The BRIT Awards 2023 with Mastercard have today announced that FLO are the winners of the prestigious BRITs Rising Star award supported by BBC Radio 1. The news was revealed by Clara Amfo on her BBC Radio 1 Future Sounds show. FLO are the first ever group to win the BRITs Rising Star award.
FLO said: “From growing up watching the BRITs, to finding each other and forming FLO, releasing our first body of work in 2022 and winning a BRIT award in the same year!! We are so shocked and grateful. We are the first group to win the BRITs Rising Star! We’ve just made history and couldn’t have done it without our wonderful fans and supportive families. It’s truly a dream come true. We feel so empowered creating the music we love and we hope others feel that too.”
Seven months ago, the British R&B girl group FLO – Renée, Jorja and Stella – released their debut single ‘Cardboard Box’, which catapulted them into the collective consciousness and won them fans such as Brandy, JoJo, SZA, Victoria Monét, Missy Elliott, and girl group royalty Kelly Rowland and Sugababes. ‘Cardboard Box’ has set the world alight, with a debut sound and video that sparked a cultural conversion about the future of British girl groups.
FLO have gone on to perform ‘Cardboard Box’ on late night US TV show Jimmy Kimmel, the UK’s Later…with Jools Holland, The Glamour Women of the Year Awards, The BET Soul Train Awards, as well as being announced as Best Newcomer nominees at the MOBOs. The recent Happi remix of ‘Cardboard Box’ quickly became the #1 sound on TikTok UK after a Polynesian-creator’s dance routine went viral on the platform, leading to over 400k creations a day at its peak and now over 1M+ versions of the dance exist, with fellow artists creating their own, including Troye Sivan.
FLO released their debut EP ‘The Lead’ at the height of summer 2022 to critical acclaim, which has now amassed over 70million global streams, and represented the personal and professional growth of three young women taking the reins, who have created a sound that hasn’t been heard in the UK music scene for decades. Reinvigorating the British R&B scene, FLO have already been tipped by the likes of The Guardian, i-D, Dazed, NME, Complex and Pitchfork. From girl group royalty to hundreds of thousands of fans on their growing Instagram (180k) and TikTok (300k) channels, FLO have taken The Lead in 2022, and this is just the beginning.
Cat Burns and Nia Archives were also shortlisted for the award, originally known as Critics’ Choice, which since its launch in 2008, has successfully identified the future stars of UK music, with an extraordinary alumni of previous winners including Adele, Florence + The Machine, Sam Smith, Rag ‘N’ Bone Man, Ellie Goulding, Sam Fender, Celeste, Griff and last year’s winner Holly Humberstone, with total global track streams for all previous winners reaching over 50 billion.
The BRITs Rising Star award shortlist is selected by an invited panel of music editors and critics from the national press, online music editors, heads of music at major radio and music TV stations plus songwriters, producers and live bookers – those working with new rising talent on a regular basis.
Past BRITs Critics’ Choice / Rising Star winners and nominees:
2008 Adele (Duffy, Foals)
2009 Florence + The Machine (Little Boots, White Lies)
2010 Ellie Goulding (Delphic, Marina and the Diamonds)
2011 Jessie J (James Blake, The Vaccines)
2012 Emeli Sandé (Michael Kiwanuka, Maverick Sabre)
2013 Tom Odell (AlunaGeorge, Laura Mvula)
2014 Sam Smith (Ella Eyre, Chlöe Howl)
2015 James Bay (George The Poet, Years & Years)
2016 Jack Garratt (Izzy Bizu, Frances)
2017 Rag ’n’ Bone Man (Anne Marie, Dua Lipa)
2018 Jorja Smith (Stefflon Don, Mabel)
2019 Sam Fender (Lewis Capaldi, Mahalia)
2020 Celeste (Beabadoobee, Joy Crookes)
2021 Griff (Pa Salieu, Rina Sawayama)
2022 Holly Humberstone (Bree Runway, Lola Young)
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