Flume, The Kid LAROI, Sampa The Great Win Big At APRA Music Awards
You can view all the winners from the 2023 APRA Awards here.
(Flume by Nick Green, Sampa The Great by Travys Owen, The Kid LAROI by Daniel Prakopcyk)
The 41st APRA Music Awards were held at the Sydney ICC, Darling Harbour, tonight with hosts Celia Pacquola, Fred Leone and Henry Wagons.
The biggest awards of the evening – Peer-Voted Song Of The Year, Songwriter Of The Year, Breakthrough Songwriter Of The Year, and Most Performed Australian Work go to a diverse bunch of Australian artists, representing the most successful artists in Australia in 2023.
The Kid LAROI won the award for Most Performed Australian Work with STAY featuring Justin Bieber, and with how prevalent the song remains on the radio, streaming services’ playlists, and television, it’s not a big surprise.
Taking out the Song Of The Year is Flume, with co-writer Sarah Aarons also nabbing the honour for Say Nothing ft MAY-A. “Thank you very much for voting for this song,” Flume said upon accepting the award.
“We’re shocked by how well this song has done with the Hottest 100 thing and now the APRA Song Of The Year award. It’s really crazy. So, thank you so much for voting.
"This song came about during Covid. We were in different places - Sarah was in London, I was in Byron, and we were just kind of sending stuff back and forth. This song was done from all corners of the globe, in all different cities and ram shackled together to be something that has obviously connected with people - we’re really grateful to make something that does that.”
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Aarons added, “This is so crazy. As Harley said, very unexpected for both of us. I think making songs during Covid was definitely hard and we definitely had a bit of a Covid connection as some would say. And I can’t believe something this cool came of it. Very exciting.”
Meanwhile, RÜFÜS DU SOL won the Songwriter Of The Year Award, with the trio commenting, “Thank you so much for this award. Songwriter Of The Year is a pretty ridiculous accolade to get! We feel really blessed and grateful we can get the nod from the room and everyone in Australia.
"There’s so much talent coming out of Australia and there has been for as long as music’s been around, I guess. But seeing the list of artists that have received this award before, it is really surreal to put our name next to those artists. So, thank you so much. It really means, so, so, so much.”
Sampa The Great won Breakthrough Songwriter Of The Year and reminded the audience that her newest album, As Above, So Below, is about representing her culture. She said, “I’m honoured to receive the APRA AMCOS Breakthrough Songwriter Of The Year Award. As Above, So Below is my first album done fully in my home country Zambia. It also happens to be the first album I have my first producer credits, so this is very special to me.
“I choose to share my culture. I choose to share stories from my country, and I choose to share them in my language with this album and I’m thankful for APRA for recognising and appreciating that. I’m sorry I couldn’t be with you guys tonight in person, hopefully creating the next great album but I hope you have an amazing night. Thank you so much.”
As previously reported, Colin Hay and the late trailblazing music promoter Colleen Ironside were honoured by the APRA Awards, with the two receiving the prestigious Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Services to Australian Music.
You can view all the winners from the 2023 APRA Awards below.
COMPLETE LIST OF WINNERS 2023 APRA MUSIC AWARDS
Peer-Voted APRA Song of the Year
Title: Say Nothing (feat. MAY-A)
Artist: Flume
Writers: Flume* / Sarah Aarons
Publishers: Kobalt Music Publishing obo Future Classic* / Sony Music Publishing
Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Services to Australian Music
Colin Hay
Colleen Ironside
Songwriter of the Year
RÜFÜS DU SOL
Jonathon George / James Hunt / Tyrone Lindqvist
Publisher: Kobalt Music Publishing
Breakthrough Songwriter of the Year
Sampa the Great
Publisher: Kobalt Music Publishing
Most Performed Australian Work
Title: STAY
Artist: The Kid LAROI & Justin Bieber
Writers: The Kid LAROI / Justin Bieber* / Isaac De Boni# / Omer Fedi* / Magnus Hoiberg^ /
Michael Mule# / Charlie Puth+ / Subhaan Rahman^ / Blake Slatkin*
Publishers: Sony Music Publishing / Universal/MCA Music Publishing* /
Warner Chappell Music^ / Kobalt Music Publishing+ / Concord Music Publishing#
Most Performed Alternative Work
Title: Hurtless
Artist: Dean Lewis
Writers: Dean Lewis / Jon Hume*
Publishers: Kobalt Music Publishing / Concord Music Publishing*
Most Performed Blues & Roots Work
Title: We Deserve To Dream
Artist: Xavier Rudd
Writer: Xavier Rudd
Publisher: Sony Music Publishing
Most Performed Country Work
Title: God Took His Time On You
Artist: Casey Barnes
Writers: Casey Barnes / Kaci Brown* / Samuel Gray*
Publishers: Mushroom Music / Kobalt Music Publishing*
Most Performed Dance/Electronic Work
Title: On My Knees
Artist: RÜFÜS DU SOL
Writers: Jonathon George / James Hunt / Tyrone Lindqvist / Jason Evigan*
Publishers: Kobalt Music Publishing / Sony Music Publishing*
Most Performed Hip Hop / Rap Work
Title: LET’S TROT!
Artist: Brothers & Joel Fletcher
Writers: Brothers / Joel Fletcher*
Publisher: 120 Publishing*
Most Performed Pop Work
Title: STAY
Artist: The Kid LAROI & Justin Bieber
Writers: The Kid LAROI / Justin Bieber* / Isaac De Boni# / Omer Fedi* / Magnus Hoiberg^ /
Michael Mule# / Charlie Puth+ / Subhaan Rahman^ / Blake Slatkin*
Publishers: Sony Music Publishing / Universal/MCA Music Publishing* /
Warner Chappell Music^ / Kobalt Music Publishing+ / Concord Music Publishing#
Most Performed R&B / Soul Work
Title: Still Dream
Artist: Miiesha
Writers: Miiesha* / Lucy Blomkamp* / Stephen Collins
Publisher: Sony Music Publishing*
Most Performed Rock Work
Title: Struck By Lightning
Artist: The Chats
Writers: Matthew Boggis / Joshua Hardy / Eamon Sandwith
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing
Most Performed Australian Work Overseas
Title: Dance Monkey
Artist: Tones And I
Writer: Tones And I
Publishers: Kobalt Music Publishing / Warner Chappell Music
Most Performed International Work
Title: As It Was
Artist: Harry Styles
Writers: Harry Styles / Thomas Hull / Tyler Johnson*
Publishers: Universal Music Publishing / Concord Music Publishing*
Licensee of the Year
Triple M
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