Mercury Prize 2023: Arctic Monkeys, J Hus and Jessie Ware vie for prestigious prize

The nominations for the Mercury Prize 2023 have been announced, with the likes of Arctic Monkeys, J Hus, Jessie Ware and Loyle Carner all among the nominees for the prestigious prize.

The prestigious award, which celebrates the best of British and Irish music, announced its shortlist this morning ahead of an awards ceremony in Hammersmith on September 7 where a winner will receive £25,000.

Arctic Monkeys received their latest nod for 2022’s The Car, while Jessie Ware and J Hus received respective nods for That! Feels Good! and Beautiful & Brutal Yard.

Elsewhere, Ezra Collective received a nod for Where I’m Meant To Be, while Fred again.. is also among the competition with ‘Actual Life 3 (January 1 – September 9 2022)’.

You can check out the whole shortlist in full below.

• 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’
• Young Fathers ‘Heavy Heavy’

Reviewing Arctic Monkeys’ The Car last year, Rolling Stone UK hailed the record as “one of their most accomplished and impressive records so far”.

“Seven albums into their career, here is a band comfortable enough to speed off in that titular car, leaving old sounds in the dust as they pursue something new. When the results are as good as this, who can blame them?,” our verdict stated.

RAYE’s nomination, meanwhile, marks a crowning moment for the singer after she parted ways with Polydor Records due to a series of extensive disagreements and claims they had refused to release her album.

“To be finally sharing these songs with the world is just a dream come true,” Raye told Rolling Stone UK earlier this year. “Money can’t buy where we are right now, and that is so exciting. These are stories I’ve wanted to share for so long.”

My 21st Century Blues sees her include genres including the dance pop she is known for, but there is soul, blues, rap and R&B here, too. “There’s no sonic through-line,” she said. “It was just creating whatever feels right for the story I want to tell over it. It just feels free.

“There’s things on there that some of my closest friends don’t even know about me,” Raye added.

“Even though it’s difficult and tricky at times, I do believe art is about being ruthlessly honest.”

Olivia Dean, who also features on the list, recently told Rolling Stone UK how she was “proud” of her debut record.

“I just feel so proud of this album,” she said. “Proud that I made it exactly the way I wanted to and that I just was unwavering in my creative decisions, you know? I’ve followed my intuition, and I think that’s a really powerful thing. Because if you make a record that you really, really love, you can’t lose.”