New York, NY (Top40 Charts) World-renowned producer, songwriter and musician Fraser T Smith has today won the Ivor Novello Award 2021 for 'Best Contemporary Song' with his track 'Children Of The Internet', his collaboration with acclaimed British rapper Dave featuring vocals from leading stage designer Es Devlin. The track is taken from '12 Questions', Fraser's debut album as
Future Utopia.
This win is the latest plaudit for a creative partnership between Smith and Dave that has seen the pair win two previous Ivor Novello Awards, first in 2018 with 'Best Contemporary Song' for Dave's 'Question Time', before going on to scoop the prestigious prize again in 2020 for Dave's track 'Black', which they also performed together at The BRIT Awards last year.
Discussing his win, Smith says: "I'm so honoured to take home this win alongside Dave and Es
Devlin for 'Best Contemporary Song' for 'Children Of The Internet' from my debut album as
Future Utopia, '12 Questions'. I've been part of the Ivors family for a long time now, and it's incredible to be recognised for my songwriting with some of the world's most talented artists. It's especially amazing to win for the third time with Dave - his poetic interrogation of the political system is unrivalled, and I knew from the off this song was going to be one of my standout moments from the record. I feel very proud of this moment, and the whole team."
Reflecting the song-writing process for the award-winning track, Smith says: "Dave always comes with the best song titles. 'Children Of The Internet' is one of them. We chatted about it in the studio, and I said, 'That's great that you can write this from the perspective of being a child of the internet'. He looked at me and said 'I'm not a child of the internet. That happened when the Xbox One came out - that's when you didn't have to be in the same room as the person you were playing against. That's when we started losing eye contact and human interaction'. I watched Es Devlin's brilliant TED talk about division, and slowly the idea of asking Es the question 'Why Are We So Divided When We're So Connected?' came to light. Children Of The
Internet is the answer."
Today's award follows the release this month of Fraser's '12 Questions After Dark' album, an electronic reimagining of the original '12 Questions' album. Featuring remixes from the likes of UNKLE, HAAi, Lafawandah,
India Jordan, DJ Seinfeld and
Franky Wah, '12 Questions After Dark' was released globally by 70Hz/Platoon on 10th September, and has already received widespread support from the likes of BBC
Radio 6
Music and BBC
Radio 1.
As a producer for some of music's biggest names, Fraser T Smith has a remarkable track record. He has worked with the likes of Adele, for whom he co-wrote and produced the Grammy winning single Set Fire To The Rain (2011), as well as Stormzy, whose BRIT Award winning debut album Gang Signs & Prayer (2018) Fraser wrote on and produced. Fraser also contributed to Stormzy's second album
Heavy Is The Head (2019), reaching the number one spot on both the UK Official Singles and Albums Chart in January 2020. Fraser has also previously worked with Dave to co-produce his Mercury Prize winning debut album Psychodrama (2019). It is this catalogue of work that has seen Fraser become one of the most in demand creators in contemporary music today.
Now in their 66th year, the winners were announced today at an awards ceremony hosted by Paul Gambaccini at Grosvenor House, London.
The Ivors Academy is the UK's independent professional association for music creators. They represent and champion a diverse, talented community of songwriters and composers. They are a self-funded not-for-profit organisation, relying on the continued support of their members and partners to carry on their work.
The Ivor Novello Awards are the ultimate accolade for songwriting and composition in the industry. The Ivors with Apple
Music celebrate the talents of songwriters and screen composers, and The Ivors Composer Awards recognise music creators in the classical, jazz and sound art fields.
