Olivia Dean In, Lily Allen Out: Mercury Prize Shortlist Sparks a Snub Story
This year's list of Britain's best albums brings familiar faces back — and leaves one pop favorite off the guest list.
By Roxanne "Flashbulb" Starr
The Mercury Prize shortlist is out, and as always, half the story is who made the cut — the other half is who didn't.
Olivia Dean has landed a nomination for this year's prize, joining a roster the BBC describes as featuring "several returning nominees." It's the kind of recognition that tends to follow an artist who's already built momentum, and for Dean it adds another line to a year that's had plenty of them.
The name generating more chatter, though, is the one missing. Lily Allen, a singer with a long history of chart success and public candor about the industry around her, was snubbed from this year's list, according to the BBC. No further detail on the shortlisting panel's reasoning was included in the report we're working from, and we won't guess at it here.
The Mercury Prize has built its reputation over three decades as Britain's answer to "album of the year" — a shortlist assembled by a judging panel rather than a popular vote, meant to reward artistic ambition over airplay. That's made it, at various points, a career-maker for lesser-known acts and a talking point whenever an established star gets passed over.
We don't yet have the full shortlist, the judging panel's composition, or a response from Allen's camp — if one comes, we'll bring it to you. For now, what's confirmed is simple: Dean's in, Allen's out, and the industry will spend the next few weeks arguing about why.
If I can't source it, you won't read it here.
— Compiled from reporting by the BBC.
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