British Breakthrough Act nominations announced

Chvrches
FKA twigs
George Ezra
Royal Blood
Sam Smith

CHVRCHES, FKA twigs, George Ezra, Royal Blood and Sam Smith are nominated for the BRIT Award for British Breakthrough Act, all hoping to follow in the footsteps of last year’s winners Bastille.

Scottish electronic trio CHVRCHES spent 2014 wowing crowds across the UK, mainland Europe and beyond with material from their top 10 album, 'The Bones of What You Believe'. This is their first ever BRIT Award nomination.

Tahliah Debrett Barnett, aka FKA twigs, is also in the running for a BRIT for the first time, rounding off a big year in which she released her first album, LP1, which peaked at No.16 in the UK album charts. FKA twigs is also nominated in the British Female Solo Artist category and performed at ‘The BRITs Are Coming’ Nominations Launch event.

Bristol’s George Ezra and Brighton two-piece Royal Blood have both been dominating radio airwaves and TV soundtracks with singles from their 2014 debut albums. Royal Blood’s eponymous LP went straight to No.1 in August while Ezra’s 'Wanted On Voyage' was the third biggest selling record of last year.

Together they take on the only artist to have a BRIT Award to their name; Sam Smith, who won the Critics’ Choice Award last time round and, like George Ezra and Royal Blood, will perform at this year’s ceremony.

The winner of the British Breakthrough Act is selected following a public vote promoted by BRITs.co.uk and BBC Radio 1.

The BRIT Awards 2015 take place at London’s O2 Arena on 25 February and will be broadcast live on ITV at 8pm GMT. See all the nominations here.