PinkPantheress deservedly wins Producer of the Year
Written by R. Loxley
We wouldn’t usually write about the Brit awards. Red-carpet moments aren’t really our patch. But PinkPantheress was just announced as Producer of the Year, becoming the first woman and youngest person ever to win the award, and it’s extremely well deserved, so let’s unpack why.
The category itself has existed since 1977 and has traditionally recognised figures who operate largely behind the curtain of pop. Traditionally a background credit, the role is often invisible, but PinkPantheress has repeatedly framed herself as a producer first, rather than a singer or a viral personality. Being recognised primarily for her production rather than her performance acknowledges and celebrates her authorship over her visibility.
PinkPantheress isn’t pushing the outer boundaries of sound design or trying to melt your speakers with the loudest, heaviest, most experimental techno. What she’s doing is arguably far harder, operating smack bang in the centre of pop and rave music, and making nostalgic samples feel fresh again. Resurrecting a hook from years gone by and building a new chorus around it has been done to death for decades, and most of the time it feels like lazy non-songwriting that leans on someone else’s magic, but PinkPantheress has a formidable knack for scouting immaculate fragments from British club culture that already live deep in your nervous system and dressing them up in new clothes, so that every time a chorus drops you’re hit with precision nostalgia beefed up for a modern party. It feels like being 13 again, but this time deep in a fluorescent club.
We reviewed both her releases last year and they were tremendous fun. Fancy That was short and sweet, Fancy Some More? was sprawling and chock-a-block with energy, clearly produced by someone who genuinely loves UK club and pop music history and wants to make it sparkle again. So much of her catalogue is built on the distinctly British club DNA of garage, rave, and early-2000s pop that never crossed the Atlantic, flying a small tartan-tinged UK flag in the US showing that our hyper-local sounds can go global.
There have been countless women shaping electronic and pop music at the highest level for decades, but PinkPantheress may be the first of that lineage to go fully viral as a vocalist while foregrounding her production credentials and being recognised for the craft. Pop wants accessibility, polish, and universal appeal whilst rave wants sweat and warehouse euphoria. Working with two cultures that historically pull in opposite directions is a delicate tension, but by leading with love of the art form it all feels affectionate in her hands as she takes Just Jack for another spin and gives Basement Jaxx their props, putting her influences front and centre for a new generation and an enormous American audience.
