Despite the 2024 Mercury Prize nominees having been undeniably brat — they were announced during the summer and Charli XCX's album BRAT was among them, okay? — the winner is not such.
Which is nothing against Leeds indie band English Teacher whatsoever, who have won this year's coveted honour, given to one album in the UK and Ireland by the British Phonographic Industry and the British Association of Record Dealers, for This Could Be Texas, because I think it's a great record too.
The debut album from the quartet, who just formed back in 2020, succeeds Ezra Collective's Where I'm Meant to Be, which won last year. In addition to Charli XCX, English Teacher beat out the likes of Nia Archives, the Last Dinner Party, Beth Gibbons and Corinne Bailey Rae, with the panel of judges crediting the LP for its "originality and character," saying it "revealed new depths on each listen."
As per Exclaim!'s Editor-in-Chief, some band called English Teacher winning the Mercury Prize must be how international audiences feel when us Canadians write about the Polaris; we're always like, "Glon Fernwell Wins Polaris Prize, Defeating Feist and Alvvays."