The 2017 BRIT Awards are almost upon us, so Music Week is going behind the scenes of this year’s BRITs Album Of The Year nominees.
Battling it out for the coveted gong this year are David Bowie’s Blackstar, Kano’s Made In The Manor, Skepta’s Konnichiwa, Michael Kiwanuka’s Love & Hate and The 1975’s I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It.
Below, Jamie Oborne, founder of Dirty Hit Records/All On Red Management, gives us the lowdown on the campaign behind The 1975’s I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It.
Label: Dirty Hit/Polydor
Peak Chart Position: No.1
Sales to date: 236,258
“The band are very committed artistically and creatively as people and the stakes can be quite high. If there was a difficulty with this album, it was that they take it very seriously, as we all do, and the record was about commitment to the art form. Matthew [Healy, vocals/guitar] has never been able to do things by half.
“I really feel strongly that, in terms of British music on the world stage, you’d struggle to find similar talents. I’m pleased for them because it was nice for Matthew to finally have UK and American press saying that his work’s important. He put his heart and soul into that record.
“Being No.1 in the UK and the US was amazing. We’d built the marketing plan around trying to achieve that and we did it pretty perfectly. I’m really proud of The 1975 marketing. It’s one of my passions in life, so I’m really happy about it being up for the Music Week Award [for Artist Marketing Campaign]. Ninety-nine per cent of the marketing ideas are Matthew’s. The kid is an actual genius. He’s my label’s secret weapon.
“We enjoyed a range of good moments during the campaign. We loved Glastonbury, Reading was one of those moments I’ll never forget and Saturday Night Live was pretty special but, without meaning to sound boring, when we finished our last tour commitment of last year, I was really happy to get everyone home safely. It had been such an intense year, I was just happy to get everyone home in one piece.
“And now to be nominated for a BRIT for best album and best band is really special. I mean, part of me is, like, Well, they are the best band and they have made the best album! But the other part of me is like, Wow, this is a band that no one wanted to sign, that I had to risk everything on by starting a label and yet here we are and everyone’s coming to us.
“It’s going to give us a massive platform, because 99% of people watching won’t know who the fuck the band are, because why would they? It’s an opportunity to expose the ITV audience to what they’ve become. On the first album, we became the biggest cult band in the UK. With this album, we’ve become the biggest cult band in the world. And my plan for the next album is to be the biggest band in the world...”
