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James Blunt joins Alex Warren for orchestral ‘Ordinary’ at BRITs 2026
Music•March 1, 2026 at 11:28 AMNational

James Blunt joins Alex Warren for orchestral ‘Ordinary’ at BRITs 2026

By Max Pilley•NME Music News

The track was nominated for International Song of the Year, but lost out to ROSÉ and Bruno Mars’ ‘APT’ The post James Blunt joins Alex Warren for orchestral ‘Ordinary’ at BRITs 2026 appeared first on NME.

Alex Warren performed an orchestral version of ‘Ordinary’ with James Blunt on piano at the 2026 BRIT Awards.

The annual awards show went down in Manchester’s Co-op Live Arena on Saturday night (February 28), with Olivia Dean running away as the biggest winner with an impressive four gongs, including Artist, Album and Song of the Year.

The latter prize saw Dean and Sam Fender’s ‘Rein Me In’ victorious, while the International Song of the Year award went to ROSÉ and Bruno Mars’ ‘APT’, beating out several major hits, including ‘Ordinary’.

It didn’t stop Warren from playing a stirring version of the song later in the show, where he was joined by Blunt on piano and backed by a lush string section. Watch the performance here:

‘Ordinary’ was the most played song on British radio in 2025 and also became the longest-running UK Number One by a US artist in this decade so far.

Ahead of the performance, Warren said: “The UK is where ‘Ordinary’ first broke and changed my life last year. I am so grateful for all the love from my fans there, and I can’t wait to bring a big performance to the BRITs’ stage for the very first time.”

It was also revealed at the end of 2025 that ‘Ordinary’ had been the most-streamed song of the 2020s over the course of the year, clocking up around 750million streams.

Elsewhere at the BRITs, Robbie Williams led an all-star version of Ozzy Osbourne’s ‘No More Tears’, with the late Black Sabbath frontman being honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award, while Tim Burgess paid tribute to The Stone Roses’ Mani.

Outstanding Contribution to Music winner Mark Ronson was joined for a career-spanning medley by Dua Lopa and Ghostface Killah, while Wolf Alice’s Ellie Rowsell called for further support for the UK’s grassroots music venues and Geese’s Max Bassin attacked ICE and called for a free Palestine during their speeches. Rosalía was also joined by surprise guest Björk for a dazzling performance of ‘Berghain’.

The post James Blunt joins Alex Warren for orchestral ‘Ordinary’ at BRITs 2026 appeared first on NME.

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