The Ivors 2023 nominations: Harry Styles, Kid Harpoon, Cleo Sol, Inflo, Raye, Knucks, Wet Leg & more

The Ivors 2023 nominations: Harry Styles, Kid Harpoon, Cleo Sol, Inflo, Raye, Knucks, Wet Leg & more

Nominations have been revealed for The Ivors 2023 With Amazon Music.

The ceremony, which takes place on May 18, will recognise outstanding songwriters and composers across nine categories – including Songwriter of the Year with Amazon Music, Best Album, Best Original Film Score, Best Contemporary Song, PRS for Music Most Performed Work and the Rising Star Award with Amazon Music.

The Ivors were first presented in 1956. Previous winners Adele, Cathy Dennis, Annie Lennox, Dave, Amy Winehouse, Paul McCartney and John Lennon.

This year, 72 individual songwriters and composers have received Ivor Novello nominations, with 54% of these receiving a nomination for the very first time. 

Harry Styles and Kid Harpoon are up for three Ivors, as are Cleopatra Nikolic (Cleo Sol) and Dean “Inflo” Josiah Cover, making them this year’s most nominated songwriters.

The prestigious Songwriter Of The Year With Amazon Music category recognises British or Irish songwriters or songwriting partnerships for outstanding bodies of commercially successful songs released in 2022. This year’s nominees are: Florence Welch (Florence + the Machine), Harry Styles & Kid Harpoon, Rhian Teasdale & Hester Chambers (Wet Leg), George Daniel & Matty Healy (The 1975) and Central Cee & Young Chencs.

Celebrating albums released in the UK in 2022 that exhibit creative consistency and exceptional songwriting, this year’s nominees for Best Album include Arctic Monkeys’ The Car (written by Alex Turner), Obongjayar’s Some Nights I Dream of Doors (written by Barney Lister and Obongjayar) and Fontaines DC’s Skinty Fia (written by Grian Chatten, Thomas Coll, Conor Curley, Conor Deegan and Carlos O’Connell). 

Cleopatra Nikolic and Dean “Inflo” Josiah Cover are both nominated twice in the Best Album category, for their work on Little Simz’s No Thank You and Sault’s 11 alongside co-writers Jamar McNaughton and Jack Peñate.

Knucks receives two nominations for Best Contemporary Song, one for his track Leon The Professional with co-writers Venna and Toshifumi Hinata, and one for his feature on Kojey Radical’s Payback that also credits Swindle – who is responsible for composing the new theme music for the Ivor Novello ceremonies. 

The other Best Contemporary Song nominations are Wesley Joseph and Leon Vynehall for Cold Summer, Raye, 070 Shake and Mike Sabath for Escapism, and Owen Cutts, P2J, Prgrshn and Stormzy for Hide & Seek.

The music nominated for an Ivor Novello this year is testament to the power and range of British and Irish songwriting and screen composing

Tom Gray

In the PRS For Music Most Performed Work category, Ed Sheeran makes history as Bad Habits is once again nominated after winning the award last year. He is the first ever artist to achieve the feat in this category, with his track Shivers also nominated. 

After a major surge of popularity following hit TV series Stranger Things, Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill is nominated for PRS For Music Most Performed Work - 37 years after the track was originally among the nominees for Best Contemporary Song. Also nominated is Harry Styles’ As It Was and Glass Animals’ Heat Waves.

Since its inception in 2020, the Rising Star Award With Amazon Music has championed the UK and Ireland’s most promising songwriting talents. Previous winners are Mysie, Willow Kayne and Naomi Kimpenu. In the running to claim the prize this year are Cat Burns, Ines Dunn, Tendai, Venbee and Victoria Canal – with each artist receiving their first Ivor Novello nomination.

Best Song Musically & Lyrically is awarded to those who demonstrated excellence in songwriting craft in 2022. Nominated this year is Harry Styles’ As It Was, Tom Odell’s Best Day Of My Life, Katie Gregson-Macleod’s Complex, Sault’s Stronger and Florence + the Machine’s King – which also credits US songwriter and producer Jack Antonoff.

The Ivors also recognises Britain and Ireland’s finest composers across film, TV and video games. The Best Original Video Game Score category sees British musical duo The Flight receive two nominations (Gotham Knights and Horizon Forbidden West). See below for the full list of nominees.

Tom Gray, chair of The Ivors Academy, said, “The music nominated for an Ivor Novello this year is testament to the power and range of British and Irish songwriting and screen composing. It’s a superlative list and on behalf of The Ivors Academy I’m delighted to congratulate every writer nominated for their craft and achievements.”

The official playlist for The Ivors 2023, released today on Amazon Music, showcases the songs and songwriters nominated. 

The winners will be revealed at The Ivors With Amazon Music at Grosvenor House in London on Thursday, May 18, 2023. As previously announced, Sting will become a Fellow of the Ivors Academy, the highest honour the Academy bestows. 

Ivor Novello Awards will also be presented for the Outstanding Song Collection, Special International Award, Visionary Award with Amazon Music and PRS for Music Icon Award.

The Ivors 2023 nominations:


BEST ALBUM

11

written by Dean “Inflo” Josiah Cover, Jamar McNaughton, Cleopatra Nikolic and Jack Penate

performed by Sault

 

NO THANK YOU

written by Dean “Inflo” Josiah Cover, Little Simz and Cleopatra Nikolic

performed by Little Simz

 

SKINTY FIA

written by Grian Chatten, Thomas Coll, Conor Curley, Conor Deegan and Carlos O’Connell

performed by Fontaines D.C.

 

SOME NIGHTS I DREAM OF DOORS

written by Barney Lister and Obongjayar

performed by Obongjayar

 

THE CAR

written by Alex Turner

performed by Arctic Monkeys

 

BEST CONTEMPORARY SONG


COLD SUMMER

written by Wesley Joseph and Leon Vynehall

performed by Wesley Joseph

 

ESCAPISM

written by Raye, 070 Shake and Mike Sabath

performed by Raye & 070 Shake

 

HIDE & SEEK

written by Owen Cutts, P2J, Prgrshn and Stormzy

performed by Stormzy

 

LEON THE PROFESSIONAL

written by Knucks, Venna and Toshifumi Hinata

performed by Knucks

 

PAYBACK

written by Knucks, Kojey Radical and Swindle

performed by Kojey Radical feat. Knucks

 

BEST ORIGINAL FILM SCORE


AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER

composed by Simon Franglen

 

DEATH ON THE NILE

composed by Patrick Doyle

 

DON’T WORRY DARLING

composed by John Powell

 

MRS. HARRIS GOES TO PARIS

composed by Rael Jones

 

THE ELECTRICAL LIFE OF LOUIS WAIN

composed by Arthur Sharpe

 

BEST ORIGINAL VIDEO GAME SCORE


GOTHAM KNIGHTS

composed by The Flight

 

HORIZON FORBIDDEN WEST

composed by Joris de Man, Oleksa Lozowchuk and The Flight

 

MARIO + RABBIDS SPARKS OF HOPE

composed by Gareth Coker, Grant Kirkhope and Yoko Shimomura

 

BEST SONG MUSICALLY AND LYRICALLY


AS IT WAS

written by Kid Harpoon, Tyler Johnson and Harry Styles

performed by Harry Styles

 

BEST DAY OF MY LIFE

written by Laurie Blundell and Tom Odell

performed by Tom Odell

 

COMPLEX

written by Katie Gregson-Macleod

performed by Katie Gregson-Macleod

 

KING

written by Jack Antonoff and Florence Welch

performed by Florence + The Machine

 

STRONGER

written by Dean “Inflo” Josiah Cover and Cleopatra Nikolic

performed by Sault

 

BEST TELEVISION SOUNDTRACK

 

BAD SISTERS

composed by PJ Harvey and Tim Phillips

 

ELIZABETH: THE UNSEEN QUEEN

composed by David Schweitzer

 

THE MIDWICH CUCKOOS

composed by Hannah Peel

 

THE RESPONDER

composed by Matthew Herbert

 

THE THIEF, HIS WIFE AND THE CANOE

composed by Harry Escott and Ben Pearson

 

PRS FOR MUSIC MOST PERFORMED WORK


AS IT WAS

written by Kid Harpoon, Tyler Johnson and Harry Styles

performed by Harry Styles

 

BAD HABITS

written by Fred, Johnny McDaid and Ed Sheeran

performed by Ed Sheeran

 

HEAT WAVES

written by Dave Bayley

performed by Glass Animals

 

RUNNING UP THAT HILL

written by Kate Bush

performed by Kate Bush

 

SHIVERS

written by Johnny McDaid, Kal Lavelle, Steve Mac and Ed Sheeran

performed by Ed Sheeran

 

RISING STAR AWARD WITH AMAZON MUSIC


Cat Burns

Ines Dunn

Tendai

Venbee

Victoria Canal

 

SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR WITH AMAZON MUSIC

 

Central Cee and Young Chencs

Florence Welch

Harry Styles and Kid Harpoon

Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers

George Daniel and Matty Healy

 

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