In the 40th year of the Australasian Performing Rights Association awards,which celebrate songwriters and music publishers,the song of the year category will be hotly contested,with The Kid Laroi – born Charlton Howard – going up against Jessica Mauboy,Tasman Keith and Midnight Oil’s Rob Hirst for their songFirst Nation,Hiatus Kaiyote forRed Room,Genesis Owusu forThe Other Black Dog,and Amyl and the Sniffers forGuided by Angels.
The Kid Laroi,pictured at this week’s Grammy Awards,has picked up three APRA songwriting nominations.Jordan Strauss/AP
A Kamilaroi man,18-year-old Howard shares a songwriting credit with Justin Bieber onStay,and featured on the Canadian star’s Grammy-nominated album Justice. Howard is also nominated in APRA’s most performed Australian and most performed hip hop/rap categories forWithout You.
Hirst and co-writers Bunna Lawrie and Joel Davidson won last year’s APRA song of the year award withGadigal Land which,likeFirst Nation,is from Midnight Oil’s albumThe Makarrata Project.
Owusu with his 2021 albumSmiling With No Teeth,as well as the prestigious Australian Music Prize. The 23-year-old now has an APRA breakthrough songwriter of the year nomination to go with his song of the year nod.
For a long time in my life,mental health wasn’t something that was spoken about.
Genesis Owusu
“One of the most potent lyrics for me is,‘All my friends are hurting,but we dance it off’,” the Ghanaian-Australian has said aboutThe Other Black Dog. “For a long time in my life,mental health wasn’t something that was spoken about.
Genesis Owusu’s acclaimed 2021 album continues winning praise for the singer and songwriter.Wolter Peeters
“It was so common,yet so hushed away that it seemed like a thing you could just brush off. But it was never really brushed off. You could always see the effects of it,if it was unmanaged in the long run.”
Tyron Hapi and Masked Wolf (Harry Michael),Khaled Rohaim,Sycco (Sasha McLeod) and Budjerah also received songwriter of the year nominations,and Budjerah’sHigher was nominated for most performed R&B/soul work alongside Youngn Lipz’sHow?,Miiesha’sMade For Silence,Becca Hatch’sPlease U and Jerome Farah’sVibrate.
AC/DC,triple Grammy nominees this week,received an APRA nod for most performed rock work withShot in the Dark alongside Spacey Jane’sLots of Nothing,Jimmy Barnes’Flesh and Blood,Gang of Youths’The Angel of 8th Avenue and You Am I’sThe Waterboy.
Melbourne band Hiatus Kaiyote’sMood Valiant was also among this week’s Grammy-nominated albums and singer Nai Palm describedRed Room as “sincere and real” following their APRA nomination.
“Music is the projection of intention and vibration,” she said. “It’s worth the risk. And it is a risk,especially as a singer and a songwriter when the stories are your life. It takes a lot of trust,and so you will be rewarded if you jump into the f---ing fire.”
Amy Shark’sC’Mon,co-written with Travis Barker,was nominated for most performed alternative work andLove Songs Ain’t For Us,which Shark wrote with Ed Sheeran and performed with Keith Urban,landed in the most performed country category,alongside Fanny Lumsden’sDig,Seaforth’sBreakups,Casey Barnes’Come Turn Me On,and Brad Cox’sShort Lived Love.
Other dual nominees are Tones And I and Guy Sebastian in most performed Australian and most performed pop categories,and Vance Joy’sMissing Piece in the most performed Australian and most performed alternative categories.
The 2022 APRA Music Awards will be held on May 3 at Melbourne Town Hall.
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