EXCLUSIVEKylie Minogue will perform at The BRIT Awards 2024 as she joins RAYE as part of a female-heavy line-up after last year's boys' club backlash
Brits organisers were lambasted for their male-heavy awards last year after scrapping the gender categories for best artist.
While the change meant that only men were on the shortlist, this year, after hours of tense meetings they have come up with the perfect solution - to make it all about the women.
And The Mail can exclusively reveal that pop icon Kylie Minogue will perform at the ceremony in March after bosses decided that they wanted a 'legendary' female star to appear.
Kylie, who has been shortlisted for international artist of the year, hasn't performed at the awards for 13 years but is expected to belt out her 2023 hit Padam Padam.
She will be joined by RAYE who broke records by winning seven nominations this year.
Kylie Minogue, 55, will perform at The BRIT Awards 2024 as she joins RAYE as part of a female-heavy line-up after last year's boys' club backlash, The Mail can exclusively reveal
Kylie will be joined by RAYE who is also performing at the ceremony. The singer broke records by winning seven nominations this year, more than any other solo female artist ever
Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Dua Lipa will also perform to complete the line up of female superstars.
A BRITS source said: 'There have been many, many discussions about the lack of gender diversity from last year.
'It was acknowledged it wasn't a great look so they have really gone out there to rectify the situation.
'There is going to be very female feel to this year's show, the line up of women is absolutely stonking, to manage to get Kylie is such a great coup. Everyone is so excited.'
'It's a great line-up in its own right, but to have Kylie Minogue, alongside Raye, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Dua Lipa, really does emphasise the continued power of women in music today.'
Kylie, 55, famously appeared in 2002 when she did a mash up of her hits including I Just Can't Get You Out Of My Head.
Her signing comes after no female singers were named on the 2023 nominee shortlist in the Best Artist category.
This year, ceremony organisers came under scrutiny after female musicians - including Charlie XCX and Florence And The Machine - were snubbed from Artist Of The Year, which Harry Styles went on to win.
Kylie, who has been shortlisted for international artist of the year, hasn't performed at the awards for 13 years but is expected to belt out her 2023 hit Padam Padam
The LP also features as an Album Of The Year nominee, while its third single, Escapism, is included as a potential Song of the Year
The As It Was hitmaker was joined on the shortlist by Central Cee, Fred Again, George Ezra and Stormzy.
However, this year saw some major changes to their categories in response to the backlash of creating gender neutral gongs in 2022.
The controversial decision to replace Male and Female categories with a non-gendered Artist Of The Year Award sparked outrage in 2023 over its failure to include any female or non-binary artists among its five nominations.
After the furore, an extensive review took place, and the category has been expanded from five nominations to 10. This will also apply to International Artist Of The Year.
RAYE broke records on Wednesday with seven nominations, the most received by any female artist, following the release of her long-awaited debut album, My 21st Century Blues, in 2023.
The LP also features as an Album Of The Year nominee, while its third single, Escapism, is included as a potential Song of the Year.
Dua Lipa is also confirmed to be part of the UK's biggest night in music
Sophie Ellis-Bextor, 44, will perform Murder On The Dancefloor at this year’s BRIT awards (pictured in Blackpool in September)
Its resurgence comes following its appearance on Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn, when main character Oliver - played by Barry Keoghan (pictured) - dances naked to the song
RAYE is also included in the five strong Best New Artist category and will also compete as a nominee in the categories for R&B Act and Pop Act.
Elsewhere she features in a seventh for Song of the Year after co-writing the BRIT nominated Prada with Casso.
Speaking as the nominations were announced, the singer admitted she was humbled to be recognised after years of struggling to assert herself in the music industry.
'It's a miracle, it's deep,' she said. 'A year and a half ago, as far as the industry was concerned, I was down and out and never in my wildest dreams would I feel like trying again and it would lead to seven BRIT nominations.
'I'm a Brit kid, I went to the BRIT's School and this was the goal. The ultimate goal was to find my way somehow to the BRIT Awards. This is a whole different thing. It's a joke. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.'
Meanwhile Sophie, 44, was signed up to appear at the ceremony after her hit Murder on the Dancefloor had a global resurgence after it featured on Emerald Fennell's movie, Saltburn.
The popstar will be performing the hit at this year's awards and sources close to Sophie have said she ‘cannot believe’ her comeback and is ‘super excited’ about belting out the 2001 song at the event in March.