CMAT, Cat Burns and The Last Dinner Party were among those listed for the prestigious prize
BY YASMIN VINCE, IMAGE BY TAMI AFTAB
The nominations are in for the Mercury Prize 2024. Three queer names made the list including CMAT, Cat Burns and The Last Dinner Party. As the total number of nominees is twelve, this means a quarter of those up for the prize are not only queer but queer women.
CMAT, an Irish country singer, has been nominated for her album Crazymad, For Me. The bisexual icon’s second record is a concept album about going back in time to rescue herself from the relationship that “ruined her life”. This year, she was also nominated for a Brit Award for International Artist of the Year.
Cat Burns has been nominated for her debut album Early Twenties. The singer-songwriter, who appeared on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for European Entertainment, took to Instagram to say she was “insanely grateful” for the nomination. Early Twenties features a song called Free, in which Burns recounts her experience telling her family she’s queer.
The final queer act to be nominated is The Last Dinner Party, a five-piece rock band fronted by “human windmill” Abigail Morris. Their first album, Prelude To Ecstasy, took the world by storm, particularly the songs Nothing Matters and Sinner. The latter has been dubbed a lesbian anthem by fans, something Abigail and co. accept wholeheartedly.
The Mercury Prize has been awarded to British and Irish artists since 1992. It is awarded for the best album released by a musical act from the United Kingdom and Ireland across all genres. Previous queer winners have been Anohni and the Johnsons and Arlo Parks. If one of the three acts nominated this year won, they would only be the third queer winner of the Mercury Prize.
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