Beautiful Virgin Islands

Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

Pop star Rina Sawayama 'not British enough' to enter UK music awards

Pop star Rina Sawayama 'not British enough' to enter UK music awards

British-Japanese pop star Rina Sawayama says she was "heartbroken" to find she is ineligible for The Brit Awards and The Mercury Prize.

The singer has lived in the UK for 25 years, after her family moved from Japan, and considers herself British.

Although she had indefinite leave to remain, she does not hold a British passport, ruling her out of the country's biggest music prizes.

The singer told Vice she found it "othering" to be denied entry.

"It was so heartbreaking," Sawayama said. "I rarely get upset to the level where I cry. And I cried."

"All I remember is living here," she continued. "I've just lived here all my life. I went to summer school in Japan, and that's literally it. But I feel like I've contributed to the UK in a way that I think is worthy of being celebrated, or at least being eligible to be celebrated."

"I've lived here 25 years," she added on Twitter, "but I am not British enough to even be eligible for the 2 biggest UK music awards".

The hashtag #SawayamaIsBritish trended in the UK shortly after her interview with Vice was published.



Under competition rules, solo artists must have a British or Irish passport to enter the Mercury Prize. For bands, only 30% of the members need to be officially British or Irish, as long as more than half of them live in the UK.

The system meant that, in 2005, New York-based singer Antony and the Johnsons (who now performs under the name Anohni) was able to win the award, despite having been resident in New York for 22 years, as they held a British passport.

Sawayama, however, has retained her Japanese passport in order to feel close to family members, including her father, who live in her country of birth. Japan does not allow dual citizenship.


'Border control around eligibility'

"If arts awards are creating their own sort of version of border control around their eligibility, I think that's really problematic," she said.

"If I was snubbed, I would be like, 'Well, OK, fine… Let's just make a better record and move on'."

"But the fact that I wasn't even eligible is like… I don't even know what that emotion was. It was othering."

Fellow London recording artist MNEK tweeted his support saying the star's self-titled debut album is "deserving of all the accolades".


Sawayama has previously benefitted from funding from the BPI Music Export Growth Scheme, a grant that supports and celebrates British musicians, and her album is littered with references about growing up in London.

The record, which skilfully blends millennial pop and R&B with elements of nu-metal, is one of the best-reviewed new releases of the year, with an average score of 89% on the review aggregation site Metacritic.

Many publications, including the BBC and the Guardian, noted it had been overlooked when the Mercury nominations came out last week.

A spokesperson for the BPI, which organises UK music's two biggest awards nights, confirmed to the BBC: "Both The Brit Awards and the Hyundai Mercury Prize aim to be as inclusive as possible within their parameters, and their processes and eligibility criteria are constantly reviewed."

Other music awards take a more relaxed view, and non-British citizens can be eligible for a Ivor Novello award, if they can prove they have lived in the UK for the past year.

Sawayama concluded that "it's up to the award bodies to decide what Britishness really encompasses - the very things that they celebrate, which is diversity and opportunity."

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
Tens of Thousands of Young Chinese Get Up Every Morning and Go to Work Where They Do Nothing
×