Already decided before the ceremony, this year Ellie Goulding has the honour of actually being able to prepare her acceptance speech in advance, knowing that it isn’t going to go to waste.
Ellie had to fend off hot competition from glacial electro-indie act Delphic and the dramatically flamboyant Marina and the Diamonds, so what is it about the young artist that’s so entranced the judges?
Well, it didn’t hurt that the 23-year-old came on top of the BBC Sound of 2010 list, following in the footsteps of current stars including Little Boots, Adele, Mika and Corinne Bailey Rae. Oh, er, and The Bravery.
The BBC said when crowning her as the Sound of 2010: “If Kate Bush, Bjork and Stevie Nicks shared a flat in trendy Shoreditch in 2010, this noise would emerge.”
She’s also earned comparisons to BRIT Awards nominees Florence and the Machine and Bat For Lashes, and has seen her sound honed to a fine tee by pop artist Frankmusik.
As if that wasn’t enough, the Herefordshire-born singer has also become friends with critical feted artists such as Laura Marling and Burial since upping sticks to London town.
Ellie has said: “There's quite a big group of us actually and we often socialise at my manager's house in Ealing. So I know Marina and Laura and Mumford & Sons. There's a lot of musical people in our group.”
Talking about how her initial collaboration with Frankmusik went after he responded to her Myspace message, she explained: “It was like my songs had come alive. He made me realise that they could be something much more exciting and much more sparkly and pretty.”
