CMAT put her career on hold after a barrage of body-shaming (Picture: Jim Dyson/Redferns)
From bum-baring dresses to being a 2024 Mercury Prize nominee, CMAT has had quite a year but her music career was almost derailed by body-shamers.
The Irish singer is up against icons like Charli XCX and Corinne Bailey Rae for the coveted album of the year award for her second studio album, Crazymad, for me.
While she’s been working as a musician for years, it was CMAT’s nomination at the Brit Awards in March that really turned heads – or rather her bum crack did.
Her incredibly low-back dress became the ‘talking point of the whole Brit Awards’ as body-shamers rushed to share their opinions on the 28-year-old’s weight.
CMAT, real name Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, recalled to Metro.co.uk: ‘Earlier on in my life it was very difficult to be this size and be in music.
‘It was the reason I stopped for so many years because I just couldn’t deal with people being so f**king rude about it.’
She is now nominated for the 2024 Mercury Prize album of the year (Picture: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)
Her bum became the talk of the Brits (Picture: Jim Dyson/Redferns)
Rather than discussing her nomination for best international artist next to the biggest stars around the globe, the conversation quickly became solely focused on her size.
While CMAT ‘knew it was going to happen’, the level of discussion took her by surprise.
The Peter Bogdanovich singer continued: ‘I went into that Brit Awards being like “Hmm, best international artist, I’m nominated against all the most famous people in the world”. So I thought why don’t I just do something really funny, I’m definitely not going to win anyway.’
Big names like Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Kylie Minogue, and Olivia Rodrigo were all in the running, with the award going to Glastonbury headliner Sza – ‘rightfully so’ according to CMAT.
CMAT confessed she didn’t anticipate the huge response to her dress (Picture: Lia Toby/Getty Images)
Body-shaming has been happening her ‘whole career’ (Picture: Debbie Hickey/Getty Images)
Reminiscing, the star added: ‘I thought “I’ll just do a little silly fun thing so I have a fun time” and I didn’t realise it was going to be the talking point of the whole Brit Awards.’
However, her fun stunt took a turn as thousands began criticising her weight, forcing the BBC to block their Instagram comment sections to protect her.
Sadly, conversations about her weight have been ‘happening on some level [her] entire career’.
‘As I get more noticed, more people have more to say about my body,’ shared CMAT.
Getting a little heated, she said: ‘To be honest, I could be a f**king size – excuse me – I could be a size eight and people would still have something to say about my body. You could be any size and people will still have something to say about you.
She now finds everything ‘funny’ and tries not to let comments get to her (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
Keep being iconic, CMAT (Picture: Simon Ackerman/WireImage)
‘There’s nothing I can do to change this, I love it when people are in my comments like “Have you tried exercising, have you tried dieting, have you ever tried losing weight?”
CMAT’s voice was dripping in sarcasm as she added: ‘No, I’ve never tried that in my life [sarcastic], I’ve never thought of blah blah blah. Of course I have, of course I’m aware of what size I am.’
Rather than taking it personally, CMAT now views the attention as ‘interesting’ and laughs that it simply helps her grow as an artist.
Mercury Prize 2024 nominees
Barry Can’t Swim – When Will We Land?
BERWYN – Who Am I
Beth Gibbons – Lives Outgrown
Cat Burns – early twenties
Charli xcx – BRAT
CMAT – Crazymad, for Me
Corinne Bailey Rae – Black Rainbows
corto.alto – Bad with Names
English Teacher – This Could Be Texas
Ghetts – On Purpose, With Purpose
Nia Archives – Silence Is Loud
The Last Dinner Party – Prelude to Ecstasy
‘Now, I have fun with it. It makes people talk about me more and I don’t even have to f**king do anything.
‘All I have to do is walk in somewhere wearing something that I think is fun and then BBC Radio 1 comment section has to get turned off because everyone’s calling me a “big fat ugly b***h”.
‘I literally haven’t done anything. So, it works for me, f**k it, why not.’
The winner of 2024’s Mercury Prize will be announced in September with broadcast partner BBC Music providing exclusive television and radio coverage.
Last year’s £25,000 prize was secured by London band Ezra Collective who made history as the first ever jazz win for their album Where I’m Meant to Be.
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