BERWYN: “We’re in crazy times where the freedom of human beings is restricted”

nme.com:

BERWYN has spoken to NME about the political turmoil that shaped his Mercury-nominated new album ‘Who Am I’ – and his favourites to take home the prize this year.The Trinidad-born, Romford-raised rapper, producer, singer and songwriter was appearing on the red carpet of the launch of the Mercury Prize last week (Thursday July 25), where it was announced that he’d been shortlisted for acclaimed 2023 album ‘Who Am I’ – facing off competition from records by the likes of Charli XCX, CMAT, Corinne Bailey Rae, The Last Dinner Party, Ghetts, English Teacher, Beth Gibbons, Barry Can’t Swim and more.This marks the recent NME cover star‘s second Mercury nod, after landing himself a place on the shortlist in 2021 for his mix ‘‘DEMOTAPE/VEGA’.Responding to the rest of the shortlist this year, BERWYN told NME: “It’s tough competition for sure.

Last time I was nominated for a mixtape, this time I’m nominated for an album. There are a lot of serious works of art on there; it’s not a joke.

I’m here, I’m alive and I’m happy.“I’ve read a lot of the reviews from a lot of the critics. The opinion of the music critics matter to me because they’re specialist and know what they’re talking about, but apart from that, it’s just noise.

That’s responsible for the way the album is – ignoring the noise – so I had to continue doing that.”A post shared by NME (@nmemagazine)Pressed on who he could see taking home the prize this year, he replied: “Ghetts.