Mark Savage
Music correspondent

Image source, Polydor

Florence Welch began working on Everybody Scream after experiencing a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy – and the experience casts a dark shadow over her sixth album.

She questions her devotion to her career, worrying about the physical toll it takes, but ultimately finds catharsis in the primal power of her own voice.

Highest chart position: Number one

• Listen to Florence + The Machine’s One Of The Greats from Everybody Scream on YouTube, external

Mark Savage
Music correspondent, reporting from the Mercury Prize

Wrapping up tonight’s live performances, we have Florence + The Machine, with One Of The Greats - a grungy, sarcastic track from her Mercury nominated album.

Everybody Scream. It’s a song that questions the challenges female artists face in the music industry - and why mediocre men get so much more praise.

Her performance is angrily compelling, as she stalks the stage shooting accusations into the air like poison darts.

What a way to end the show.

Eleanor Doyle
BBC Newsbeat, at the Mercury Prize awards

Record producer, DJ, singer and songwriter - Nia Archives does it all.

Her album Emotional Junglist is definitely more grown up, and Nia says she’s feeling "more sexy" with her sound recently.

Speaking to Newsbeat earlier, she said: "I’ve just turned 27 a month ago. I’m talking about grown up topics now. I’m stepping into and owning my womanhood now."

She also says she’s pleased the award looks beyond streaming figures.

"They look at the album as a full piece. Which is amazing."

She told us she’s not expecting to win, but would "hypothetically invest it into [her] label and take them abroad.

"I’d also like to spend it on getting more young people into dance music," she adds.

Image source, JMEnternational/Getty Images

Mark Savage
Music correspondent

Image source, Island

The only dance record on the shortlist, Nia Archives' second album traces the arc of a relationship from the first flush of love to a breakup so ugly that her partner calls the police.

Despite the title, she says "it's not a jungle album [but] an alternative record", that pulls on everything from Bjork's Debut to Pulp's Different Class, while a full live band breathes life into her breakbeats and heartaches.

Highest chart position: 30

• Listen to Nia Archives’ Boys In Blue from Emotional Junglist on YouTube, external

Annabel Rackham
Culture reporter, at the Mercury Prize awards

Our penultimate performance tonight has come from Nia Archives, who brought her signature dance sound to Newcastle this evening, with Boys in Blue from her album Emotional Junglist - which explores both falling in love and breaking up, taking the listener on quite the emotional journey.

There was a rebellious, punk rock feel to the high energy rendition, complete with a pretty rockstar outfit to match.

The Mercury Prize ceremony is well under way, and you can watch a delayed playback featuring tonight's performances.

That's available now on BBC Four and on iPlayer.

A reminder that we'll bring you the result here, before the delayed feed catches up on the channel.

Mark Savage
Music correspondent

Image source, RCA

Freed from the shackles of girl group conformity, Jade Thirlwall threw everything, including the kitchen sink, at her solo debut.

But she romps through the stylistic twists of Angel of my Dreams (electro-dance-opera), Fantasy (sci-fi sex disco) and Midnight Cowboy (catwalk camp) with aplomb, never loosening her grip on a golden vein of pop melody.

Highest chart position: Number three

• Listen to Jade’s Angel Of My Dreams from That's Showbiz Baby! on YouTube, external

Mark Savage
Music correspondent, reporting from the Mercury Prize

Jade had the fastest-selling British debut album of 2025 with That’s Showbiz, Baby! (Exclamation mark compulsory) describing it as a "pop punch to the face".

But tonight she’s playing the slow, orchestral version of the album’s melodramatic opener, Angel of My Dreams.

Or is she? After the harps and strings accompany the opening chorus, a jackhammer beat turns the Utilita Arena into an impromptu race.

A pop album hasn’t won the Mercury since the 1990s, but she’s mounting a pretty good argument for smashing through that roadblock.

And if she takes the trophy, we can all head back to her pub in South Shields for the afterparty.

Eleanor Doyle
BBC Newsbeat, at the Mercury Prize awards

"Go on girl!"

We hear from the crowd as Jade comes to the stage and brings us a cinematic rendition of Angel of My Dreams.

Image source, JMEnternational/Getty Images

Mark Savage
Music correspondent

Image source, Neighbourhood

Introspective and thoughtful, Dave's fourth album drops the bravado of his youth to confront his loss of faith, alcoholism and infidelity.

He describes it as a record that "demands focus" and deliberately avoids hit singles - aside from the sensual, Afrobeats-inspired Raindance.

Highest chart position: Number one

• Listen to Dave’s Raindance from The Boy Who Played the Harp on YouTube, external

Annabel Rackham
Culture reporter, at the Mercury Prize awards

Sadly Dave couldn’t be in attendance tonight, so the audience was treated to a performance of his number one hit Raindance from this summer’s Reading Festival which was a collaboration with Tems.

He’s nominated tonight for his third studio album, The Boy Who Played The Harp, which explores a number of important themes, from his battle with mental health, sobriety, and social and political issues such as war and instability.

Eleanor Doyle
BBC Newsbeat, reporting from the Mercury Prize

A potential first Irish winner? Dove Ellis is from Moycullen, County Galway in the west of Ireland.

An Irish artist has never won the Mercury Prize before in the history of the award so it could be quite the moment if he wins it.

Knats named Dove as their favourite to win. They said his vibe was very Thom Yorke and Radiohead.

Mark Savage
Music correspondent

Image source, Black Butter Records

Galway indie-folk musician Thomas O'Donogue only started releasing music under the name Dove Ellis last year, but his soaring vocals immediately sparked a record label bidding war.

His debut album has drawn comparisons to Radiohead and Jeff Buckley for its moments of abstract beauty and devastating emotional release.

Highest chart position: Number 47

• Listen to Dove Ellis’s Love Is from Blizzard on YouTube, external

Mark Savage
Music correspondent, reporting from the Mercury Prize

Image source, JMEnternational/Getty Images

Time for Dove Ellis - who is the dark horse of this year’s Mercury Prize - a total newcomer; who only started releasing music last year.

The Galway-born songwriter, born Thomas O’Donoghue, recorded his debut album Blizzard in two weeks and released it eight weeks later - working on the theory that immediacy and imperfection was the antidote to algorithmic pop.

To the select few who’ve heard it, his soaring choruses and heartfelt melancholy have become firm favourites.

His performance here - unshowy but beautiful - is bound to win even more new fans. Which is what the Mercury should really be about.

Eleanor Doyle
BBC Newsbeat

Kojey Radical spoke to BBC Newsbeat on the red carpet earlier about whether more opportunities should be given to smaller acts at the awards.

"The Mercury Prize has never been about popularity," he replied.

But he also said everyone on the shortlist deserves to be there.

The Mercury Prize organisers say it’s all about the best British or Irish album judged on musical merit and creativity - not on things like sales, streams or genre.

Mark Savage
Music correspondent

Image source, Atlantic

Kojey Radical's third album was inspired by two separate incidents: a fashion week afterparty where he felt like an outsider, and a birthday bash for a close friend that highlighted a rift in their friendship.

Don't Look Down is an album-length interrogation of his motives, insecurities and role as a father, set to a sparkling fusion of hip-hop, gospel and R&B.

Highest chart position: 59

• Listen to Kojey Radical’s Conversation from Don’t Look Down on YouTube, external

Annabel Rackham
Culture reporter, at the Mercury Prize awards

Image source, JMEnternational/Getty Images

Next up is Kojey Radical - who immediately lifted the mood as soon as he stepped on stage in his matching suit, accessorised with a briefcase that made him look like he’d just stepped out the office.

He was joined on the stage by several of the collaborators on his album for an energetic performance of Conversation, a song about societal pressures worries about growing older.

Mark Savage
Music correspondent

Image source, War Child Records

Only one other compilation has ever been nominated for the Mercury Prize – and it was this album's predecessor, Help, back in 1995.

The sequel, which raises funds to help children affected by war, contains the Arctic Monkeys' best song in a decade, Opening Night; and Olivia Rodrigo singing a tender cover of The Magnetic Fields' Book Of Love. Pulp, The Last Dinner Party, Fontaines DC and Ezra Collective also contribute.

Highest chart position: Number one (UK compilation chart)

• Listen to Pulp's Begging for Change from War Child’s HELP(2), external

Mark Savage
Music correspondent, reporting from the Mercury Prize

Image source, JMEnternational/Getty Images

Pulp are here to play Begging for Change - their contribution to the charity album Help(2).

It’s a track Jarvis Cocker says is a bit "too rocky" to have fitted on last year’s More album (also a Mercury Prize nominee).

Here in Newcastle it sounds massive - with two gospel singers helping chant the chorus as Jarvis does that thing with his arms where he tries to make the shape of every branch on a tree at once.

The band recently announced they were taking a break, following a hugely successful reunion that kicked off in 2023. So drink this in while you can.

Eleanor Doyle
BBC Newsbeat, reporting from the Mercury Prize

Paul McCartney’s album takes us back to post-war Liverpool and a sense of home.

Part of the name - Dungeon Lane - comes from a road near the River Mersey, on the edge of the council estate where he grew up.

Today though, fittingly the road leads us to Liverpool John Lennon Airport.