Rachel Flynn
Live reporter

Image source, Getty Images

That's a wrap for the 2024 Mercury Prize, as Leeds indie band English Teacher's debut album wins the 'Album of the Year' award.

The panel of judges credited the record This Could Be Texas for its "originality and character", saying it "revealed new depths on each listen".

DJ Jamz Supernova, who announced the award earlier tonight, called the album: "A lyrical mix of surrealism and social observation, and a subtle way of wearing it's musical innovations lightly."

English Teacher's victory seems to have officially brought Brat summer to a close, after Charli XCX's wildly popular album - touted as tonight's favourite - failed to come out on top.

In the band members' acceptance speech, they credited their success to support from local venues (which is noteworthy, considering they were also the first band from outside London to win the award since 2014).

Without a sponsor the award ceremony was markedly toned down this year, though we hope the buzz of Abbey Road Studios was still palpable.

It's hoped the ceremony will return in full next year, our music correspondent Mark Savage writes in his breakdown of the night.

This page was edited by Malu Cursino, Barbara Tasch and Johanna Chisholm and was written by Hollie Cole, Jake Lapham, Shaun Dacosta, Mark Savage and myself.

Such great talent, such brilliant music and such a long wait to find out who the winner is - or at least, it felt like such a long wait.

It's been a suspenseful evening for the nominees. From the moment they stepped through the doors of Abbey Road Studios and then onto the red carpet.

As English Teacher begin an evening of basking in their win, let's take a look at how the night unfolded in pictures:

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Mark Savage
Reporting from Abbey Road Studios

Image source, PA Media

English Teacher are the first band from outside London to win the Mercury Prize since 2014.

Singer Lily Fontaine says the group owed their career to the support they'd received from local venues like the Brudenell Social Club and the Hyde Park Book Club.

"I think, if you look back over music from this country, that Yorkshire in particular has thrown out some of our most prolific songwriters.

"But there's real support for musicians in Leeds at the moment," she adds.

"Venues are willing to take on new artists and I think that's integral to the health of the scene."

Shaun Dacosta
Reporting from Abbey Road Studios

A few surprised faces in the press room, matched by the band almost not knowing what to say on stage.

But it’d be fair to say English Teacher have taught any doubters a lesson.

As you can see, the room has quickly emptied as everyone gets ready to interview the winners and the band head into speak to our colleagues at BBC Radio 6Music.

It's a classic way to start an acceptance speech - and it's exactly how English Teacher's vocalist Lily Fontaine began as she and her bandmates accepted the Mercury Prize.

"We just thought we'd make a band," an exasperated Fontaine tells the audience.

She also gave her mum a more direct shout out, as she made the award-winning album's artwork. The rest of the band thanks their friends, family and supporters.

Mark Savage
Reporting from Abbey Road Studios

The winner of the 2024 Mercury Prize is English Teacher’s This Could Be Texas.

Judges said the record “stood out for its originality and character” and “revealed new depths on each listen”. It’s the first time since 2014 that an artist from outside London has won the prize.

And they’re just on their way up to the stage to give a speech.

Image source, BBC Four / Mercury Prize Ltd

Image source, Getty Images

English Teacher wins the 2024 Mercury Prize 'Album of the Year' award for This Could Be Texas.

When awarding the prize, DJ Jamz Supernova celebrated the album for its originality and character and fresh approach that is a "mark of a future classic".

We are just moments away from finding out who the winner of the 2024 Mercury Prize is, DJ Annie Mac tells the crowd of nominees.

Sit tight and we'll have it for you shortly.

Mark Savage
Reporting from Abbey Road Studios

The winner of the Mercury Prize is decided by a panel of judges who have to listen to hundreds of records for months on end, before coming to their final decision.

Unlike other award shows, the result isn’t known in advance. In fact, it’s debated right up until the last minute. Sometimes the decision is literally made by a show of hands with seconds to spare.

Tonight’s judges include musician Jamie Cullum, broadcaster Jamz Supernova, and Radio 2's head of music, Jeff Smith.

Right now, they’re sitting watching the ceremony in Abbey Road, taking in the artists’ performances as they mull over their voting intentions.

Crammed into a corner of the studio, they seem abnormally relaxed. Maybe they’ve already made their decision… If not, they’ve got the best poker faces I’ve ever seen.

Shaun Dacosta
Reporting from Abbey Road Studios

As Mark says, it's no secret this year's ceremony is different... it's an intimate venue at the iconic Abbey Road Studios where artists, their press teams and journalists all bumped into each other heading down the stairs from the red carpet to the ceremony.

Speaking of the red carpet - it's a whistle-stop tour for the artists as they make their way round the many cameras, microphones, producers and reporters.

There is a real level of excitement and energy that comes through from so many of the musicians - especially those who've been nominated for the first time.

We're currently sat in a room watching the show on TVs - just across from where the artists and their friends are sat in the ceremony itself.

A few people (like me) are sat typing or editing interviews, others are just chilling and nodding their heads along to the music.

Mark Savage
Music correspondent

It’s 27 years since Roni Size won the Mercury Prize for Nu Forms, a record that marked the highpoint of the 1990s drum and bass scene.

Characterised by its frenetic breakbeats and rumbling basslines, the genre’s never entirely gone away – mutating into Jungle and providing the rhythmic backbone for dance acts like Chase and Status, or Rudimental.

But the last couple of years have seen a resurgence, spearheaded by a new generation of artists who’ve taken a more melodic approach to a genre that can sometimes sound like a jackhammer on a busy road.

Nia Archives is at the forefront of this new wave – picking up a nomination for the BBC’s Sound of 2023 along the way.

And now her debut album, Silence Is Loud, has secured a Mercury nomination.

Speaking at the Mercury launch event in June, she described the record as “emotional junglism for new gen and old school junglists” – and explained how she’d taken song writing inspiration from some of Britain’s biggest artists.

“I listen to a lot of the Beatles, Blur and Radiohead. Britpop was a huge influence on the project - the songs from that era are just incredible.

“So I was really tired to spend time writing - and actually I wrote the album in my bedroom in bed, then took them into the studio and made the beats.”

Mark Savage
BBC Music correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

“I want this album to feel like you’ve gone to space, and it turns out it’s almost identical to Doncaster,” said singer Lily Fontaine of her band’s debut release.

The record is steeped in her upbringing in the North-West, addressing social deprivation and political mismanagement (“Can the river stop its banks from bursting? / Blame the council, not the rain”), alongside themes of identity, love, loss and celebrity.

Musically playful, it combines Fontaine’s partially-spoken vocals with dreamy, Smiths-like guitar lines and complex polyrhythms - with the gorgeous The Best Tears Of Your Life building to a head-spinning wall of sound.

They say: “When we were recording, it did feel at times like we were putting together pieces of random puzzles… but I’ve never been so proud of something.”

Mark Savage
BBC Music correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Berwyn made history in 2021 when an album of demo recordings became the first mixtape to become nominated for the Mercury Prize.

Three years later, he’s back with his proper debut album - a visceral exploration of identity, immigration, race and resilience.

Mixing dark-humoured poetry with soaring melodies, it roasts the UK’s immigration system, which treats the Trinidad-born, London-raised musician as an unwanted inconvenience.

But amidst the struggle, he never loses hope, defiantly declaring that the pressure turned him “into a diamond”.

He says :“These are all very raw experiences and very raw emotions - but I’ve been given a sense of purpose. That has been the best thing anyone has ever given to me.”

Mark Savage
Music correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

One of the most beguiling and thought-provoking albums on this year’s shortlist is Corrine Bailey Rae’s Black Rainbows - and we're getting a taste of it right now.

Unlike her previous albums, which took an autobiographical approach, it was inspired by an archive of Black history, put together by artist Theaster Gates at the Stony Island Arts Bank in Chicago.

Each song tells a different story, from an enslaved woman who lived in hiding for seven years, to the dance parties put on by house DJ Frankie Knuckles.

Approaching the album as a side project gave her the freedom to experiment.

Across the 10 tracks, she constantly switches style, from gritty garage punk to bucolic experimental jazz.

“When I first started making this record, I thought, is this universal enough?” she told the BBC, “but of course it is [because] everybody’s stories need to be talked about in music".

In fact, she felt compelled to share those stories after realising how patchy her own knowledge of black history was.

“It went slavery, share-cropping, silence, silence, silence… Martin Luther King.

"So to see all of these photos in Chicago, of everyday black life, people who owned hotels or who were surgeons, it was just an a-ha moment.

“All of this was going on, it was documented in magazines like Ebony, but it stayed within its own specific community because of segregation.”

Image source, Getty Images

An independent panel of judges choose the shortlist and the winner of the Mercury Prize award. It consists of musicians, music journalists, music presenters, music producers and heads of music.

This year’s judges are:

• Danielle Perry – Broadcaster & Writer
• Jamie Cullum - Musician & Radio 2 Broadcaster
• Jamz Supernova – 6 Music Broadcaster & DJ
• Jeff Smith - Head of Music, Radio 2 & 6 Music
• Lea Stonhill – Music Programming Consultant
• Mistajam – Songwriter, DJ & Broadcaster
• Phil Alexander – Creative Director, Kerrang!/Contributing Editor, Mojo
• Sian Eleri – Radio 1 Broadcaster & DJ
• Will Hodgkinson - Chief Rock & Pop Critic, The Times
• Sophie Williams – Music Writer & Broadcaster

The panel meets on the day of the award show to decide the overall "Album of the Year" - which the Mercury Prize says can be a long process.

Details of the judging discussions and individual votes are kept confidential to “protect the integrity of the judging process”.

Mark Savage
BBC Music correspondent

Image source, Reuters

Charli XCX can’t be at the Mercury Prize tonight because she’s in the final stages of rehearsing for her US tour with Troye Sivan.

But the star’s producers AG Cook and Easyfun are here on her behalf, and they told us what made the star so special.

“She’s incredibly quick and open to ideas,” said Easyfun, aka Finn Keane.

”You can give her kind of any kind of crazy track, and she'll be able to come up with something super hooky, simple, but then also with a twist that's very memorable and elaborate.”

“She’s got such a strong identity,” adds Cook.

“You know, what is pop music anyway? There’s almost no definition of pop, really. But Charli always feels pop in some way, even if she's doing the wildest, most out there thing.”

Image source, Getty Images

Cat Burns' pre-recorded song is now up - and she's chosen to delight nominees to her acoustic ballad End Game, which reflects on growth and overcoming hardships.

Two years ago, Burns went viral on TikTok with her song Go. Tonight, she is running up for the top prize with her debut album, Early Twenties.

Her album was released through Sony earlier this year, and came with a short film following a group of friends on a night out.

Film director Libby Burke Wilde said it was a “dream project” to work on a film based on an artist’s lyrics and songs.

The platinum-selling musician came fourth in the BBC’s Sound of 2023, before hitting the road with Ed Sheeran, Years and Years and Sam Smith.

On top of tonight’s nomination, her work was also put forward for three Brit Awards last year.

Mark Savage
Music correspondent

Incredibly, the grime scene is now at a place where some of its originators are hitting their 40s. Among them is Ghetts, who jokes about becoming an elder statesman on this, his fourth album.

“I used to worry about arrests, but not a cardiac,” he raps on the opening track, Intro.

Elsewhere, his concerns are more serious. He talks about racial profiling, the NHS funding crisis, wars in Gaza and Ukraine, and even the ravages of postnatal depression on the powerful closing track, Jonah’s Safety.

Showcasing his versatility, his flow graces beats drawn from neo-soul and Amapiano, in addition to more traditional drill tracks - but the real star is his perspective and wisdom.

He says: “I always want the music to feel like a movie, to provide the listener with a unique understanding of my thought processes, or what’s going on in my life.”

The critics said: “His storytelling has never been so raw."

Image source, Getty Images

We're now hearing a pre-recorded song from Devon-based singer Beth Gibbons, who sings the deeply personal Floating on a Moment.

You may recognise Gibbons from the Bristol band Portishead, but tonight she hopes to get her hands on the Mercury Prize alone.

Her debut solo album Lives Outgrown has been described by the Guardian newspaper as drawing listeners into a “sound world”, with its tracks being an “autumnal gloom” that are “occasionally dappled with warmth and light”.

While American music publication Pitchfork said the album was a “singular talent reborn in surprisingly spiky glory”.

“Lives Outgrown has moments of crushing relatability, as she tackles subjects like motherhood, anxiety, and menopause,” the Pitchfork review added.

Eight of the 12 nominations are debut albums, BBC Radio 6 Music presenter Huw Stephens tells the audience at Abbey Road Studios.