NME Award Nominations: Arctic Monkeys and Haim Dominate while One Direction and The Wanted Battle it out for Worst Band

After the massive success of AM, Arctic Monkeys are strong contenders to sweep up to eight of those cheeky middle finger gongs at this year's NME Awards as the nominations were released today. Hot on their tails are girl band Haim who are up for six awards. 

Following her successful comeback, Lily Allen along with Lorde are the ladies up against the likes of David Bowie, Jake Bugg and Paul Mc Cartney for the coveted Best Solo Artist title. Electro dance duo Disclosure have been short listed for Best British Band but are up against Arctic Monkeys, Two Door Cinema Club and Foals to name a few. 

The two prizes for Hero and Villain of the year are always interesting, as Miley Cyrus' twerking antics, Harry Styles' love life and Robin Thicke's general creepiness will be tough contenders for the latter. Pussy Riot's place as potential heroes of the year come after their imprisonment in Russia, they are competing against Russell Brand for his general involvement in politics and Alex Turner's general aura of cool. 

Worst Band have a dire shortlist of One Direction, The Wanted, Imagine Dragons and Muse among them, I'm not sure if I can pick one that is worse than the other. 

The NME Awards will take place on 26th February at the O2 Academy in Brixton and public voting for the winners began today on the website. 

Vote for your favourites now

Full List of nominees: 

Best British band
Arctic Monkeys
Biffy Clyro
Disclosure
Foals
Palma Violets
Two Door Cinema Club

Best international band
Arcade Fire
Haim
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Phoenix
Queens Of The Stone Age
Vampire Weekend

Best solo artist
Lily Allen
David Bowie
Jake Bugg
Lorde
Sir Paul McCartney
Kanye West

Best new band
Courtney Barnett
Chvrches
Drenge
Jagwar Ma
Swim Deep
Wolf Alice

Best live band
Arctic Monkeys
Biffy Clyro
Haim
Palma Violets
Queens Of The Stone Age
Savages

Best album
Arctic Monkeys - AM
Drenge - Drenge
Peace - In Love
Queens Of The Stone Age - ...Like Clockwork
Savages - Silence Yourself
Kanye West - Yeezus

Best track
Lily Allen - Hard Out Here
Arcade Fire - Reflektor
Arctic Monkeys - Do I Wanna Know?
Daft Punk - Get Lucky
Disclosure ft AlunaGeorge - White Noise
Primal Scream - 2013

Worst band
30 Seconds To Mars
The 1975
Imagine Dragons
Muse
One Direction
The Wanted

Hero of the year
Russell Brand
David Bowie
Este Haim
Pussy Riot
Lou Reed
Alex Turner

Villain of the year
Russell Brand
David Cameron
Miley Cyrus
Vladimir Putin
Harry Styles
Robin Thicke

7 Feminist Elements of Lily Allen's 'Hard Out Here'

Never one to hold back, the fabulously  flamboyant and foul mouthed Lily Allen is back, and it's clear she is here to send a message.  Her comeback single, which she is hailing as a taster for what is to come next year, was released this week and it certainly sparked a lot of debate. For me I think it represents how perfectly ridiculous the music industry is nowadays- sexist to the point of stupidity, women are portrayed as submissive objects who flash their flesh at the click of slimy fingers such as Robin Thicke's. With his gratuitously iconic video Blurred Lines in mind, I have compiled 7 elements of 'Hard Out Here' which are not only feminist, but capable of inspiring females everywhere.

From i4.mirror.co.uk

1.   The Plastic Surgery scene

As Allen lays on a table while a group of men poke and prod at her, an older man tells the singer"Letterman says no". She pokes fun at the industry by highlighting the fact that she as a woman is being rejected by talk show hosts such as the latter and Kimmel, both of which are older men. For me it also emphasised the fact that the interviewing world is very much male dominated, and in general in presenting there are no older women at the forefront. The suited man standing up then describes her body as "terrifying". 

From primetime.unrealitytv.co.uk

2. She points out the unequal perceptions of sexual promiscuity 

Nowadays, most insulting words are female orientated, as Allen rightly says in the lines: " If I told you 'bout my sex life, you'd call me a slut. When boys be talking about their bitches, no one's making a fuss. "

      

3. "There's a glass ceiling to break"

Allen sings about the glass ceiling, and the fact that progress in equality is moving too slowly, and that she can't cope with the pace. Totally behind you on that one Lily! 

4. Owning the word "bitch"

At first listen, you might question why Allen decided to use a derogatory term multiple times in her song, but I think it is powerful AND feminist for two reasons:
1. It's a controversial thing to do, and definitely grabs the listener's attention.
2.  The emphasis on the word is a two fingers to the men who think they have the right to use the word against women. 

5. She sends up the female stereotypes

With the wonderful comparison of Blurred Lines, you will see in visual how Allen  sends up thepathetic Robin Thicke single. She emphasises that it's not about domestication, good looks or sex, it's about intelligence. 

6.  She represents a strong female archetype 

My favourite part of the song is the bridge when she says "Sometimes it's hard to find the words to say, I'll go ahead and say them anyway". She urges women to speak up and speak out, it's truly inspiring. 

7. "Inequality promises that it's here to stay"

Allen highlights a completely true statement, but points out that even though injustice is here to stay, we shouldn't put up with it. 

Lily I've missed you! Welcome back! 

And just in case you really didn't get the video and it's intentions... 

Watch the video here: