The APRA Music Awards went down at Sydney’s Carriageworks last night. The ceremony sees APRA, who are responsible for the non-profit collection and distribution of songwriting royalties to Aussie songwriters, shine a light on the year’s best songsmiths.
It proved another big night for Tame Impala and Courtney Barnett. The Kevin Parker-led project picked up Song of The Year for ‘Let It Happen’ off of last year’s Currents, capping off a string of accolades for the Perth muso, which now includes a BRIT Award.
“When you do something good and people commend you for it, you worry that it’s the last time that you’re going to do something great and it’s such a relief that it’s NOT the last time you do something great,” Parker said during his acceptance speech, according to triple j.
But it was Courtney Barnett who received the night’s top honours. As triple j reports, Aussie music veteran Adalita handed Barnett the 2016 Songwriter of the Year award, which comes just a month after Barnett took out the Australian Music Prize.
What’s even more impressive, however, is that Barnett’s win means she’s unseated the mighty Sia from the throne she’s graced for the past three years. Last year, Sia became the first songwriter in the history of the APRA Music Awards to win the prize three years in a row.
The fact that Barnett, who released her debut album, Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit, last year to critical acclaim, has dethroned Sia actually bodes rather well for the Australian music scene.
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Though we were obviously chuffed for Sia last year, we were forced to ask the question: have there not been any other homegrown songwriters of note to come out in the past three years? Clearly, the past few years have seen a major injection of fresh blood into the scene.
Meanwhile, Jarryd James picked up Pop Work of the Year for ‘Do You Remember’, Peking Duk were shown the money with awards for Dance Work of the Year and Most Played Australian Work, making their tune ‘Take Me Over’ the most played song in the country for 2015.
Thankfully, we were spared another cringe-inducing rendition of Sia courtesy of Jimmy Barnes. Instead, the evening’s performances included Gang of Youths and Montaigne pairing up on ‘Do You Remember’, The Delta Riggs covering ‘Let It Happen’, and San Cisco taking on Barnett’s ‘Pedestrian At Best’.
