Pink Pantheress becomes first woman to win Best Producer as pink pantheress set for BRITs ceremony

Pink pantheress has been named Producer of the Year ahead of the BRIT Awards ceremony this weekend, a milestone that will make the 24-year-old the first woman to receive the prize since it began in 1977. The announcement matters now because the award will be handed out at the BRITs in Manchester on Saturday, February 28, marking a historic moment for the ceremony and for the artist.

Pink Pantheress to be handed Producer of the Year at Co-op Live in Manchester

Pink Pantheress, whose real name is Victoria Beverley Walker, will be handed the Producer of the Year award at the BRIT Awards when the ceremony is held at Co-op Live on Saturday, February 28. The event marks the first time the BRIT Awards are being held in Manchester and outside of London in the ceremony’s 49-year history. The 24-year-old is set to become the first female recipient of the Producer award.

Announcement and other early 2026 winners named

The Producer of the Year winner is the fourth award for 2026 to be announced so far; earlier winners include Jacob Alon for the Critics' Choice Award and Mark Ronson for Outstanding Contribution to Music, and Noel Gallagher was named Songwriter of the Year. PinkPantheress was named ahead of this weekend’s ceremony, and she has also been nominated at the BRITs this year for Best Dance Act and British Artist of the Year.

Breakout history: GarageBand uploads, mixtapes and streaming milestones

PinkPantheress broke out after GarageBand-produced songs were uploaded online in 2020 and became popular on sites like TikTok. Five years after posting the lo-fi breakout tracks "Break it Off" and "Pain" on TikTok, she is now the youngest ever recipient of the Producer prize. Her debut mixtape arrived in 2021 and her debut album, Heaven Knows, followed two years later. Last year’s mixtape Fancy That became her first top 10 album, was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize, and earned her two Grammy nominations.

Since her early buzz, she has racked up over one billion streams and scored a major worldwide hit with 2023’s "Boy’s a Liar, Pt. 2. " Her catalogue of released songs includes "Boy’s A Liar, " "Stateside, " "Illegal" and "Nice to Meet You. "

DIY production, influences and a self-taught approach

PinkPantheress records much of her music at home and developed an entirely self-taught production style built on skittering breakbeats and what has been described as sugar strand melodies. She says she learned the basics by watching YouTube tutorials and took inspiration from female artists such as Nia Archives, Tinashe and WondaGurl. She recounts that, at 17, while at a girls' school she offered to produce for a friend who was a singer and began learning by doing.

Without resources for a studio, she used whatever was to hand. She described plugging in a karaoke microphone from a Nintendo Wii because it had a USB connection and she thought "maybe it will work plugged it in. " Even now she records many vocals at home with a sock stretched over the microphone to prevent popping and sibilance.

Historic framing, predecessors and responses

PinkPantheress noted the moment was "bittersweet" and said, "I'm the first one, the first woman, to get it, " adding that at her age "it feels almost a bit crazy" and that she did not feel "really legendary enough" to be receiving it but that she would "definitely take it. " She also described the lack of former female winners as "crazy, " saying "that's not great. "

Previous winners of the producer prize include Sir George Martin, Trevor Horn, Brian Eno, the Eurythmics' David Stewart, Calvin Harris and Chase & Status. Until now, Kate Bush was the only other female producer to have been nominated, for her 1989 album The Sensual World.

Stacey Tang, Chair of the 2026 BRIT Awards Committee and Co-President of RCA Records at Sony Music UK, described PinkPantheress as an "inventive and instinctive voice in British pop" and praised her as a producer who is "precise and playful, " building "bold, boundary expanding sounds that travel beyond the UK, " and said celebrating her at the BRITs was "both timely and significant. " The awards will be hosted by Jack Whitehall, with an award created by Matthew Williamson inspired by Manchester’s worker bee mascot. Performers scheduled for the ceremony include Harry Styles, Sombr, Rosalia and Wolf Alice, and the ceremony will be shown live in the evening from 8. 15pm.

Additional items appearing in the wider briefing

Also mentioned in the broader briefing: Justin Thomas underwent a procedure to fix a disc issue in his back in November and has been recovering since. The two sides appear to remain far apart on fundamental issues, though Napheesa Collier said last week that "negotiations are trending in the right direction. " There is a note to watch a new season beginning on CBS on Wednesday, Feb. 25. Woods rejoins the Rams as a coach less than a week after announcing his retirement as a player with the team. Team USA is looking for redemption in the 2026 World Baseball Classic after losing to Japan in the final in 202 — unclear in the provided context.