The 2019 APRA Music Awards return to Melbourne this year with new musical director Kate Miller-Heidke at the helm.
Ahead of the April event the shortlisted challengers for the title of Peer-Voted APRA Song of the Year have been announced.
Dean Lewis, Courtney Barnett, A.B. Original’s Adam Briggs and Daniel Rankine, Amy Shark, Sarah Aarons – who is also nominated for the Grammy Song of the Year for her shortlisted work The Middle – and Young Australian of the Year Danzal Baker (Baker Boy) are among the songwriters shortlisted for the APRA Song of the Year.
This award is 100% determined by APRA songwriter and publisher members, and is the biggest peer-voted music award in Australia.
The list of contenders features songs by fresh faces including Mojo Juju, Kaiit, The Teskey Brothers and Ziggy Alberts, who appear on the list alongside experimental jazz legends The Necks plus Suze DeMarchi and Dave Leslie of Baby Animals, The Living End, John Butler and 2018 APRA Song of the Year co-winner Paul Kelly.
The final five nominees will be revealed in March and the winner announced at the 2019 APRA Music Awards when they return to Melbourne on Tuesday 30 April.
The 2019 awards will be the first to be staged under new APRA AMCOS chief executive Dean Ormston.
“The APRA Music Awards have evolved a great deal since we last held the event in Melbourne in 2013, so I’m thrilled that this year we’ll be presenting our very special night in such a fantastic music city and at the venerable Melbourne Town Hall. It will be a true celebration of our songwriter and publisher members, and of course, the songs,” said Ormston.
SHORT LIST FOR 2019 APRA SONG OF THE YEAR
(Listed in alphabetical order of song title)
BE ALRIGHT (DEAN LEWIS) | Dean Lewis / Jon Hume
BLACCOUT (A.B. ORIGINAL) | Adam Briggs / Daniel Rankine
BODY (THE NECKS) | Chris Abrahams / Tony Buck / Lloyd Swanton
DON’T LOSE IT (THE LIVING END) | Chris Cheney / Scott Owen / Andy Strachan / Tobias Kuhn
EXACTLY HOW YOU ARE (BALL PARK MUSIC) | Sam Cromack
FOREVER YOU AND ME (THE TESKEY BROTHERS) | Joshua Teskey / Samuel Teskey / Liam Gough / Brendon Love
GREENHOUSE HEAT DEATH (KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD) | Stuart Mackenzie HIGH WATER (8 BALL AITKEN | 8Ball Aitken / Guthrie Kennard
HOME (JOHN BUTLER TRIO) | John Butler / Martin Brown / Thomas Crawford / Katy Steele
I SAID HI (AMY SHARK) | Amy Shark
LOVE ME NOW (ZIGGY ALBERTS) | Ziggy Alberts
MARRYUNA (BAKER BOY FEATURING YIRRMAL) | Danzal Baker / Dion Brownfield / Jerome Farah / Yirrmal Marika
NAMELESS, FACELESS (COURTNEY BARNETT) | Courtney Barnett
NATIVE TONGUE (MOJO JUJU) | Mojo Juju / Joel Ma / Rita Seumanuta
OG LUV KUSH PT.2 (KAIIT) | Kaiit Waup / Michael Chan / Anthony Douglas / Mohamed Komba / Jaydean Miranda / Damian Smith
SLOW MOVER (ANGIE MCMAHON) | Angie McMahon
SOCIETY (AINSLIE WILLS) | Ainslie Wills / Bram Inscore / Maureen McDonald
THE MIDDLE (ZEDD, MAREN MORRIS & GREY)| Sarah Aarons / Jordan Johnson / Stefan Johnson/ Marcus Lomax / Kyle Trewartha / Michael Trewartha / Anton Zaslavski
TONIGHT (BABY ANIMALS) | Suze DeMarchi / Dave Leslie
WALK AWAY (XAVIER RUDD) | Xavier Rudd
WITH THE ONE I LOVE (PAUL KELLY) | Paul Kelly
2019 APRA MUSIC AWARDS
Tuesday 30 April Melbourne Town Hall, Melbourne