If Lewis Capaldi Is Going To Lose An Award To Harry Styles, He At Least Wants To Get Close Enough To Smell Him

Lewis Capaldi is the people’s champion. The Scottish pop hitmaker (and funnyman) never misses an opportunity for disarming relatability. Don’t forget that Capaldi was mistaken for a seat-filler at the 2020 Grammys, where he was nominated for Song Of The Year for “Someone You Loved.” He lost that night but won in the same category at the following month’s BRIT Awards.

The 2023 BRIT Awards are scheduled for Saturday, February 11 at London’s O2 Arena. Capaldi is nominated for Song Of The Year (again) for his September single “Forget Me,” but he has zero expectations. He joined BBC Radio 1 and was asked about going up against LF System (“Afraid To Feel”) for the honor.

“To be honest, I don’t think either of us have to worry ’cause ‘As It Was,’ Mr. Harry Styles, is in the same category,” Capaldi said. “So, I’m just looking forward to going along and seeing what regalia he turns up in and accepts the award in. I’m very excited, and hopefully, I’ll get close enough to him that I can smell him.”

Along Capaldi, Styles, and LF System, the Song Of The Year candidates are Aitch and Ashanti’s “Baby,” Cat Burns’ “Go,” Dave’s “Starlight,” Ed Sheeran and Elton John’s “Merry Christmas,” Eliza Rose and Interplanetary Criminal’s “BOTA (Baddest Of Them All), George Ezra’s “Green Green Grass,” and Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ “Unholy” (as noted by BBC).

To Capaldi’s point, “As It Was” has enjoyed record-breaking success atop Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart since its release last spring. But we shouldn’t overlook “Unholy,” which made Smith and Petras the first publicly non-binary solo artist and first publicly transgender solo artist, respectively, to hit No. 1 on the Hot 100 in October. It’s also worth noting that Capaldi’s “Forget Me” peaked at No. 74 on the Hot 100 last week and has been charting for eight total weeks.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.