Wolf Alice was announced tonight, Thursday, 20 September 2018, as the overall winner of the 2018 Hyundai Mercury Prize for Album of the Year. The Awards Show was hosted by BBC Music’s Annie Mac and guest presenter, Clara Amfo announced the overall winner on behalf of the judging panel. The event was held at the Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith.
An overjoyed band collected the winner’s trophy and cheque for £25,000, and then performed a song from the winning album ‘Don’t Delete the Kisses’ to a standing ovation from the audience.
The judging panel said “From an incredibly broad list of remarkable music, Wolf Alice emerged as the overall winner due to their ability to deliver an album that combines the epic and intimate in equal measure. It is a journey of a record – with euphoric festival anthems and moments of subtle beauty – it is an album articulated with confidence and adventure. For them, the world awaits!”.
The Show featured live performances from any of the 2018 shortlisted ‘Albums of the Year’ including Everything Everything, Everything is Recorded, Florence + the Machine, Jorja Smith, King Krule, Lily Allen, Nadine Shah, Novelist, Sons of Kemet and Wolf Alice.
The Prize’s broadcast partner, BBC Music, provided live television and radio coverage of the event on BBC Four from 9pm to 10.15pm and BBC Radio 6 Music with Tom Ravenscroft from 7pm to 10pm.
The Hyundai Mercury Prize ‘Albums of the Year’ celebrate and promote the best of UK music, recognising artistic achievement across an eclectic range of contemporary music genres.
Hyundai Motor is very proud to support innovation in British music and has been celebrating all the shortlisted artists in the build up to this year’s Awards Show.
The Prize’s digital music partner, Spotify, is supporting the Hyundai Mercury Prize through its channels. Spotify is also helping music fans discover new music with playlists featuring the 12 shortlisted artists and albums.
