Award-winning Irish singer-songwriter CMAT has won the Best Album at the 2026 Ivor Novello Awards in London for her most recent release, EURO-COUNTRY. This is the artist’s second nomination for the award and first win.
Real name Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, the artist made her position clear with her speech, when she said: “It’s really nice to finally win an award in England. English people don’t generally give me awards, so that’s a first, really good. I’m actually a big fan of the man, Ivor Novello, himself as well.”
Staying true to her roots, the singer used part of her speech to say, “I would compel my fellow artists in the room, it is not the time to sit on the fence.”
CMAT continued, “Fascism is on the rise, that c*** Bertie Ahern recently decided he was going to be really fu***** racist on camera, he revealed his true colours. F*** Reform, f*** Nigel Farage, I have no time, sympathy or empathy for anybody who make life more difficult for people who are just trying to live.”
The singer has been previously critical of former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, citing him directly as one of the issues with Ireland in her song EURO-COUNTRY.
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CMAT continued, “He’s (Ivor Novello) the t***, this award is the t***. I love Amy Winehouse so much, and she won Best Song Musically and Lyrically for ‘Love Is a Losing Game’, and I remember that because I was like 10 when it happened, and she was a really big thing for me.”
She cited not just Amy Winehouse as an inspiration, but an indie artist from Dublin who won the same award, Conor J O’Brien, saying: “It’s crazy that the most famous person in the world and this indie artist from Dublin both won the same award. What an interesting award show. I would f****** love one of them.”
Now that CMAT has received the award, she joins the ranks of some of the world’s most influential and famous musicians ever, including Elton John, who presented the award to the EURO-COUNTRY creator last night.
She was also up against strong competition for the award, with the nomination including award-winning artists such as Wolf Alice, Olivia Dean and Lily Allen. All were nominated for other very well-received creations.
While not the first Irish person to win an Ivor Novello Award, she is the first to win Best Album. Her previous nomination was for her second-ever album, Crazy-mad, for Me.
The 30-year-old bi icon shot her way to stardom last year with EURO-COUNTRY, which sang about the many shared struggles of Irish people in her generation. She has also released many other well-received pieces of music prior to 2025.
Beyond CMAT’s win, the award ceremony saw Elton John being named the first president of the academy and presented with the Ivors Academy Honour. Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke was inducted into the Ivors Academy Fellowship, alongside the late singer of Wham!, George Michael.
CMAT has a number of upcoming concerts in venues across Ireland and the UK, for which tickets are currently available.
© 2026 GCN (Gay Community News). All rights reserved.
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