Brit awards 2024: follow the red carpet and buildup live!

And the winner of next year’s best song category is here: if you haven’t heard Charli XCX’s aggressively brilliant comeback single Von Dutch yet, you’re 547 plays behind me and can catch up right here.

Can’t believe Victoria Beckham circa 2001 is here!

Hello, Laura here. This week I learned that in 1959, Volvo invented the three-point car seatbelt and recognised that it was such a gamechanger in safety that the Swedish automobilists gave away the patent to other companies for free. Just on my mind as I look at this photo of best dance act nominee – and previous winner – Becky Hill for no reason, I am sure. (Becky is one of my favourite Brits characters of recent years thanks to her propensity for enjoying her table’s liquid wares before coming up to collect her gongs.)

I know it’s a journo cliche to say that someone has dressed up like a Quality Street, but Jacob Collier is wearing three distinct Quality Street wrappers here and you very much suspect he considered a fourth.

So all the multifarious reality TV stars who get on the red carpet at about 2pm yesterday have all filed through, leaving us with some actual musicians. Here’s Casisdead, making a brilliant effort with a phalanx of bodyguards branded with his Deadcorp project name. I wasn’t a huge fan of his album last year – I felt like the lyricism didn’t meet the ambition of the overall endeavour – but he admirably does a lot more world-building than most British artists, creating an entire cyperpunk dystopia as a backdrop for his tales of crime and trauma. He’s the outside bet in the rap genre category, up against some big beasts in the form of Central Cee, Dave, Little Simz and J Hus – but it’s fan-voted, and his fans adore him, so he’s got a chance.

It may have less star power than the Grammys, less critical clout than the Mercury and essentially be a celebration of naked commercial success – but dammit, the Brit awards remain one of the most silly, palpably British and occasionally quite subversive shows in the global awards season.

The big story this year is Raye already winning songwriter of the year and scoring a record seven nominations across the field tonight – including two in song of the year. Can she convert any, or indeed all of them? But there’ll be plenty more action besides, from Dua Lipa opening the show to Kylie closing it as the Global Icon award winner. Join us here as we rate and slate the live performances and red carpet looks, and chart all the award-winners, speeches and – this being the Brits – moments of evident drunkenness. Chin chin!