Berwyn is set to perform at this year’s mercury prize award shows. The 25-year-old announced on his Instagram that he will be performing on Thursday night at the award show.
Berwyn won’t only be at the awards show as a performer having being nominated for his mixtape DEMOTAPE/VEGA. The first artist to ever be nominated for a mixtape alone.
Berwyn is a Trinidadian migrant who has lived in the UK since he was 9 years old but does not yet have a British passport, which previously would have made him ineligible for the award. The rules were changed after Japanese-Britsh pop star Rina Sawayama revealed last year she was ineligible for a Mercury and Brits award nomination despite having lived in the UK for 26 years.
An online campaign transpired in support of her with the hashtag #SAWAYAMAISBRITISH , which ignited a conversation around Britishness and what makes somebody British. Sawayama met with the BPI following this and the rules were changed.
The change in rules meant that artists will have to meet one of the three following criteria in order to be eligible: they were born in the UK, they are a UK passport holder (this includes those that hold more than one passport), or they have been permanently resident in the UK for more than five years.
These rule changes have allowed Berwyn to be nominated for his debut mixtape, a victory that will be appreciated by the artist who in his most recent project spoke about how his citizenship had affected his ability to put out music and nearly led him to give up.
Berwyn’s performance will be on BBC iPlayer and BBC 4 on Thursday 9th September at 9 pm.
Berwyn’s Mercury prize-nominated mixtape is available to listen to here:
