The publicly voted song of the year award was perhaps the show’s biggest surprise as G Flip’s The Worst Person Alive won over Sivan’s Got Me Started.
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The night’s other major prize, the Michael Gudinksi breakthrough artist award, went to Canberra band Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers, after their rollicking debut I Love You, released last October.
They joined indie singer-songwriter Angie McMahon, Sydney hardcore band Speed, Indigenous artist Emily Wurramara and hip-hop supergroup 3% as first-time ARIA winners.
McMahon, wearing a pin in support of Palestine, won best independent release for her churning Light, Dark, Light Again. “I turned 30 this year. I used to be afraid of reaching this age ’cause I thought it meant you expired in the music industry. I don’t believe we expire when we reach a certain age,” she said in her acceptance speech.
Speed won best hard rock/heavy metal album for their acclaimed Only One Mode, Wurramara won best adult contemporary album for Nara, while 3% – featuring Indigenous artists Dallas Woods, Nooky and Angus Field, their name a reference to Australia’s Aboriginal population – won best hip-hop/rap release for debut Kill the Dead.
In the group’s speech, rapper Nooky praised fellow Indigenous artists Kobie Dee, Briggs and Troy Cassar-Daley, who had won earlier in the evening for best country album. “This is the year the most blackfellas have ever been nominated and we’re taking them all home,” he said to loud applause.
Dallas Woods, Nooky and Angus Field of 3%.Credit: Getty Images
In the night’s most pointed acceptance speech, Filipino-Aboriginal artist Dobby, who won the award for best world music, questioned the fact that three of the category’s nominees were Indigenous language artists. “If anything, we should be the most Australian acts on this roster. Hell, we should even be country music,” he said.
Missy Higgins, a generational touchstone to Australian music’s newest crop, was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame and also claimed the prize for best Australian live act for her Second Act Tour, which celebrated the 20th anniversary of her landmark The Sound of White.
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“If you’ve just been through a divorce and turned 40 and having an existential crisis, I highly recommend going out on the road,” Higgins said.
In an unlikely wrinkle, two of Australia’s biggest musical exports – Minogue and The Kid Laroi, who performed his hit Girls on the night – walked away empty-handed despite multiple nominations.
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