Safe Mercury shortlist once again raises questions about prize's purpose

After grime won big at last year’s Mercury, the album prize is back to playing it safe, rewarding commercial success rather than creative innovationThe “token jazz album” has been part of the Mercury’s DNA since the prize’s inception in 1992. These brassy outliers – from that year’s Bheki Mseleku to Dinosaur in 2017 – never win, making their nominations seem like that Christmas card to a long-estranged acquaintance that you can’t quite...

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