Headie One
Headie One x Brits

Following a breakthrough year that included multiple BRIT Award nominations, Relentless Records’ Headie One took to the stage at the BRITs for a double performance that encompassed his British single of the year nominee, ‘Ain’t It Different’, before leading into ‘Princess Cuts’ with some surprise guests.

For his time on stage, the British rapper was ironically surrounded by headlines decrying the influence of drill music, the incredible space designed by Virgil Abloh. Headie One delved into ‘Ain’t It Different’, with AJ Tracey joining as a special guest, before the stage then fell away and the Brits went full-on dance party, as Young T & Bugsey surprised the audience and combined with Headie One for the rhythmic, irresistible ‘Princess Cuts.’

The stunning performance was crafted by Tawbox, the BAFTA nominated creative duo consisting of Creative Director & Choreographer Amber Rimell and Creative Director Bronski. Bronski said of the performance: 

“We really wanted to give the audience at home, and the audience in the room, an experience. We were really inspired by giving the audience at home a fresh perspective (especially as we have all watched so many live streams this last year), which got us going down the route of using a motion control camera rig to shoot the first 90 seconds, throwing the audience around Headie and within the incredible space designed by Virgil Abloh that challenged the media’s negative take on drill. From there the TV audience were flown half the width of the arena, landing in a 25 metre corridor of video with AJ down the other end. The majority of this section was shot on wire cam, before going handheld for Headie and AJ’s bar to bar. From there, a Steadicam travelled at speed to land the entire performance back at the BRIT Awards and its main stage, with our incredible dancers, and of course Young T & Bugsey.

The audience in the room then got a whole other experience, getting to see a high speed cine-robot in action working around Headie. It then whizzed down its tracks at speed, before seeing the full AJ & Headie section in a different way, as the walls of the corridor were transparent – meaning that from the side, you could see AJ and Headie very clearly. For an audience in the room, this would have been really exciting to witness, as it was an almost behind the scenes, but high energy performance of not only the artists, but incredible technology.”

After scoring a No. 1 album in his native U.K. with his debut LP Edna, Headie One notched three Brit nominations, including British Male Solo Artist of the year. ‘Don’t Rush’, his smash with Young T & Bugsey, was also up for British Single.