Merry Christmas to you all! Hope you’re all having a great time so far and are eating, drinking and sharing with loved ones aplenty. (Here come the emojis 😄 🎄 🎁 🎀 ❄ 🎅 🐧)
2014 has been a busy and exciting year for me, and usually, those who’ve read my Facebook for the last five or six years will know that I focus on writing about my what-I-call ‘Personal Bests’. This is typically a rundown of my 50 best albums and 50 best singles of the year. Alas, I haven’t found near enough that amount of albums or singles to justify lists of that length this year.
Nonetheless, I did want to write some end of year pieces about not just my favourite music, but my favourite films, TV and books from the past year. So today, I am handing out these bad boys, I give you…
Yes. In something that I hope to become a broader, more annual tradition at this time of year, think of it as my equivalent of Smash Hits (RIP) Poll Winners Party crossed with the BRITs when it was good. So ladies and gentleman, please take your seats for our End of Year Prizes…
WOMAN OF THE YEAR
And the nominations are:
MIRANDA HART
CLAUDIA WINKLEMAN
CAROLINE FLACK
CHERYL
FRANKIE BRIDGE
And the winner is…
CAROLINE FLACK!
Xtra! Xtra! News…FLASH! Just a couple of weeks after she deservedly lifted the glitterball trophy on Strictly Come Dancing, our favourite presenter on the box Caroline’s had a pretty amazing year this year, and now, set for even more amazing achievements to come in 2015 she takes home our prize for ‘Woman of the Year’.
Our next award is a special prize, for:
COMEBACK OF 2014
This is an award with only one nominee, and thus one winner given in recognition of an outstanding comeback this year.
And the winner is…
S CLUB 7!
Over 10 years on from their split, the pop reunion we were really waiting for with the S Club gang finally happened as they brought it all back to us this year (see what we did there?) with a blast of a reunion performance on Children in Need in November. They’ll hit the road again in spring 2015 and we for one cannot wait. Ooh, ooh, it’s a party over here…
Our first film award is next…
FILM OF THE YEAR
And the nominations are:
MUPPETS MOST WANTED
THE LOVE PUNCH
SAVING MR BANKS
BEAUTIFUL LIES
BRAVE
And the winner is…
SAVING MR BANKS!
Based on the personal travails that P.L Travers, author of the original Mary Poppins books faced when Walt Disney was to turn her creation into the family favourite we all know and love, we’re shocked that neither Tom Hanks or Emma Thompson in their brilliant lead roles in this got a look in at the Oscars. Thankfully though this wonderful film gets a look in from us today.
Next up, our first music award:
SINGLE OF THE YEAR
And the nominations are:
CLEAN BANDIT AND JESS GLYNNE (for ‘Rather Be’)
ED SHEERAN (for ‘Sing’)
CHERYL AND TINIE TEMPAH (for ‘Crazy Stupid Love’)
MNEK (for ‘Wrote a Song About You’)
OLLY MURS AND TRAVIE MCCOY (for ‘Wrapped Up’)
McBUSTED (for ‘Air Guitar’)
GEORGE EZRA (for ‘Budapest’)
PHARRELL WILLIAMS (for ‘Happy’)
CHARLI XCX (for ‘Boom Clap’)
NICOLE SCHERZINGER (for ‘Your Love’)
And the winner is…
PHARRELL WILLIAMS for ‘Happy’!
Originally scooting in at #2 on the Christmas chart this time last year, it shot up to #1 across the globe in January, and ‘Happy’ hasn’t left the UK top 40 for the large majority of this year, selling over a million copies in this country alone. And, not only did it put Pharrell back on the map after a few years in producer wilderness, it offered a bright ray of sunshine in a chart landscape that was otherwise bereft of sunny, upbeat and well, ‘happy’ pop.
Next, we present another one nominee, one winner award…
BOOK OF THE YEAR
And the winner is…
DERMOT O’LEARY for ‘The Soundtrack to My Life’!
Most celeb biographies are badly written tosh. But not so Mr O’Leary, who gave us what we feel is easily the funniest, warmest and most candid read we’ve had all year, telling his life story to date through the medium of the music that has defined who he is as a person. It’s also the only book in living memory to make reference to both Terry Wogan and 90’s boyband 5ive. Go figure.
We’ve had our Woman of the Year, and with woman, must surely, come man…
MAN OF THE YEAR
And the nominations are:
PHARRELL WILLIAMS
OLLY MURS
JAMES CORDEN
JOHN BISHOP
MARVIN HUMES
And the winner is…
OLLY MURS!
Turning 30 this year. Releasing another brilliant new album with ‘Never Been Better’. Winning both a GQ award in Germany and Rear of the Year. But all of that pales in comparison to him receiving an End of Year Prize for Man of the Year, because he really is still the same man we first met five years ago. Don’t ever change Olls. Top geez!
Another music award is up next…
BAND OF THE YEAR
And the nominations are:
THE SATURDAYS
CLEAN BANDIT
COLDPLAY
McBUSTED
LOVEABLE ROGUES
And the winners are…
McBUSTED!
Combining the already brilliant McFly with the best members of their equally brilliant mentors and predocessors Busted at the end of last year proved to be a pop match made in heaven. Their supergroup tour was the stuff of legend among pop gig goers this year, packing the O2 out several times over as well as Hyde Park in the summer. They also made one of our favourite pop singles of the year with ‘Air Guitar’ and with another tour on the horizon in 2015, you can be assured that McBusted aren’t gonna stop anytime soon.
Time for another one nominee, one winner prize next…
COMEDIAN OF THE YEAR
And the winner is…
JOHN BISHOP!
Liverpool’s finest was still as riotously funny as ever this year, with another brilliant stand up tour to his name as well as captaining in a hilarious series of Olympic style challenges for Sport Relief. Not to mention as well what was one of the TV highlights of the year when he and our Man of the Year, Olly Murs, battled each other in a ‘Lipsync Off’ on his ITV special!
The penultimate music award is next up…
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
And the nominations are:
THE SCRIPT (for ‘No Sound Without Silence’)
OLLY MURS (for ‘Never Been Better’)
SOPHIE ELLIS-BEXTOR (for ‘Wanderlust’)
PHARRELL WILLIAMS (for ‘Girl’)
COLDPLAY (for ‘Ghost Stories’)
GEORGE EZRA (for ‘Wanted on Voyage’)
ED SHEERAN (for ‘X’)
VARIOUS ARTISTS (for ‘BBC Radio 2 presents Sounds of the 80’s’)
ONEREPUBLIC (for ‘Native’)
LOVEABLE ROGUES (for ‘This ‘n That’)
And the winner is…
ED SHEERAN for ‘X’!
The biggest selling album of the year in the UK at a time when many were writing the album off as a format – and deservedly so too. Making an album that is quite possibly even better than his debut, Ed mixed it up a bit working with Pharrell Williams on chart topping ‘Sing’ whilst retaining his relatability and raw emotion on ‘Photograph’ and this album’s other big hit ‘Thinking Out Loud’. The most simple but effective pop album that continues to highlight what a true talent he is.
Another screen based prize is up next…
TV SHOW OF THE YEAR
And the nominations are:
BIRDS OF A FEATHER
STRICTLY COME DANCING
THE VOICE
THE GRAHAM NORTON SHOW
ALAN CARR: CHATTY MAN
And the winner is…
THE GRAHAM NORTON SHOW!
With so many chat shows on in the late evening slot, it’s Graham’s one on Friday nights that continues to shine above the rest – largely by having all his guests on at once, making for some televisual (and thus YouTube) gold. Want Miranda Hart rapping with Tinie Tempah? Jennifer Aniston presenting Olly Murs with a Rear of the Year award? Gary Barlow rapping to the Fresh Prince with actual Will Smith? Or Lee Mack chewing the cud with Cheryl over tattoos? Graham’s your man.
Last music award now, and it’s a biggie…
SOLO ARTIST OF THE YEAR
And the nominations are:
PHARRELL WILLIAMS
CHERYL
OLLY MURS
ED SHEERAN
NICOLE SCHERZINGER
And the winner is…
ED SHEERAN!
With his second prize of the year, Ed has gone from a small time busker to the biggest – but we must also say least starry (and we mean that in a nice way) – popstar on the planet. We always approve of any man who counts tea with Van Morrison as their highlight of the year. Hopefully winning an End of Year Prize from us is the icing on the cake for him.
Three more one nominee, one winner prizes to finish now. First up…
ACTOR OF THE YEAR
And the winner is…
EMMA THOMPSON!
Apart from being robbed of a look in at the Oscars this year that we mentioned earlier, the question is almost what is there about Ms. Thompson that makes her an unworthy winner? Not much, is the answer. Proving she can turn her hand so wittily from a very British, clipped role as P.L Travers to a riotously funny wife in ‘The Love Punch’, as well as being a great screenwriter and speech giver (look up on YouTube, if you will, her speech at the Empire magazine awards this year), I’m sure she’d express her thanks far greater than we ever could.
Now for the most refined prize of them all…
STYLE ICON OF 2014
And the winner is…
DAVID BECKHAM!
Mr Posh Spice has come a long way from the days of sarongs and buzz cuts and has very quietly become something of a real and very British style icon – perhaps nowhere more so this year than on his BBC documentary ‘Into the Unknown’, which saw him traversing into the wilds of South America pulling off a rugged biker look far better than we ever could. But for all our envy enduction it was inspiring for our wardrobe nonetheless, and for that we raise our hat to him.
Now for our final award, and it’s recognising an individual who has basically made our 2014 across all fields…
LEGEND OF 2014
And the winner is…
PHARRELL WILLIAMS!
As we sort of mentioned with the prize for ‘Happy’ earlier, Pharrell did that one thing this year that many people have tried to claim music and never will do – make the world a bit of a better place. But as the man himself says, ‘That which makes you different, is that which makes you special’.
He’s pushed boundaries not just in music but with his more philanthropic initiatives, namely his ‘i am OTHER’ foundation looking to give the next generation of ‘different’ in music, arts and fashion their big break. He continues to be an innovator in all senses of the word and for that, Mr Williams we salute you!
A big congratulations to all the prize winners, and thanks to all who’ve read my blog this last year. More of the same to come in 2015!
Much love,
Alex 😁 x
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