Nominees For Brit Awards Announced

The nominees for the 2008 Brit Awards were announced on Monday.

As the international music press has unfailingly pointed out, the 2008 roster is heavy on pop artists. Lebanese pop singer Mika, TV talent show winner Leona Lewis, and recently reunited British boy band Take That each nabbed 4 nominations each. Other artists nominated include the Kaiser Chiefs, the Arctic Monkeys (last year’s big winners), Mark Ronson, KT Tunstall, PJ Harvey, and Kate Nash. Former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney will be honored with an Outstanding Contribution to Music award, hopefully cheering the old guy up after a rough start to 2008.

For those who don’t know, the Brit Awards are roughly the British equivalent of the Grammys. Some consider selections for awards to be based on commercial success rather than artistic merit. Unlike the Grammys, however, the Brit Awards reserve special international categories for non-British musicians. This year, the White Stripes, the Foo Fighters, the Kings of Leon, Kylie Minogue, and the Arcade Fire vie with the Eagles for the Best International Album award, proving that the British Recording Industry shares equally bad taste with their American counterparts.

The ceremony will take place February 20th in London, and will be hosted by Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne. McCartney is slated to perform, as are Kylie Minogue, Kaiser Chiefs, Mark Ronson, Mika, Kylie Minogue and Rihanna . Because the ceremony has been pre-recorded since 1989, don’t expect any spontaneous wackiness from famously whacked out Ozzy. A full list of nominees can be found here.