When we wrote recently about the nominees for England’s prestigious Mercury Prize (previous winners include Portishead, PJ Harvey and Franz Ferdinand), we put odds on art-school Ophelias Florence and the Machine or Bat for Lashes, with perhaps a sneaky steal by electro jam duo La Roux or old-school Brit-rockers Kasabian; maybe even newly-relevant noir-shoegazers The Horrors.
And … we lose! (Hi, bookies). The prize went to the short list’s most distant long shot, rapper Speech Debelle, a.k.a. 26-year-old Corynne Elliot — whose debut, Speech Therapy, landed Stateside in August with nary a peep, and made only a pebble-splash impact in her native U.K.
Frankly, it seems like a strange, if not overtly contrarian choice (though not on the level of, say, house muzak outfit M People beating out the likes of Blur and Pulp in 1994).
But watch the clip for “Better Days” featuring (the unnominated!) Micachu of Micachu and the Shapes, below, and judge for yourselves; would Debelle have been your pick?
More from EW’s Music Mix:
The Beatles: Thanksgiving special coming to ABC?
‘New Moon’ soundtrack: Sneak peek at Death Cab for Cutie snippet
The Beatles: And their best song is…
Jason Schwartzman exclusive: Hear the theme song for his new HBO show here
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La Roux’s debut album is set to be released here on Sept. 29th. I’ve had the import for months, and for any fan of Lady Gaga’s electro-pop jams and unique sense of fashion, PICK IT UP WHEN ITS RELEASED ON SEPT. 29th!!! The remix single for “Bulletprooof” is available on iTunes now. Its a great cd, but I fear America “won’t get them”.
*yawn*
bat for lashes deserved the glittering prize