When James Bay was asked how he felt about Lily Allen's criticisms of the BRITs' lack of diversity, he replied, "I can't think of her last album." Now, Lily Allen has responded.
When the BRIT Award nominations were announced last month, Stormzy expressed his disappointment that the awards were lacking in grime nominations after it had been such a strong year for the genre, and Lily Allen swiftly agreed - saying that the industry was "blind to black talent."
"The voting academy consists of 1000 music industry figures, and here lies the problem," she wrote in a now-deleted Facebook post, "music industry figures don’t necessarily care about music, they mostly care about themselves, they vote tactically for their labels artists to win or so that their competitors at other labels DON'T."
She continued: "Awards mean £££ and promotions. i don’t think music industry figures (or people that work at major labels) even look at artists as artists when it comes to voting for these things, the artists represent their teams their a+r people, managers, mds, pluggers etc…Skepta JME and Stormzy are all unsigned artists, who would gain from them winning anything? In fact them being nominated or even winning poses a direct threat to ‘music industry figures’."
Asked whether he agreed with Allen's comments, James Bay told The Mirror, "It's varied nominations. It's about music. I don't know why she's had to go down that route. I haven't looked closely into all the nominations but it’s interesting she should bring that up. I can’t think of her last album, when she last released something."
Now, Allen has taken to Twitter to have the last word on the matter.
A fellow named James Bay dodged a question about lack of diversity at the Brits has apparently labeled me entirely forgettable
— lily (@lilyallen) February 22, 2016
I must admit if not heard of him until I saw my feed this morning, I have now listened to some of his music and seen his hat.
— lily (@lilyallen) February 22, 2016
he shares a name with the most standard, basic and least flavorsome herb, which I found both fitting and amusing.
— lily (@lilyallen) February 22, 2016
The BRIT Awards 2016 take place this Wednesday (24 February).
