Will Courtney Barnett Win All The ARIAs? Here's Our ARIA Form Guide
Our two cents on Thursday's shindig
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit And Think, Sometimes I Just Sit, Flight Facilities - Down To Earth, Hermitude - Dark Night Sweet Light, Tame Impala - Currents, Vance Joy - Dream Your Life Away
Who will win? Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit And Think, Sometimes I Just Sit
Who should win? Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit And Think, Sometimes I Just Sit
Why? The ARIA lords could give it to Vance Joy, who lost out to Chet Faker twice last year. They could give it Tame Impala, who cleaned up with second album Lonerism back in 2013, or they could make the correct choice and give it to the standout artist of the year, CB.
BREAKTHROUGH ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Conrad Sewell - Start Again, Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit And Think, Sometimes I Just Sit, Gang Of Youths - The Positions, Jarryd James - Do You Remember, Meg Mac - MEGMAC EP
Who will win? Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit And Think, Sometimes I Just Sit
Who should win? Meg Mac - MEGMAC EP
Why? CB has been selling out shows across the entire damn world this year - but arguably, she broke out with her double EP A Sea Of Split Peas last year. It's Meg Mac who's the real up-and-comer in this line-up with her beautiful self-titled debut EP and a lot of worthy buzz around her, although young'n Sewell made it to the top of the ARIA charts for the first time in June this year with single Start Again.
BEST FEMALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit And Think, Sometimes I Just Sit, Jessica Mauboy - Can I Get A Moment?, Meg Mac - MEGMAC EP, Megan Washington - There There, Sia - Elastic Heart
Who will win? Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit And Think, Sometimes I Just Sit
Who should win? Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit And Think, Sometimes I Just Sit
Why? Jessica Mauboy did not win this one last year for Beautiful, losing to Sia, and she probably won't win this year either — which is a good thing too, this song coming up as a Spotify ad kept interrupting my moping teenager playlist. Sia won't win this year either, even if Elastic Heart is a CHOON. Neither will the two Megs, Washo and Mac, who, despite excellent records, just can't match CB. Barnett is inimitable, however much the Yanks are now trying.
BEST MALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
#1 Dads - Nominal, Daniel Johns - Talk, Guy Sebastian - Tonight Again, Jarryd James - Do You Remember, Vance Joy - Dream Your Life Away
Who will win? Vance Joy - Dream Your Life Away
Who should win? #1 Dads - Nominal
Why? Would be nice to see #1 Dads out with an ARIA win, but we see this one going to Joy, who didn't stand a chance against Chet Faker last year. Maybe Tame Impala's Kevin Parker should be in this category, hey?
BEST GROUP OF THE YEAR
5 Seconds Of Summer - LiveSOS, AC/DC - Rock Or Bust, Hermitude - Dark Night Sweet Light, Tame Impala - Currents, The Preatures - Blue Planet Eyes
Who will win? Tame Impala - Currents
Who should win? Tame Impala - Currents or Hermitude - Dark Night Sweet Light
Why? At least if Kev Parker had been in Best Male there'd be a contest! Here it seems like he's destined to take out the top title, even though fellow nominee Hermitude are a worthy adversary: their gigs just keep getting bigger and bigger, and they've got a heap of festival slots coming up.
BEST INDEPENDENT RELEASE
Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit And Think, Sometimes I Just Sit, Hermitude - Dark Night Sweet Light, Jarryd James - Do You Remember, Paul Kelly - The Merri Soul Sessions, Vance Joy - Dream Your Life Away
Who will win? Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit And Think, Sometimes I Just Sit
Who should win? Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit And Think, Sometimes I Just Sit
Why? Behold the year of CB. She can't take out Best Album and not take out this one - sorry Vance Joy, Paul Kelly, Hermitude and Jarryd James. This contest was over before it even started.
BEST ADULT CONTEMPORARY ALBUM
John Farnham & Olivia Newton-John - Two Strong Hearts, Megan Washington - There There, Oh Mercy - When We Talk About Love, Paul Kelly - The Merri Soul Sessions, Szymon - Tigersapp
Who will win? Szymon - Tigersapp
Who should win? Oh Mercy - When We Talk About Love or Megan Washington - There There
Why? Oh Mercy and Megan Washington's gut-wrenching records deserve some love, but are unlikely to get it. And Kelly took this one out last year with Neil Finn for Goin' Your Way, he's already a mainstay of the category. But a niggling part of us thinks that Szymon might just have this one; there was a lot of buzz around this posthumous release from one of those tragic musical genius types...
BEST BLUES & ROOTS ALBUM
CW Stoneking - Gon' Boogaloo, Marlon Williams - Marlon Williams, The Black Sorrows - Endless Sleep, The Waifs - Beautiful You, Tim Rogers & The Bamboos - The Rules Of Attraction
Who will win? Marlon Williams - Marlon Williams
Who should win? CW Stoneking - Gon' Boogaloo
Why? Marlon Williams was the talk of this year's CMJ Music Marathon and he deserves a win, but boy would we love to see Stoneking nab the prize. Everyone loves Tim Rogers and The Bamboos, separately and together, but we don't think they quite cut it in the blues category.
BEST COUNTRY ALBUM
Catherine Britt - Boneshaker, Lee Kernaghan - Spirit Of The ANZACs, Mustered Courage - White Lies And Melodies, Shane Nicholson - Hell Breaks Loose, Troy Cassar-Daley - Freedom Ride
Who will win? Lee Kernaghan - Spirit Of The ANZACs
Who should win? Shane Nicholson - Hell Breaks Loose
Why? Nicholson's record was joyous - a new beginning for the man post-split with last year's Country Album winner Kasey Chambers (yes, for her own break-up record, what symmetry). Kernaghan meanwhile plays to country music's sense of history and grandeur - what better way to honour the ANZAC Centenary than to hand Kernaghan an Award on a platter.
BEST DANCE RELEASE
Alison Wonderland - Run, Flight Facilities - Down To Earth, Hayden James - Something About You, Peking Duk ft SAFIA - Take Me Over, RÜFÜS - You Were Right
Who will win? Peking Duk ft SAFIA - Take Me Over
Who should win? Alison Wonderland - Run
Why? Peking Duk took this one out last year (with a little help from Nicole Millar), pipping the much-loved RÜFÜS at the post. This year they're likely to win again as Take Me Over is an earworm, but we kinda wish we'd see Alison Wonderland take the prize. She's been wooing festival audiences all year and her first full-length is a super interesting dance epic.
BEST HARD ROCK/HEAVY METAL ALBUM
Born Lion - Final Words, In Hearts Wake - Skydancer, King Parrot - Dead Set, Northlane - Node, Thy Art Is Murder - Holy War
Who will win? Northlane - Node
Who should win? King Parrot - Dead Set
Why? It's been a massive year for Northlane, with the release of Node, their first with new vocalist Marcus Bridge, promoted with a dripfeed marketing campaign hiding ten-second cuts of their songs across the web. Has anything so brutal as King Parrot's Dead Set ever won an ARIA? The level of intensity reaches a whole new level and should be given the nod. Besides, we could only imagine what Youngy would say too if given a chance to head up to the podium.
BEST POP RELEASE
Conrad Sewell - Start Again, Jarryd James - Do You Remember, Sia - Elastic Heart, Tame Impala - Let It Happen, Vance Joy - Dream Your Life Away
Who will win? Vance Joy - Dream Your Life Away
Who should win? Vance Joy - Dream Your Life Away or Tame Impala - Let It Happen
Why? Sewell's single was an ARIA #1 and Elastic Heart would have best film clip in the bag, but Vance Joy deserves it more, and put in a more concerted campaign to win — his people committing to American-style voter-attention marketing. Plus Riptide is still catchy as all heck. But Let It Happen is a pop-psych jam-out, and we wouldn't even mind it if Tame took out the unlikely category.
BEST ROCK ALBUM
Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit And Think, Sometimes I Just Sit, Dead Letter Circus - Aesthesis, Gang Of Youths - The Positions, Tame Impala - Currents, The Preatures - Blue Planet Eyes
Who will win? Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit And Think, Sometimes I Just Sit
Who should win? Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit And Think, Sometimes I Just Sit
Why? Best Pop and Best Rock, Tame! Greedy. Everyone loved Currents, but they still can't beat out CB — it's the best album of all the genres, it's gotta take out Best Rock.
BEST URBAN ALBUM
Citizen Kay - Demokracy, Hiatus Kaiyote - Choose Your Weapon, Seth Sentry - Strange New Past, The Meeting Tree - R U A Cop, Tuka - Life Death Time Eternal
Who will win? Hiatus Kaiyote - Choose Your Weapon
Who should win? Tuka - Life Death Time Eternal
Why? We've definitely got a big soft spot for Citizen Kay, but Tuka's record was much more diverse than the other nominated releases - just totally different to anything else we've heard all year. Hiatus Kaiyote on the other hand have been on the scene for a while releasing solid songs - but nothing that we see matching Tuka.
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