like a toy whose batteries have run out. It’s the end of the argument. Chappell has screamed her case to the point of exhaustion.

She drops an octave and sings, “you’d have to stop the world just to stop this feeling", and her voice is quietly resigned. This is one last plea, and she knows it will fall on deaf ears. It's superb song writing - pointed and specific, full of meaning.

And, full disclosure, it was my vote for the best song category.

Image source, Getty Images

The singer-songwriter made history at last year's Brits, winning six of the seven prizes she was nominated for.

In a video played at the ceremony, she says she's "still recovering" from her wins in 2024 as she thanks all her fans, telling her young supporters "don't give up on your dreams".

• Cleo Sol
• Flo
• Jorja Smith
• Michael Kiwanuka
• Raye

Introducing the award is Harry Potter actor Jason Isaacs.

Image source, Reuters

This is Stormzy's fourth Brit award.

"I'm not being a mad man in shades," he says, explaining he's wearing sunglasses inside the O2 because he's "smashed up my eye" while playing padel.

• Central Cee
• Dave
• Ghetts
• Little Simz
• Stormzy

Mark Savage
Music correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Liam Payne had a huge connection to the Brits, both as part of One Direction and as a solo artist, so it's likely that the ceremony will include a tribute to the star - who tragically died in Argentina last October.

Gossip columns have speculated that his former bandmates would reunite to honour his memory, but with Louis and Zayn both on tour that seems unlikely.

According to The Sun, the tribute will be "a strong section of the show and not simply an In Memoriam name-check".

Quoting an unnamed source, the newspaper said: "His family aren't involved in the plans but they are being kept in the loop.

"The Brits are treating it with the utmost respect and sensitivity."

She's not the award ceremony in London this evening but she's sent in a video to thank her fans and supporters.

"This is crazy," she says. "Thank you."

We’re now turning our focus on the best international song of the year. But who’s in the running?

• Benson Boone - Beautiful Things
• Beyoncé - Texas Hold 'Em
• Billie Eilish - Birds of a Feather
• Chappell Roan - Good Luck, Babe!
• Djo - End of Beginning
• Eminem - Houdini
• Hozier - Too Sweet
• Jack Harlow - Lovin On Me
• Noah Kahan - Stick Season
• Post Malone (Feat. Morgan Wallen) - I Had Some Help
• Sabrina Carpenter - Espresso
• Shaboozey - A Bar Song (Tipsy)
• Taylor Swift (feat. Post Malone) - Fortnight
• Teddy Swims - Lose Control
• Tommy Richman - Million Dollar Baby

Image source, Reuters

Espresso singer Sabrina Carpenter has just accepted her global success award, after being introduced by friend and actress Millie Bobby Brown and the queen of Motown, Diana Ross.

"This is such an insane honour, in a primarily tea drinking country you streamed the [expletive] out of Espresso," she says.

Ten years ago she came to the UK with her mum, where around ten people knew who she was, Carpenter explains - and now she's a global icon.

Image source, EPA

Espresso singer Sabrina Carpenter is clearly making her trip to London worthwhile.

As well as bagging the Global Success award, the first international act to do so, she's kicked off this year's Brits and she's nominated for two more awards.

The global success award recognises "phenomenal" worldwide music sales - after Brits bosses changed the rules to make overseas artists eligible.

Previous winners have included One Direction, Ed Sheeran, Adele and Sam Smith.

Sabrina is also nominated in the international artist of the year and international song of the year categories.

Organisers said 2024 had been a "a truly incredible year" for Sabrina "in which she dominated global charts".

The singer held the number one position in the UK singles chart for a total of 21 weeks and became the first female artist to hold the three top slots at the same time.

In the US, the three singles - Taste, Please Please Please and Espresso - equalled a record set by The Beatles 60 years ago, according to the Brit Awards' organisers.

Jamie Whitehead
Live reporter at the O2

It’s been quite mellow in the Winners Room.

We’ve all been on our feet a while, and I as I said earlier, it’s hotter than the sun in here.

But that all changed when we got our first winner through the door. “Myles Smith everybody!” a loud voice shouts as he enters to cheers and a flash of paparazzi.

“I’ve just won a Brit. Mental,” he says proudly.

Image source, Reuters

This is the jazz quintet's first Brits award.

"This moment is because of the great youth clubs, teachers and schools that support this music," the band's drummer Femi Koleoso tells the crowd.

"So many of the problems that face greater society, the solution lies with giving a young person a trumpet, a saxophone, because when you do that you give them a dream and an aspiration and a goal," he adds.

• Bring Me The Horizon
• Coldplay
• The Cure
• Ezra Collective
• The Last Dinner Party

Image source, Getty Images

A little more from Charli XCX as she accepts her second award of the night.

"I feel like dance, music electronic music gets a really bad rep because everyone is like it's not that deep, is it? And I kind of feel it is," Charli XCX says after collecting her second award of the night.

"This genre of music for me is euphoric - it allows me to escape and feel on such a deep level," the Brat singer says.

Mark Savage
Music correspondent

Dua Lipa – Radical Optimism

Dua Lipa billed her third album as “alternative but pop, with a touch of psychedelia” – and you can certainly hear those influences, on a record that sees programmed beats and synthesizers replaced by live musicians, flamenco guitar and even, on a song called Maria, the sound of a Polynesian nose flute.

But she never strays too far from the vibrant dance-pop that made her a star – and club-orientated hits like Training Season and Illusion throb with an urgent disco pulse.

It didn’t sell as many copies as her last record, the Brit Award-winning Future Nostalgia, but it still topped the charts – and earned the star a headline slot at Glastonbury.

The Last Dinner Party – Prelude To Ecstasy

The only debut album on this year’s list comes from London indie band The Last Dinner Party, whose baroque brand of feminist rock took them all the way to number one.

It opens with an orchestral overture – a nod to guitarist Emily Roberts’ past life at the Guildhall School of Music – then blossoms into a sparkling collection of proto-Bond themes, that address doomed romance and suppressed urges, inspired by singer Abigail Morris’s Catholic upbringing.

“So rich it borders on hedonism,” wrote music magazine The Skinny in their review. And it’s all the better for it.

This is Charli XCX's second award of the night and third overall at this year's Brits.

Here are tonight's nominees:

• Becky Hill
• Charli xcx
• Chase & Status
• Fred again..
• Nia Archives

From Irish singer-songwriter CMAT's 'cheeky' dress in 2024 to Freddie Mercury's last public appearance in 1990, the Brits have never just been about the music.

Winner of the rising star award Myles Smith has just used his acceptance speech to ask the British government to keep small grassroot venues alive.

"If British music is one of the most powerful cultural exports we have, why have you treated it like an afterthought for so many for so many years, how many more venues need to close?", he says.

Here's some more memorable Brits moments:

Madonna's unscheduled trip down the stairs

Image source, Reuters

Closing the 2015 awards with a performance of her new single, Living for Love, Madonna’s long flowing cape didn’t detach - leading her to fall down a flight of stairs in stilettos. She picked herself and before she could even sing the refrain “I'm gonna carry on,” she did just that.

"Theresa May, where's the money for Grenfell?"

Image source, Press Association

Stormzy closed the 2018 ceremony with a rebuke to then-prime minister Theresa May for her handling of the Grenfell Tower Fire. In a furious rap, he demanded: "Theresa May, where's the money for Grenfell?"

At the time, the government said it had pledged £58.9m for Grenfell, of which £30m had been spent. A year after the tragedy, Theresa May said "the initial response was not good enough".

Girl Power

Image source, Getty Images

Ever wondered when Ginger Spice first wore that dress?

Two nights before the Spice Girls' 1997 Brits performance, Geri Halliwell had a last-minute change of heart and swapped a black Gucci dress for a home-made dress made from two Union Jack tea-towels. It became an icon of British pop overnight.

Jamie Whitehead
Live reporter at the O2

After a quick pit stop watching Sabrina Carpenter’s incredible opening performance, we’re getting ready in the winners room.

We may have had a little trouble finding it, but I did hold the backstage door open for Ezra Collective, who kindly disagreed with me when I told them they were more important than us.

The Winners Room may be the current hottest place on earth, thankfully there’s a drinks fridge

We’re expecting our first winners in here shortly.