We at Refinery29 are big fans of Clara Amfo. When she's not entertaining the nation on BBC Radio 1 during weekday mid-mornings, or nobly standing by her fellow L’Oreal True Match model Munroe Bergdorf after the beauty company ended its partnership with the trans model, she is being asked to judge some pretty prestigious music awards.
The Hyundai Mercury Prize (formerly the Mercury Music Prize) is the award that every serious muso wants to win. Forget the Brit Awards, when big record labels and chart-topping acts always take home the trophies, the Mercury supports the best in cutting-edge music. And Ed Sheeran.
"I'm very happy to return to the Mercury Music Prize panel again," says Clara. "The albums in the shortlist have all moved, entertained and challenged me and I can't wait for us to make the final decision on Thursday."
Ahead of the ceremony tomorrow night, we asked Clara to pick her favourite tunes from each of the 12 nominated albums. Enjoy!
The nominated albums are:
alt-j - Relaxer
Blossoms - Blossoms
Dinosaur - Together, As One
Ed Sheeran - ÷
Glass Animals - How to Be a Human Being
J Hus - Common Sense
Kate Tempest - Let Them Eat Chaos
Loyle Carner - Yesterday’s Gone
Sampha - Process
Stormzy - Gang Signs & Prayer
The Big Moon - Love in the 4th Dimension
The xx - I See You
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