Defying all the odds and bookmaker predictions, Skepta was awarded this year's Mercury Prize for his album 'Konnichiwa' last night.
Announced by Jarvis Cocker at a packed out Eventim Apollo, he teased the crowd by announcing the decision came down to "two black stars", before finally unveiling the winner, saying “If [David Bowie] was looking down, he would want the Mercury Prize to go to Skepta.”
In an emotional speech, Skepta praised all those that had worked on his latest album, stating "I wanna say thank you to every single person that made ‘Konnichiwa’ happen. For everybody who knows what it takes to put an album together, it’s so much more than just making the music."
This year's awards saw a different method of choosing a winner. For the first time, the public got to pick which albums should go into a shortlist of six before the judges came in to deliver their verdict. It was announced during the night that those six artists were Skepta, David Bowie, Radiohead, The 1975, Laura Mvula and Michael Kiwanuka. This year's judging panel included Kate Tempest, Wolf Alice’s Ellie Rowsell, Jessie Ware, Clara Amfo, Annie Mac, and Naughty Boy amongst others.
