Last night, the red carpet was rolled out in London for a new edition of the Brits Awards, during which Adele (two awards: 'Album of the Year' for “21” and 'Female Solo Artist') and Ed Sheeran ('Male Solo Artist' and 'Breakthrough Artist') were the absolute stars, even though neither of them won the award for 'Single of the Year', for which both were nominated (it was won by One Direction with “What Makes You Beautiful”).
Coldplay took the prize for 'Best British Group'. In the international categories, Rihanna and Bruno Mars took home the awards for 'International Female Solo Artist' and 'International Male Solo Artist', respectively, during a first-rate gala featuring performances by Florence + The Machine, Chris Martin accompanying Noel Gallagher and—the cherry on the cake— Blur, who were in top form.
In spite of the festiveness of the evening, with tributes to the sadly-departed Amy Winehouse and Whitney Houston, the British tabloids went in overdrive this morning: Adele flipped her middle finger in protest, after her acceptance speech was cut short by the host of the evening because of time pressure. Aware of the waves her gesture was going to make, the singer of “Rolling In The Deep” was quick to clarify her action: “I was about to thank the British public for their support. They cut me off, sorry if I offended anyone but the suits offended me. I got cut off during my speech and flung the middle finger. But that finger was to the suits at the Brit Awards, not to my fans.”
