"I love being a woman," Adele declared proudly, seemingly taking a dig at the "woke" BRIT awards last night as she scooped a newly created gender-neutral Artist of the Year prize last night.
The 15-times Grammy winner secured a trio of awards, including Song of the Year for 'Easy On Me' and Mastercard Album of the Year for '30'.
The Artist of the Year category was created after the BRITs decided to drop the old Best Male and Best Female awards in November 2021, opting for two gender-neutral awards - Artist of the Year and International Artist of the Year.
"I understand why the name of this award has changed, but I really love being a woman and being a female artist. I do. I am really proud of us," Adele said, collecting the Artist of the Year award.
The 'Someone Like You' singer was competing against three male artists, Grammy winner Ed Sheeran, rapper Dave and singer Sam Fender, in the gender-neutral category.
Adele performed her ballad 'I Drink Wine' at the event hosted by stand-up comedian, Mo Gilligan, who also veered into politics as he said: "Boris, I know you're watching … I know you love a party. Come down, man," referring to UK prime minister Boris Johnson who has been under fire over so-called "partygate" - a series of parties allegedly held and attended by Downing Street staffers while the rest of the country was strictly under COVID-19 lockdown restrictions.
It was Adele's first public appearance since the last-moment postponement of her Las Vegas residency, for which the singer apologised, blaming "delivery delays and COVID".
Adele has now amassed 12 Brit Award wins in her career, the highest for any female artist.
The English singer, who debuted in 2008 with the album '19', also claimed the Guinness World Record for the highest number of BRIT Awards for Album of the Year by a solo artist.
Overall, 10 out of 15 Brits awards were won by women and female-fronted acts.
Last November, Tom March, BRIT chairman and co-president of Polydor Records, announced that the male and female categories would be scrapped after non-binary singer Sam Smith criticised the BRITs for remaining odd with "the society we live in".