The BandLab NME Awards 2022 will see Halsey honoured with the Innovation Award.
The most rock ‘n’ roll music awards show will be back next year, with the ‘Without Me’ hitmaker set to be bestowed with the prestigious accolade, which has previously been handed out to the likes of The 1975, Bring Me The Horizon and Boy Better Know.
The 27-year-old star – who released their acclaimed concept album and film of the same name, ‘If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power’, this year – said: “The BandLab NME Awards 2022 seems more about a celebration of a bunch of people who are contemporaries rooting each other on. I don’t get many opportunities to celebrate with my peers and look around and be like, ‘Wow, this was a great year for music’ and that’s why we do this – we love it, y’know?”
Artists set to take to the stage at London’s O2 Academy Brixton on Wednesday, March 2, include Sam Fender, Griff and Rina Sawayama.
Rina, 31, said: “I can’t wait to perform at the BandLab NME Awards next year.
“It’s such an honour to be asked and I am beyond excited.”
After the BRIT Awards just announced they were going gender-neutral, the NME Awards is also diversifying and will see the introduction of award categories specific to Asia, after doing so with Australia last year, as the iconic publication has editions in both Australia and Asia.
Holly Bishop, Chief Operating & Commercial Officer at NME Networks, said: “In February 2020, as we sat back in the usual post-NME Awards haze, we had no idea that ours was to be one of the closing events of the year. What followed was one of the toughest times our industry, and our generation, has had to face.
“After a 12-month hiatus, it feels extra special to return to our Brixton home in March 2022 with an event that promises to be everything but predictable. We have an incredible line-up, an exciting title sponsor in BandLab – the global game-changer in music creation and a brand that shares NME’s commitment to emerging talent – alongside a host of other partners that share our mission to make 2022 the most memorable Awards in NME’s history.”
The nominations and further live performers will be confirmed in due course.