Little Simz has been named as the winner of the 2022 Mercury Prize with her album Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, and rightly so. This year’s ceremony unfolded much as it has in previous years, despite being rescheduled after the Queen’s death in September. And as with previous years, there was plenty of healthy competition to be found on this year’s shortlist: Simz with her ambitious, orchestral fourth album, Sam Fender with the rootsy, socially astute guitar rock of Seventeen Going Under, and Gwenno with her shimmering Cornish-language record, Tresor. Oh, and Harry Styles. Arguably the only one who didn’t deserve a nomination.
Styles has sought credibility from the instant he launched his solo career. There’s nothing wrong with this in itself – why shouldn’t a former boyband star seek artistic acclaim along with the adulation of his fans? No, it’s more the way Styles has gone about it. The Independent’s review of Styles’s self-titled debut observed how he tended to wear his influences on his sleeve. There were blatant nods to Elton John in the “Bennie and the Jets”-style intro to “Only Angel”; “Sweet Creature” brought to mind the bittersweet guitar-picking of The Beatles’ “Blackbird”. The single “Sign of the Times” was a clear reference to Prince’s 1986 song “Sign o’ the Times”, to the point that it was almost exactly the same length (five minutes 40 seconds to Prince’s five minutes and two seconds).
