The ARIAs Are Nearly Upon Us; Here's Who We Think Will Take Out This Year's Awards

Album Of The Year
DMA'S - THE GLOW | Jessica Mauboy - Hilda | Lime Cordiale - 14 Steps To A Better You | Sampa The Great - The Return | Tame Impala - The Slow Rush

It's the evening's biggest award and there's a lot of HUGE contenders for it. Lime Cordiale are up for eight nominations throughout the evening, while Sampa The Great is looking at six and Jessica Mauboy for three; all very worthy winners. 

But there's no denying the gravity of the two Grammy Award nominations that Tame Impala has picked up for The Slow Rush, it certainly puts a new spin on the category today. Right up there with him though is DMA'S and their third album THE GLOW, which has seen them as one of the most successful and visible in the Australian market throughout a very tough year. 

Best Female Artist
Amy Shark - Everybody Rise | Miiesha - Nyaaringu | Sampa The Great - The Return | Sia - Together | Tones & I - Bad Child/Can't Be Happy All The Time

First taken out by Jenny Morris back in 1987, the Best Female Artist category has been won by the likes of Kylie Minogue, Kasey Chambers, Christine Anu, Courtney Barnett and even three of this year's nominees; Sia, Amy Shark and Tones & I. 

Sia's already had three bites at the cherry though after taking out the award in 2014, 2016 and 2017 seeing her secure the record for most wins in the category alongside Wendy Matthews and Chambers but it might be another year before she becomes the all-time record holder. Miiesha has delivered one of the year's greatest works in the form of Nyaaringu but it's likely we'll see the newcomer as a winner in other categories. 

While Sampa The Great could easily have this one off the back of the triumphant The Return, Shark's presence - particularly in the later stages of 2020 with new single C'mon - is likely going to see her take out the award for a second time. 

Best Male Artist
Archie Roach - Tell Me Why | Guy Sebastian - Standing With You | Ruel - Free Time | The Kid LAROI - F*ck Love | Troye Sivan - In A Dream

It's a relatively young pool for the Best Male Artist this year, with three of nominees - Ruel, The Kid LAROI and Troye Sivan - aged between 17 and 25. While it's most likely that we'll see The Kid LAROI take out one of the genre categories, Sivan comes into this year's awards with two previous nominations in the category. He may have to wait a little longer though - as will seven time nominee Guy Sebastian (who was one of last year's big ARIA winners) - with this award most likely going home with either Archie Roach or Ruel this year. 

It's hard to put into words the impact that Roach has had on music in this country and yet, incredibly surprisingly, he has never taken out the Best Male Artist award. 2020 has been an impressive year for Roach, with the 30th anniversary of his iconic Charcoal Lane album (which was reimagined as a new release earlier this month) and the release of his Tell Me Why memoir and companion album. Even if Roach doesn't take out Best Male Artist tonight, he will still go home very aptly as this year's Hall Of Fame inductee. 

Ruel - who took out Breakthrough Artist back in 2018 - is up for four awards this year, including Song Of The Year for Painkiller. Fans have pushed his streams well into the millions and he's sold out shows around the world in the past 18 months, so it could be enough to see him take this one out. 

Best Group 
5 Seconds Of Summer - CALM | DMA'S - THE GLOW | Lime Cordiale - 14 Steps To A Better You | Tame Impala - The Slow Rush | The Teskey Brothers - Live At The Forum

Over its 34 years, the Best Group category has been won by some of the country's biggest international exports - think INXS, Crowded House, Savage Garden, Wolfmother - so it feels right that some of our current biggest exports are among this years nominees. 

5 Seconds Of Summer's CALM has impressed globally and secured them some solid chart placings, Lime Cordiale made a huge dent with four songs in the Hottest 100 top 50 earlier this year, and DMA'S are playing some of the most renowned venues around the world and Tame Impala's The Slow Rush - the work of Kevin Parker - is one of the year's best. But The Teskey Brothers are so incredibly loved that we think this award could be theirs for the second year in a row. 

Breakthrough Artist
Alex The Astronaut - The Theory Of Absolutely Nothing | Lime Cordiale - 14 Steps To A Better You | Mallrat - Driving Music | Miiesha – Nyaaringu | The Kid LAROI - Fuck Love 

When looking at this list, you can find a very, very solid case for each of these artists to win the ARIA for Breakthrough Artist. There's Mallrat with Driving Music, home to the Hottest 100 #3 placing Charlie. Miiesha brings with her the incredible Nyaaringu, while The Kid LAROI's Fuck Love is likely to hit #1 in the US in a matter of days. Alex The Astronaut's The Theory Of Absolutely Nothing is the most perfect way to round out a huge few years. 

But most likely for this year's award? It will surely be Lime Cordiale - led by brothers Oliver and Louis Leimbach - with 14 Steps To A Better You, their eight ARIA Nominations and already secured triple j Australian Album Of The Year. 

Best Independent Release
Archie Roach - Tell Me Why | DMA'S - THE GLOW | Lime Cordiale - 14 Steps To A Better You | Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Ghosteen | Sampa The Great - The Return

How do you decide between some of the year's biggest albums and best known acts? The Best Independent Release category brings with it nothing but heavy hitters - the legendary Archie Roach, the prolific DMA'S and the flourishing Lime Cordiale. But the category feels like it's most likely between Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and Sampa The Great after huge years globally for both. 

Cave and co have already picked up the award back in 2013 for their Push The Sky Away album and Ghosteen has been a firm industry favourite this year too (Cave's recent Idiot Prayer performance will have helped in the voting period too). But we think that Sampa The Great and The Return have this one locked in. You can't win the Australian Music Prize for a second time (the only artist to do so) and walk out of the ARIAs without an award. 

Genre Categories

Best Dance Release
Alice Ivy - Don't Sleep | Dom Dolla - San Frandisco | Flume - Rushing Back feat. Vera Blue | Northeast Party House - Shelf Life | Stace Cadet & KLP - Energy

Best Dance Release is one of the year's strongest genre categories. Northeast Party House have scored their first-ever ARIA nomination off the back of Shelf Life, while Dom Dolla takes his third run at the award with San Frandisco following nominations in 2017 and 2019. Stace Cadet & KLP's Energy has been a firm favourite in the genre all the year and is surely going to appear on end of year 'Best Of' lists all over.  

Then there's Flume. He's already taken out the award twice - once in 2013 and again in 2016 - and Rushing Back featuring Vera Blue was the highest placing track by an Australian artist on the 2019 Hottest 100. He's just scored another Grammy nomination too. Alice Ivy - aka Annika Schmarsel - however would be the first ever female solo artist to take out the award and what a victory it would be for the mighty Don't Sleep.

Best Pop Release
Amy Shark - Everybody Rise | Lime Cordiale - 14 Steps To A Better You | Sia – Together | Tame Impala - Lost In Yesterday | Troye Sivan - In A Dream

Sia comes into the 2020 awards on her sixth nomination for Best Pop Release, with two wins secured (2010's We Are Born and 2014's 1000 Forms Of Fear), while Sivan lands his third nomination in four years and Tame Impala's Kevin Parker his second in five years.

Amy Shark, however, walks into this year's Best Pop Release nomination with two wins from two nominations under her belt. Statistically you'd think it's likely to be Shark but given the last year of Lime Cordiale, we're thinking that the papers may be switching their headlines from 'Shark Week' to 'Cordiales All Round' tomorrow morning.

Best Hip Hop Release
Baker Boy - Meditjin feat. JessB | Briggs - Always Was EP | Illy - Last Laugh | Sampa The Great - The Return | The Kid LAROI - F*ck Love 

Who will win? The Kid LAROI 

This year sees the return of the Best Hip Hop Release after its inaugural appearance last year, following the splitting of the Best Urban Release into this category and Best Soul/R&B Release. Sampa The Great, who took out the award last year for her track Final Form, is in a good position to pick it up again off the back of The Return. Baker Boy's Meditjin was a National Indigenous Music Chart topper, while Briggs shared his first solo work since 2014's Sheplife and Illy followed up last year's ARIA nominated Then What with Last Laugh. 

The impact of The Kid LAROI is hard to miss though. Imagine being 17 and having your debut album land in the top three of the US Charts? That's where The Kid LAROI has landed in the past week alone. His streaming figures are in the tens of millions and he's shaping up to be our next big export - think along the lines of Tame Impala, Courtney Barnett and alike. This award will solidify why you need to be paying attention to him. 

Best Soul/R&B Release
Genesis Owusu - Don't Need You | KIAN - Every Hour | Miiesha - Nyaaringu | Tash Sultana - Pretty Lady | Tkay Maidza - Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 2

Best Soul/R&B Release has some very solid contenders this year. Genesis Owusu seemingly can't put a foot wrong, KIAN is fast becoming the country's next big solo act akin to Ruel, and Tash Sultana continues to dominate worldwide, while the next evolution of Tkay Maidza arrived with the epic Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 2. 

You just about could have knocked us over with a feather after listening to Miiesha's Nyaaringu. On the album's release, The Music writer Cyclone closed her review with "Nyaaringu has to be a contender for 2020's Australian Music Prize" - an accurate depiction of just how immediately important, engaging and impressive this body of work is, and just how deserving it is of this accolade. 

Best Rock Album
Cold Chisel - Blood Moon | DMA'S - THE GLOW | Ocean Alley - Lonely Diamond | Tame Impala - The Slow Rush | Violent Soho - Everything Is A-OK 

Given that they're one of Australia's best known rock bands, it comes as a surprise that Cold Chisel have never taken out the award for Best Rock Album. They have some strong competition this year though, with DMA'S, Ocean Alley and Tame Impala also offering up some of the years most loved albums (though all on very varying scales of the 'rock' genre). 

Violent Soho are certainly familiar with the category, having picked up both this award and the ARIA for Best Group back in 2016 off the back of WACO (and sharing that delightful moment where they caught out drinking beers backstage and missing the start of their award presentation). Everything Is A-OK sits proudly as one of the Queensland's best works and it's the likely winner for Best Rock Album. 

Best Adult Contemporary Album
Archie Roach - Tell Me Why | Donny Benét - Mr Experience | Gordi - Our Two Skins | Josh Pyke - Rome | Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Ghosteen

There's a lot to be admired in the albums across this category. Of course, there's Donny Benét with the very solid Mr Experience, Josh Pyke doing what he does best on Rome, Gordi with the impeccable Our Two Skins and Archie Roach as stunning as ever on Tell Me Why. 

But this year it really feels like Best Adult Contemporary Album is Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds for the taking with the striking Ghosteen, likely to give them their second win in the category following on from 2013's Push The Sky Away.

Best Country Album 
Casey Barnes - Town Of A Million Dreams | Fanny Lumsden - Fallow | Jasmine Rae -  Lion Side | The McClymonts - Mayhem To Madness | Travis Collins - Wreck Me

Country music in Australia continues to go from strength to strength and this year's Best Country Album nominees prove exactly that. While The McClymonts (two time category winners), Travis Collins (two time category nominee) and Jasmine Rae (four time category nominee) all deliver impressive work, it feels like a fight between Casey Barnes' Town Of A Million Dreams and Fanny Lumsden's Fallow for the prize. While both incredibly worthy winners, we think this year could be Barnes'. 

Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Album 
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Chunky Shrapnel | Parkway Drive - Viva The Underdogs | Polaris - The Death Of Me | The Amity Affliction - Everyone Loves You… Once You Leave Them | The Chats - High Risk Behaviour 

The Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Album always a hotly debated one - always centring around what exactly denotes the genre and who fits it. Regardless of where you think this year's nominees fit, they have all delivered huge albums that are highly regarded around the globe. 

Who's it going to be though? Parkway Drive and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard have both taken it out before, while The Amity Affliction are nominated for the fifth time and Polaris for their second. Given the inescapable nature of Smoko over the past few years, we think it's going to be first-time nominees The Chats for the win.

PUBLIC VOTED AWARDS

Song Of The Year
5 Seconds Of Summer - Teeth | Flume Feat. Vera Blue - Rushing Back | Hilltop Hoods feat. Illy & Ecca Vandal - Exit Sign | Lime Cordiale - Robbery | Mallrat - Charlie | Ruel - Painkiller | Sam Fischer - This City | The Jungle Giants - Heavy Hearted | The Rubens - Live In Life | Tones & I - Never Seen The Rain

The Song Of The Year category offers up some of the biggest tracks across charts, streaming and public voted polls over the past year. 

Of the 10 nominated tracks, seven made appearances in the 2019 Hottest 100 (Rushing Back, Exit Sign, Robbery, Charlie, Painkiller, Heavy Hearted and Never Seen The Rain) while the others quickly became favourites among fans and industry alike.  

The power of the 5SOS fandom is undeniable and so given that this is a public voted category, chances are 5 Seconds Of Summer will follow up their 2014 (She Looks So Perfect) and 2018 (Youngblood) wins with a win for Teeth. 

The 2020 ARIA Awards take place tonight, with the pre-show kicking off at 4:30pm AEDT via ARIA’s YouTube Channel and will feature the presentation of the first awards alongside interviews. The 2020 ARIA Awards ceremony will then commence at 7:30pm AEDT and will be broadcast live on Channel 9 and 9 Now as well as YouTube. Head here for more info.