The Music 2015 Writers' Poll: Stephanie Liew

album of the year

Grimes — Art Angels
Sufjan Stevens — Carrie & Lowell
Kelela — Hallucinogen
Kendrick Lamar — To Pimp A Butterfly
FKA Twigs — M3LL155X
Carly Rae Jepsen — Emotion
Laura Marling — Short Movie
WAFIA — XXIX
Dr Dre — Compton
The Weeknd — Beauty Behind The Madness

song of the year

Kendrick Lamar — King Kunta
Kelela — All The Way Down
Missy Elliott — WTF (Where They From)
Tkay Maidza — Ghost
Justin Bieber — Sorry

artist of the year

Courtney Barnett
Kendrick Lamar
Sampa The Great
Banoffee
Drake

international artist performance

Sufjan Stevens
Drake
Laura Marling
FKA Twigs
Jungle

australian artist performance

Banoffee
Tkay Maidza
Andy Bull

top tv show

Humans
The 100
Mr Robot
Fresh Off The Boat
Maximum Choppage

top movie

Mad Max: Fury Road
The Look Of Silence
Spotlight
Phoenix
Cemetery Of Splendour

top website

The Music
Letterboxd
Netflix
Junkee
Daily Life

2015 highlight of the year

Being a panellist at LISTEN's inaugural conference. Performing for the first time as part of a dance showcase (shout out to Bey Dance!). Seeing Roxane Gay and Dr Cornel West speak. MTC's North By Northwest and a strong NEON Festival. Malthouse Theatre's Love And Information. Saltwater at Theatre Works. All Ears at Arts House. Melbourne Festival's stunning theatre line-up (special mention to YOUARENOWHERE and Bronx Gothic). A fun Fringe Festival (special mention to The Intelligent Design Of Jenny Chow). The euphoric experience that was seeing Sufjan Stevens at the Sydney Opera House. Tricia Miranda's fucked up cool chorey for Missy's WTF. Kiwi Parris Goebel's continuing dance domination and her Sorry vid for Biebs (I feel like the dance video contributed hugely to the song's likeability because Biebs remains a whiny manchild with a handful of catchy songs). Self-serve udon restaurant Udon Yasan opening up in the city. Pre-emptively: my coming trip to the US; all the food I will eat there; going to Disneyland; a white Xmas (fingers crossed).

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prediction for 2016

Malaysian food will be the new 'trendy' cuisine (it already is, but it'll boom); this will be a blessing and a curse. The line between what's considered commercial/mainstream and alternative/'indie' music will become even more blurred, which will annoy rockists and purists, much to my delight. SBS's Food Network will undergo major overhauls. The Family Law will be bloody excellent and hopefully pave the way for more diverse Australian TV shows.